For Christmas exhibited in Bologna for the first time a terracotta nativity scene by Giovanni Putti

On the occasion of the holiday season, the Civic Museum s of Ancient Art of the Bologna Civic Museums Sector presents at the Civic Museum of Industrial Art and Davia Bargellini Gallery the exhibition A Nativity by Giovanni Putti from the Academy of Fine Arts of Bologna, curated by Mark Gregory D’Apuzzo, Antonella Mampieri and Alfonso Panzetta, promoted in collaboration with the Academy of Fine Arts of Bologna and the Center for the Study of Popular Culture. On view from Dec. 7, 2023 to Jan. 14, 2024, with free admission, the exhibition showcases for the first time to the public a polychrome terracotta Nativity group modeled in the early decades of the 19th century by Giovanni Putti (Bologna, 1771 - Bologna, 1847), from theAccademia di Belle Arti in Bologna.

One of the most representative figures of neoclassical Bolognese sculpture, Giovanni Putti completed his studies at the Accademia Clementina. His first achievements were made to adorn ephemeral apparatuses used for religious events or commemorations of famous people. He was active in Bologna throughout his artistic career, particularly in the Certosa Cemetery where he made numerous funerary monuments and the two imposing terracotta Piangenti, placed on the large pillars at either end of the south hemicycle of the Chiostro Maggiore, ideally placed to watch over the entrance to Cloister III. His repertoire of sculptures for the Felsine cemetery is to be considered the most relevant nucleus of the early 19th century in Bologna, as well as an original response compared to other great contemporary sculptors who worked for the city such as Luigi Acquisti, Giacomo De Maria and Cincinnato Baruzzi. Peculiar was the way he interpreted neoclassical taste, expressing in his art a coexistence between the updated iconographic and stylistic models of Canova and the persistence of the local plastic tradition of Baroque derivation, characterized by scenographic effects still very much in fashion in Bologna in the Restoration age.

In addition to admiring arare work (there are in fact few known mobile works by Putti), the presentation of the nativity scene also offers visitors a chance to visit the permanent collection of the Davia Bargellini Museum where, among the many extraordinary works, the Allegories of Sculpture, Architecture and History created by the artist himself are on display.

Free guided tours will be organized during the opening period of the exhibition, with no reservation required:

Friday, December 8, 2023 4 p.m. with Antonella Mampieri and Alfonso Panzetta (co-curator and co-curator of the exhibition)
Wednesday, December 13, 4:30 p.m. with Silvia Primerano (RTI Senza Titolo S.r.l., ASTER S.r.l. and Tecnoscienza)
Saturday, December 16, 2023 11 a.m. with Adele Tomarchio (RTI Senza Titolo S.r.l., ASTER S.r.l. and Tecnoscienza)
Saturday, December 23, 2023 11 a.m. with Adele Tomarchio (RTI Senza Titolo S.r.l., ASTER S.r.l. and Tecnoscienza)
Tuesday, December 26, 2023 4:30 p.m. with Adele Tomarchio (RTI Senza Titolo S.r.l., ASTER S.r.l. and Tecnoscienza)
Saturday, January 6, 2024 4:30 p.m. with Fernando Lanzi (Centro Studi per la Cultura Popolare)
Sunday, January 14, 2024 4:30 p.m. with Adele Tomarchio (RTI Senza Titolo S.r.l., ASTER S.r.l. and Tecnoscienza).

The exhibition is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Friday from 2 to 6 p.m. Saturday, Sunday and holidays from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.

Image: Giovanni Putti, Nativity (early decades 19th century; polychrome terracotta; Bologna, Academy of Fine Arts of Bologna)

For Christmas exhibited in Bologna for the first time a terracotta nativity scene by Giovanni Putti

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