Genoa, secret Baroque with works from private collections goes on stage at Palazzo della Meridiana

Until July 10, 2022 Palazzo della Meridiana in Genoa hosts the exhibition Secret Baroque - Genoese Art from Private Collections, curated by Agnese Marengo and Anna Orlando.

The exhibition itinerary unfolds in the five rooms of the first piano nobile of Palazzo Grimaldi della Meridiana, one of the city’s Palazzi dei Rolli: on display are more than eighty works all from private collections and for the most part never exhibited to the public. On display are not only paintings, but also drawings, engravings, sculptures, majolica and silverware by great artists of the Genoese Baroque. To name a few, Bernardo Strozzi, Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione known as the Grechetto, Valerio Castello, Domenico Piola and Gregorio De Ferrari, up to the proto-rococo of brothers Bartolomeo and Domenico Guidobono.

The exhibition is intended to be an interweaving of the sacred and the profane, winding through sculptures, refined works on paper, paintings and objects to reach the central hall with the large, festive and scenic canvases, and then return to immerse itself in the pathos of the last hall. "Once again this year we wanted to confirm this important art exhibition at the same time as the other exhibitions dedicated to the Baroque in the city," says Davide Viziano, president of theFriends of Palazzo della Meridiana Association. “The exhibition aims to be a message of optimism by retracing the golden age of the Republic of Genoa. So our thanks go to the scholars who ensure the scientific soundness of the project, to the many lenders for their generous support of the initiative, and to the sponsors who also support us in this adventure.”

“The challenge of making exhibitions today for us art historians,” say the curators, "is to be able to engage the visitor in paths of knowledge that are also fun and stimulating. That’s why we thought of a selection of Genoese works drawn from private collections and in many cases never exhibited, which are able to recreate the atmosphere of a residence of the time, completely invaded by the somewhat whimsical and very captivating beauty of the so-called Baroque Age. Also as a tribute to the historic 1992 exhibition that had that title, curated by Ezia Gavazza, to whom our review is dedicated, and Giovanna Rotondi Terminiello, whom we invited to write the preface of the catalog, we have therefore selected not only paintings, but also drawings, engravings, glittering silverware and extravagantly shaped majolica. We wanted to recreate, in the alternation of colorful rooms to dark ones with novel exhibition solutions, that sense of a celebration of the arts, of awe and wonder that was felt then in the palaces of Genoa."

Baroque music concerts will be organized during the exhibition’s opening period in collaboration with the Accademia del Chiostro, as well as educational workshops dedicated to schools of all kinds and grades.

For info: www.palazzodellameridiana.it

Hours: Wednesday through Sunday and holidays from 12 to 7 p.m. Closed Tuesdays.

Tickets: Full 10 euros, reduced 8 euros.

Genoa, secret Baroque with works from private collections goes on stage at Palazzo della Meridiana

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