Two masterpieces by Tranquillo Cremona reunited after eighty years in Milan

Two important masterpieces by Tranquillo Cremona (Pavia, 1837 - Milan, 1878), a leading exponent of the Scapigliatura movement, have been reunited again after almost a century: they are Melodia and In ascolto, which make up an important diptych by the artist, one of the leading works of late 19th-century European art. Cremona created the two works between 1874 and 1878, commissioned by Andrea Ponti, an industrialist active in textiles, who had requested them for his villa in Varese, where, however, the diptych was never exhibited. These are the works at the center of the exhibition Tranquillo Cremona. Return to Milan, curated by Sergio Rebora and running at the Maspes Galleries in Milan from March 16 to May 31, 2018.

The two works were first presented to the public in 1878 on the occasion of the posthumous exhibition of Tranquillo Cremona’s works organized in the Ridotto of Milan’s Teatro alla Scala by Vittore Grubicy de Dragon, then they were exhibited again in 1912 at the Venice Biennale and again in 1929 at the exhibition in the Sala delle Cariatidi of the Palazzo Reale in Milan, which commemorated the 50th anniversary of the artist’s death. The last time the public was able to see them together was the exhibition Tranquillo Cremona and the Lombard Artists of His Time, which took place at the Castello Visconteo in Pavia in 1938. The works are particularly illustrative of the style of scapigliatura: as the presentation states, scapigliatura in fact "intended to propose an innovative pictorial language, far from the now stereotyped academic models, attentive to themes sensitive to the social and cultural changes of the time, expressed through a vaporous drafting, made of soft brushstrokes and vibrant in direct light, in some ways parallel to FrenchImpressionism."

Also presented at the Maspes Galleries exhibition will be the Archivi della Scapigliatura project, which aims to catalogue the works of art of Scapigliati artists and which comes at the conclusion of a study of this important artistic movement of the 19th century undertaken by Maspes Galleries, which has already dedicated other exhibitions to the Scapigliati.

The exhibition is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 3 to 7 p.m. Admission is free. For information you can visit the Maspes Galleries website.

Pictured: Tranquillo Cremona, Melodia (1874-1878; oil on canvas, 115 x 129 cm) and In ascolto (1874-1878; oil on canvas, 115.5 x 129.5 cm)

Two masterpieces by Tranquillo Cremona reunited after eighty years in Milan

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