Palazzo Martinengo hosts the ... artistic derby between the great painters from the 1500s to the 1700s from Brescia and Bergamo

The halls of Palazzo Martinengo in Brescia will host from January 21 to June 11, 2023 the exhibition Lotto, Romanino, Moretto, Ceruti. The Champions of Painting in Brescia and Bergamo, curated by Davide Dotti. On this occasion for the first time the masterpieces of the greatest artists active between the 16th and 18th centuries in Brescia and Bergamo will be placed in dialogue, presenting the culture and artistic production of the two cities during the centuries of Venetian domination.

The exhibition is part of the program of Bergamo Brescia Italian Capital of Culture 2023, is organized by theFriends of Palazzo Martinengo Association, under the patronage of the Province of Brescia, the Municipality of Brescia, the Municipality of Bergamo, and the Province of Brescia Events Foundation.

More than eighty masterpieces from both Italian and foreign public and private collections made by the great Brescian masters of the Renaissance such as Foppa, Moretto, Romanino, Savoldo and Gambara and by the great masters of Bergamo such as Moroni, Palma il Vecchio, Cariani, Previtali and Lotto (the latter who lived and worked for over twelve years in Bergamo), in order to understand how the common Lombard cultural context, enlivened by the innovations proposed by Venetian painters, especially Bellini and Titian, gave rise to expressive languages that were in some cases similar, in others antithetical.

A comparison will be made between canvases executed during the fifth decade of the sixteenth century by Moretto and by Moroni, who, in those years, was in Brescia in the workshop of Bonvicino, from whom he assimilated the intense naturalism that characterizes the poetics of the Brescian genius. The same unprecedented parallel between the exponents of the two schools of painting will be proposed in the following rooms devoted to the theme of portraiture, with Moroni, Ceresa and Fra Galgario on one side and Bellotti, Cifrondi and Giacomo Ceruti known as il Pitocchetto on the other, of Baroque painting, of still life, including Baschenis and Bettera, Rasio and Duranti, and of genre painting where the paintings with dwarfs and pygmies by Bocchi and his Bergamasque pupil Albrici, the landscapes by Roncelli and the rustic interiors of farmsteads and taverns by Botti will be the protagonists.

The exhibition itinerary will continue on the main floor with an exhibition within the exhibition, which offers four in-depth studies dedicated to themes related to the cultural identity and history of the two cities, through sculptures, drawings, musical instruments, paintings, historical relics, ancient documents and period photographs. In particular, the figures of the two 20th-century popes, Bergamo’s John XXIII and Brescia’s Paul VI, and their relationship with art and artists, from Picasso to Chagall, from Matisse to Dalí to Manzù, will be investigated; gastronomic and musical traditions between the Renaissance and the 20th century; finally, a special focus will be devoted to the adventure of architect Marcello Piacentini, active in the early decades of the 20th century between Bergamo and Brescia, who transformed the urban face of the two cities.

“For a year as unique and unrepeatable as 2023 will be for Brescia and Bergamo,” said curator Davide Dotti, “I conceived a special and different exhibition than the last eight curated in Palazzo Martinengo. The exhibition, in fact, espousing the profound meaning of the Italian Capital of Culture 2023, will propose an unprecedented and exciting comparison between the greatest painters active in the two cities during the nearly four centuries of Venetian domination, thus giving life a true artistic and cultural derby that will continue on the main floor of Palazzo Martinengo in the sections dedicated to architecture, music, gastronomic traditions and the two great popes of the 20th century and their relationship with art and artists. Walking through the halls of the Palazzo, the public will thus take an exciting journey full of unpublished works, surprises and curiosities, the aim of which is to highlight the extraordinary cultural heritage that has been stratified over the centuries in Brescia and Bergamo, as well as to stimulate a new awareness of a fundamental chapter in the history of Italian art, written by the great masters of painting active in the two cities, twinned in the year of the Italian Capital of Culture.”

The exhibition is the new exhibition event of the Friends of Palazzo Martinengo Association. Accompanying the exhibition is a catalog published by Silvana Editoriale.

For info: www.mostrabresciabergamo.it

Hours: Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturday, Sunday and holidays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Closed Mondays and Tuesdays.

Image: Alessandro Bonvicino known as Moretto, The Visitation (oil on panel, 66 x 91 cm; private collection)

Palazzo Martinengo hosts the ... artistic derby between the great painters from the 1500s to the 1700s from Brescia and Bergamo

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