Boldini, De Nittis and Zandomeneghi recount the Belle Époque in an exhibition in Brescia

Palazzo Martinengo in Brescia is hosting, from January 25 to June 15, 2025, the exhibition La Belle Époque. Art in the Paris of Boldini and De Nittis, curated by Francesca Dini and Davide Dotti. The exhibition, organized by the Associazione Amici di Palazzo Martinengo, under the patronage of the Province of Brescia, the Municipality of Brescia and the Fondazione Provincia di Brescia Eventi, is dedicated to the Belle Époque. The exhibition presents a selection of more than eighty works that Boldini, De Nittis, Zandomeneghi, Corcos and Mancini executed during the period they spent in Paris. In the French capital, the Italian painters made a name for themselves by immortalizing Parisian squares, very long boulevards, elegant bourgeois interiors, cafes and theaters, capturing the female figure in everyday life and private moments, thus becoming the singers of modern life. The exhibition is divided into nine sections consisting of works, mostly from private collections, usually inaccessible, and from important museum institutions such as the Uffizi Galleries in Florence, the Giovanni Boldini Museum in Ferrara and the Museo Civico di Palazzo Te in Mantua.

In addition to famous paintings such as Giovanni Boldini ’s Portrait of a Lady in White (Ferrara, 1842 - Paris, 1931), Beside the Pond in the Luxembourg Gardens by Giuseppe De Nittis (Barletta, 1846 - Saint-Germain-en-Laye, 1884) and Al Café Nouvelle Athènes by Federico Zandomeneghi (Venice, 1841 - Paris, 1917), it is possible to immerse oneself in the artistic and cultural climate of the Belle Époque thanks to the selection of women’s dresses made in the ateliers of Parisian tailors that became exclusive haunts of high society; of colorful posters, the so-called affiches, which advertised fashionable establishments, cabarets, café chantant, theatrical performances and department stores, designed by distinguished illustrators such as Cappiello, Dudovich and Metlicovitz; and of exquisite artistic glassware with nature-inspired decorations, embellished with enamels, gilding and engravings, made by Emile Gallé and the Daum brothers to furnish the homes of the wealthy bourgeoisie.

Our “Italians of Paris,” labeled by art critic Diego Martelli, moved on the Parisian scene beginning in 1870, imposing themselves on international attention now by inventing the pictorial genre of the “tranche de vie.” Italian painters are induced to a continuous confrontation with the art of that nation, aided and abetted by the Universal Exhibitions held there periodically and promoting its image internationally. While Antonio Mancini (Rome, 1852 - Rome, 1930) with his Southern children moves and enchants with his virtuosity, the younger Vittorio Matteo Corcos (Livorno, 1859 - Florence, 1933) infuses his canvases with the very happiness of an era, the Belle Epoque, marked by the triumph of elegance and luxury.

The year 2025, moreover, is a date to remember and celebrate; in fact, the Associazione Amici di Palazzo Martinengo is celebrating its tenth anniversary of activity; in this decade, more than 520,000 people have visited its exhibition proposals, set up in the rooms of the historic 16th-century palace in Brescia.

Boldini, De Nittis and Zandomeneghi recount the Belle Époque in an exhibition in Brescia

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