Modena, In the Rooms of Art. Unveiled paintings by old masters on display at BPER Bank Gallery.

Six years after the opening to the public in Modena of La Galleria BPER Banca, which had sealed the celebrations of the 150th anniversary of the founding of the banking institution, a new in-depth study dedicated to Emilian painting from the 14th to the 18th century is proposed in the Modena spaces of Via Scudari from March 17 to July 2, 2023: the exhibition Nelle stanze dell’arte. Paintings Revealed by Old Masters, curated by Lucia Peruzzi. A project with which BPER Banca continues its activity of promoting its artistic heritage.

The exhibition is in line with the first dossier exhibition presented by La Galleria BPER Banca in 2017, A treasure chest for art, offering visitors the chance to view some additional masterpieces from the Modena nucleus, at the time located in the various representative offices of the headquarters in Via San Carlo, therefore not accessible to the general public. Among the main works on display are La continenza di Scipione by Francesco Vellani (Modena, 1688 - 1768), a painting certainly intended for an important aristocratic picture gallery, which is characterized by levity of pictorial touch, the exhausted and elegant narrative vein and the cold and at the same time dazzling colors of typical Baroque taste; the Holy Family in the Carpenter’s Shop by Giuseppe Maria Crespi (Bologna, 1665 - 1747), a masterpiece of the Bolognese master, capable of capturing reality in the most anecdotal and human cues and to measure himself against the local tradition, restoring it in a completely personal language, imbued with accents of truth sometimes so powerful as to prelude Goya; the Morte di Priamo by Giovan Gioseffo Dal Sole (Bologna, 1654 - 1719), which renders theVirgilian episode of the Death of Priam with dramatic excitement and a skillful attention to emphasizing in melodramatic terms the pathetic climax constituted by the weeping face of the woman at the center of the composition. Preceding these are the rare Madonna of Humility by the Bolognese painter Lippo di Dalmasio (Bologna, documented from 1377 to 1410), a witness to that’adherence to the late Gothic climate that, at the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries, had spread even in Bologna, and the San Girolamo by Annibale Carracci (Bologna, 1560 - Rome, 1609), in which the profoundly sincere and intimate devotion of the penitent is reflected in a gentle autumn nature under the passing evening light.

The exhibition also includes paintings by Francesco Zaganelli, Innocenzo Francucci known as Innocenzo da Imola, Bartolomeo Ramenghi known as il Bagnacavallo, Orazio Samacchini, Alessandro Mazzola, Ludovico Carracci, Carlo Bononi, Giacomo Cavedoni, Alessandro Tiarini, Marcantonio Franceschini, Giuseppe Marchesi known as il Sansone and Giacomo Zoboli.

Deserving a separate mention are two valuable canvases that, although outside the artistic context of Emilia, entered, along with other works, to enrich the collection in recent times following the dispersal of a large private collection in Emilia. These are a rare work with a religious subject, Christ and the Adulteress, by the Roman Ottavio Leoni (Rome, 1578 - 1630), a “portrait painter of Caravaggio’s Rome,” as Roberto Longhi calls him, and the canvas depicting The Continence of Scipio by the Neapolitan Francesco Solimena (Canale di Serino, 1657 - Barra di Napoli, 1747), who, by increasingly trying his hand at the great themes of history painting, was to become a major player in the panorama of the highest Italian late Baroque culture between the 17th and 18th centuries.

The exhibition can be visited from Friday to Sunday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Free admission.

For guided tours for groups and school groups, please contact La Galleria. Free catalog available at the exhibition venue.

For information: T. +39 059 2021598, lagalleria@bper.it, www.lagalleriabper.it.

Statements

“Looking back at what we have accomplished in these six years,” says Sabrina Bianchi Head of Brand and Marketing Communication and Cultural Heritage BPER Banca, “allows us to confirm that sharing the artistic and archival heritage of BPER Banca is what has made it possible for La Galleria to establish itself as a museum space known, recognized and appreciated by more than 30 thousand visitors. Evolution, development and transformation are the key words that characterize the history of La Galleria BPER Banca, whose direction is definitely set towards the future, a fair, conscious and sustainable future.”

“Following the evocative fil rouge of Emilian art,” writes Lucia Peruzzi curator of the exhibition, “the itinerary opens with a small section dedicated to devotional works. These images, almost all poetic variations on the theme of the figure of the Virgin, sometimes delicate and sweet, sometimes intense and protective, follow one another in the short space of the wall like prayers marking time in a Book of Hours.”

Modena, In the Rooms of Art. Unveiled paintings by old masters on display at BPER Bank Gallery.

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.