From Correggio to Guercino, masterpieces on paper by the Dukes of Este on display in Modena

The exhibition of drawings Da Correggio a Guercino. Masterpieces on Paper from the Collection of the Dukes of Este, which opens the Emilian museum’s 2018 exhibition season. An exhibition of great depth and sophistication that brings to the public works by great artists of the 16th and 17th centuries in Emilia, such as Correggio, Guido Reni, Guercino, Ludovico Carracci, Agostino Carracci, Niccolò dell’Abate, Lelio Orsi, and Scarsellino.

It will be an in-depth study of the graphic techniques and style of these excellent artists: invention studies, preparatory drawings, sketches of the masters who are already present, with their paintings, in the collections of the Galleria Estense. It will thus be possible to make direct comparisons between the drawings and the paintings. The exhibition opens on February 17 and runs until May 13, 2018, and will be accompanied by a full schedule of educational initiatives and guided tours.

The drawings on display all come from the collections of the Dukes of Este. “The drawings now in the Galleria Estense,” the presentation reads, “come from centuries-old events. Sources suggest the presence of some graphic masterpieces already in the famous dressing rooms of Alfonso I d’Este in the Castle of Ferrara. However, it is mainly during the seventeenth century that the Dukes of Este, by then moved to Modena, give rise to a truly modern collection of drawings. It culminated in the years of Alfonso IV (1658-1662), when the Ducal Palace housed, along with the celebrated galleries of paintings and sculptures, antiquities and wonders, also one of the richest and most varied graphic collections of the time comparable to the Florentine collection of Cardinal Leopold de’ Medici.” At the time, the dukes’ collection consisted of about 2,840 sheets: the 18th century and Napoleonic spoliations, however, resulted in numerous dispersions, so much so that about 1,300 drawings were transferred to France never to return (and still form a fundamental core of the Louvre’s collections today).

The exhibition can be visited during the opening hours of the Estense Gallery: Tuesday through Saturday from 8:30 am to 7:30 pm and Sunday from 2 to 7:30 pm. Tickets (Gallery + exhibition): full price 6 euros, reduced 3 euros. Free for all on the first Sunday of the month. Information can be found at www.gallerie-estensi.beniculturali.it.

Pictured: Ludovico Carracci, Flora (1590-1592; pencil and chalkp si colored paper)

From Correggio to Guercino, masterpieces on paper by the Dukes of Este on display in Modena

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