Brescia, Palazzo Martinengo di Villagana opens to public with portrait exhibition from four major collections

In the spaces of Palazzo Martinengo di Villagana in Brescia, open to the public for the occasion, the BPER Banca Gallery presents from November 10, 2023 to January 20, 2024, as part of Bergamo Brescia Capitale Italiana della Cultura 2023, the exhibition Ospiti a palazzo. Figures posed and au naturel, curated by Lucia Peruzzi, curator of BPER Banca’s Collection of Old Paintings.

The exhibition is the result of a dialogue between cultural institutions and gives the opportunity to open the doors of a building of great historical importance for the city of Brescia: Palazzo Martinengo di Villagana, now the headquarters of the Bank’s East Lombardy and Triveneto Territorial Headquarters. “This exhibition is fully part of BPER Banca’s project to enhance our territory and artistic heritage,” said Maurizio Veggio, Territorial Director at BPER Banca. “Our Bank, in fact, has always promoted cultural initiatives and projects with a high social return, because it believes that such proposals create effective value for its customers and the entire community. In this perspective, collaborations with important museum institutions are fundamental in the process of spreading culture to an increasingly wide and varied audience, allowing us to share our extraordinary places and works.”

Guests at the Palace. Posed and Natural Figures intends to offer an in-depth study of the portrait genre, focusing in particular on its development between the 16th and 18th centuries. In fact, the theme of portraiture builds in this review an itinerary to give back to the public, through the expressive features of the subjects represented, stories and feelings, as well as valuable evidence of the customs of the time and society. The rooms on the piano nobile of Palazzo Martinengo di Villagana therefore display a selection of twelve portraits made between the 16th and 17th centuries, from four important cultural institutions: the corporate collection of BPER Banca, the collections of the Accademia Carrara of Bergamo, the collection of the Brescia Musei Foundation and the Museo Civico of Modena.

“A speaking image suspended between truth and illusion, between resemblance and idealization, between mimesis and introspection, the portrait reveals the desire to pass on the memory of the individual by becoming a mirror of the deep motions of the soul, a reflection of the feeling of the time and the evolution of taste and fashion,” explains curator Lucia Peruzzi. “The works exhibited here account for how this artistic genre, starting from a simple and direct cue of reality, transforms and takes on different meanings through the centuries.”

“The inauguration of the first exhibition in Brescia stems from the desire to contribute to the panorama of Bergamo Brescia 2023 events and marks a significant chapter in La Galleria BPER Banca’s mission to promote the sharing of unique artistic experiences in ever new and different spaces,” stressed Sabrina Bianchi, Head of Cultural Heritage at BPER Banca. “The reunited artworks draw a bridge between important art collections and cities, and find their own ideal setting in the splendid spaces of Palazzo Martinengo di Villagana, confirming La Galleria BPER’s ongoing commitment to building opportunities to discover timeless places and artists.”

The elegant corridor on the second floor of Palazzo Martinengo di Villagana features posed and life-like portraits selected for the exhibition, which create a comparison between paintings from different schools and eras. The works from BPER Banca’s collection, mainly from the Emilian school, dialogue with Lombard portraits from the deposits of the Carrara Academy in Bergamo, which are rarely visible to the public, with the painting from the collection of Fondazione Brescia Musei, on loan at BPER Banca’s headquarters, and with the work from the Museo Civico in Modena, another example of a portrait from the Emilian school.

The exhibition tour kicks off with the 16th-century Portrait of Gabriele Tadino (1538) by Titian and workshop, followed by the intimate scenes of Giovan Francesco Caroto’s Portrait of a Young Monk with Palm Tree (16th century) and Bernardo Licinio’s Portrait of a Woman (c. 1525). Particular attention is paid to the seventeenth-century portrait that, in the painting tradition of Emilia and Lombardy, privileges the natural element of everyday life. To this strand belong Cesare Gennari’s Portrait of a Gentlewoman with Child (17th century) and Carlo Francesco Nuvolone’s Portrait of a Maiden (ca. 1640). On the other hand, Lorenzo Pasinelli’s Maiden with Empty Cage (1680-1689) and Giuseppe Maria Crespi’s David (17th - 18th century) create a bridge with the 18th-century tradition, accompanying the visitor to the genre painting represented by Antonio Cifrondi’s Old Man with Hourglass (1725 - 1749).
The exhibition concludes with two works by Fra’ Galgario, who in Portrait of the Lawyer Giacomo Bettami de’ Baizini (ca. 1725) and Portrait of a Young Man (Il Cerighetto) (ca. 1730) reveals an extraordinary skill in rendering the physical and character traits of the subjects depicted.

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalog published by Sagep. The collaboration with Fondazione Brescia Musei also includes a free program of guided tours at the Pinacoteca and BPER Banca locations.

Hours: Every Friday from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. and every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Admission to the exhibition is free with mandatory reservations at lagalleriabper.it

Brescia, Palazzo Martinengo di Villagana opens to public with portrait exhibition from four major collections

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