Palazzo Spinola hosts an exhibition on the "Genoese" Bartolomeo Cavarozzi

The Bartolomeo Cavarozzi in Genoa exhibition at the Galleria Nazionale di Palazzo Spinola in Genoa, curated by Gianluca Zanelli, is on view from December 6, 2017 toApril 8, 2018. This is an exhibition created in collaboration with the Intesa San Paolo Group, which is organizing the Ultimo Caravaggio exhibition at the Gallerie d’Italia in Milan. Thanks to this collaboration, three works arrive in Genoa, all depicting Sacred Families (one from a private collection, one from the Albertina in Turin and one from the Robilant+Voena gallery) painted by Bartolomeo Cavarozzi (Viterbo, 1587 - Rome, 1625), a Caravaggio artist who had close relations with Genoa.

The three Holy Families were precisely made at a time when the artist was establishing strong ties with the city. The first mention of a Cavarozzi work in Genoa goes back to an inventory of Giovan Carlo Doria (his Portrait on Horseback, painted by Rubens, is one of the masterpieces in the Galleria di Palazzo Spinola and was loaned to the Gallerie d’Italia for the Milan exhibition), compiled between 1617 and 1621: that work depicted the Lament of Aminta (thus a literary subject) and was particularly close to Caravaggesque poetics, as are the three works now on display in the Genoese museum until April.

The theme of the “holy family” was one Cavarozzi was most fond of: the artist often found himself replicating, with variations in poses, gestures and settings, particularly successful works, as in the case of the three paintings on display. They are all paintings of Genoese provenance: the one now in a private collection probably belonged to the Spinola family, the one at the Albertina in the 18th century was in the picture gallery of Costantino Balbi senior, and the one by Robilant+Voena is remembered in the Spinola palace in Strada Nuova. “They are works of the highest formal quality,” we read in the presentation of the exhibition, “where the gazes of the protagonists, converging in the eyes of the viewer, are capable of arousing strong emotional involvement.”

The exhibition can be visited during the public opening hours of the National Gallery of Palazzo Spinola, namely Tuesday through Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., Sundays and holidays from 1:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Closed Mondays, special closing on December 8. Tickets: full price 6 euros, reduced for students 18 to 25 years old 3 euros. Free for under 18 and everyone on the first Sunday of the month. The Gallery ticket gives reduced admission to the Museum of Palazzo Reale and the exhibition on Domenico Piola at Palazzo Nicolosio Lomellino. The catalog is published by SAGEP and contains essays by Gianluca Zanelli, Marieke von Bernstorff and Daniele Sanguineti, along with a documentary appendix by Gabriele Langosco, a biography of the painter edited by Gabriella Aramini, and in-depth fact sheets on the three paintings compiled by Gabriele Langosco, Matteo Moretti and Daniele Sanguineti. Info at www.palazzospinola.beniculturali.it.

Image: the Holy Family by Bartolomeo Cavarozzi from the Albertina Academy of Turin.

Palazzo Spinola hosts an exhibition on the "Genoese" Bartolomeo Cavarozzi

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