Here is the major exhibition on Gaudenzio Ferrari to be held in 2018 in Piedmont, in three locations

The major exhibition on Gaudenzio Ferrari (Valduggia, c. 1475-1480 - Milan, 1546) that will be held from March 23 to July 1, 2018 at three venues: the Castle of Novara, Arca Arte in Vercelli, and the Pinacoteca and Sacro Monte in Varallo Sesia (in Varallo until September 16) was presented this morning in Turin. The exhibition will be titled The Renaissance of Gaudenzio Ferrari and will be curated by Giovanni Agosti and Jacopo Stoppa, under the supervision of Giovanni Romano, a scholar who in recent years has devoted much of his interest precisely to the Piedmontese artist (it was Giovanni Romano who identified the workings of Gaudenzio’s workshop with special research). Gaudenzio Ferrari, one of the greatest Renaissance artists in northern Italy, was considered by Giovanni Paolo Lomazzo to be one of the seven “governors” in the “Temple of Painting” (the other six were Mantegna, Michelangelo, Polidoro da Caravaggio, Leonardo, Raphael and Titian: a clear demonstration of the artist’s importance).

This is not the first monographic exhibition dedicated to the artist: the first (and so far last) major exhibition on Gaudenzio Ferrari was held in 1956 at the Borgogna Museum in Vercelli, and involved one of the greatest art historians of the twentieth century, Giovanni Testori (who dedicated to Ferrari the 1964 collection of essays, published by Feltrinelli and titled Il gran teatro montano, and republished in 2015 also by Feltrinelli), as well as several scholars from Piedmont and Lombardy.

The project is promoted by the Piedmont Region’s Department of Culture and Tourism, the Municipality of Varallo Sesia, the Varallo Picture Gallery, and the municipalities of Novara and Vercelli-these are the lands where much of the Piedmontese artist’s output is preserved. The exhibition will also be an opportunity to enhance the Sacro Monte of Varallo, where several works created by Gaudenzio Ferrari specifically for the site are preserved. Loans will come from important Italian and foreign museums (the Louvre in Paris, the Städel Museum in Frankfurt, the Szépmuvészeti Múzeum in Budapest, the Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida, and others), as well as from several private collections. The exhibition will also feature works by comparative artists, including those Gaudenzio Ferrari looked to (there will be works by Leonardo da Vinci and Perugino) and those influenced by Gaudenzio Ferrari’s teaching. In all, there will be about 100 works (including paintings, sculptures and drawings) divided among the three exhibition venues. The works will be presented in chronological order: in Varallo Sesia, the exhibition will display works from the training and youth phase up to the Sacro Monte undertaking, in Vercelli the mature works will be addressed, while the Novara venue will be dedicated to the extreme phases of Gaudenzio Ferrari’s career. The catalog will be published by Officina Libraria and will also include a regest of all known documents on Gaudenzio Ferrari, edited by Roberto Cara. The project will present important scientific innovations, will involve a team of established scholars who will be joined by several young art historians, and will also focus on the involvement of the public through a path that promises to be decidedly clear and interesting and through educational activities for adults, children and families.

There will also be involvement on the tourism level: in fact, the municipalities involved will create special packages for full enjoyment of the exhibition and the territory (an area in which, moreover, several works by Gaudenzio Ferrari are preserved, at churches and historic buildings: visitors will therefore be invited to discover it). The immovable works are to be considered, according to the curators’ scientific project, an integral part of the exhibition. “This exhibition represents one of the major cultural operations promoted by the Piedmont Region in recent years,” said the region’s councillor for culture, Antonella Parigi, “A valuable exhibition, capable of bringing together the work of a great artist and creating new content, and which will be able to enhance an area rich in an important historical and artistic heritage.” “The path of Gaudenzio Ferrari, despite past and recent studies, is still full of unknowns,” the curators emphasize instead. “An extensive exhibition of his works will make it possible to better scan his career chronologically, solve some problems of autography and obtain new information about Gaudenzio’s working methods. The exhibition will feature not only his works but also those of his contemporaries: both of artists who were important to him, such as Leonardo and Perugino, and of those who were trained on his teaching.” More details soon on Finestre Sull’Arte.

Pictured: Gaudenzio Ferrari, Stories from the Life of Jesus (1513; Varallo Sesia, Santa Maria delle Grazie; Photo by Mauro Magliani)

Here is the major exhibition on Gaudenzio Ferrari to be held in 2018 in Piedmont, in three locations

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