Genoa, new acquisitions enrich the collection of the National Gallery of Liguria

Significant new works were presented at Palazzo Spinola in Genoa, enriching the holdings of the National Gallery of Liguria, the custodian of state acquisitions in Liguria. The collection has been enriched with new works of art ranging from the late 15th century to the mid-20th century: these include a canvas by Guido Reni, a painting by Bernardo Strozzi and a panel by Lorenzo Fasolo.

Exactly seventy years after the first acquisition, the National Gallery is publishing the general catalog of works, documenting more than two hundred items in the collection. Edited by director Gianluca Zanelli with the collaboration of 39 scholars, the catalog offers detailed scientific files and a rich photographic apparatus created especially for this occasion. It is divided into three different sections (paintings and graphics, sculpture, decorative arts, documents, books and objects of material culture), each of which is arranged chronologically. A Masterpieces guide has also been published, designed as an agile guide intended for visitors, more streamlined, bringing together the museum’s main masterpieces and serving as a popular tool. Both volumes are published by Sagep Editori.

“The general catalog of a collection is a once-in-a-generation undertaking, or even more rarely. It requires years of study, research and restoration, and dedicated photographic and diagnostic campaigns,” said Genoa National Museums director Alessandra Guerrini. “It never comes out of nowhere but is based on the daily work that takes place inside the museums, and in the constant dialogue between the in-house curators and all the scholars who in various capacities deal with those works, authors and artistic schools, a dialogue whose only purpose is the advancement of knowledge. It is therefore, essentially, an unfashionable operation. It requires investments with a yield that is not immediate, and the long times of scholarly discussion and confrontation. But without these endeavors, there would also be no popularization, no translation for different audiences, no inclusion of synthesis sheets in national and international databases, no discursive sheets on websites, which can be consulted easily and free of charge by all.”

“The National Gallery of Liguria is configured,” explains Gianluca Zanelli, “as a particularly lively reality. This new updated collection catalog stands as evidence of a program of recovery and enhancement of Liguria’s dispersed cultural heritage. An activity that contributes to define with increasing evidence and strength the very physiognomy of the Gallery and its objectives, both from the exhibition point of view and in terms of content, with the presentation of an increasingly considerable number of pieces related to regional art or to some of its specific moments.”

The new acquisitions, which have entered the collections of the National Gallery of Liguria thanks to purchases by the Ministry of Culture, generous donations and bequests, transfers of works for tax payments and long-term deposits, represent a significant enrichment for the state collection. These include works linked to the Genoese artistic tradition, such as the Portrait of Agostino Doria juniore painted by Bernardo Strozzi, and masterpieces such as Guido Reni’s Judith with the Head of Holofernes, made with the contribution of his workshop in Bologna on commission from the Genoese nobleman Pietro Maria I Gentile between 1637 and 1638. This canvas was from that time kept in his collection until the early nineteenth century along with other masterpieces, such as Orazio Gentileschi ’s Sacrifice of Isaac, already long since acquired for the National Gallery of Liguria.

The nucleus dedicated to the Genoese seventeenth century expands with a Madonna and Child with St. Christopher (1639-1640) by Gioacchino Assereto, a 1654 canvas by Giuseppe Badaracco depicting Achilles Recognized at Sciro, and two works by his son Giovanni Raffaele Badaracco, Self-Portrait and Allegory of Painting, dating from the 1680s. Also acquired were two Genoese portraits from the late 17th century: that of Senator Francesco Pinelli, painted by Giovanni Enrico Vaymer, and the portrait of Cardinal Lorenzo Raggi, by an anonymous Genoese sculptor.

Renaissance painting is joined by a 1496 panel painting by Lorenzo Fasolo depicting an enthroned Madonna and Child, angels and donors. Twentieth-century art sees the entry of the canvas Le bagnanti (1929) by Amighetto Amighetti, a Portrait of a Young Girl with Pitcher (1927) by Ligurian artist Antonio Schiaffino, a 1954 ceramic sculpture by Asger Jorn, and four canvases made between 1956 and 1958 donated by painter Guido Strazza.

Among other new additions, Palazzo Spinola also features fine 19th-century furnishings of Genoese manufacture. Prominent among these are a riser decorated with mythological depictions and a table adorned with inlaid coats of arms of the nobility, further enriching the museum’s exhibition offerings.

Genoa, new acquisitions enrich the collection of the National Gallery of Liguria

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