Borghese Gallery also sends iconic works to China: Caravaggio on a trip to Shanghai

Rome ’s Galleria Borghese also joins the ranks of museums sending iconic masterpieces to China for exhibitions that are not talked about in Italy. As of a few days ago, in fact, visitors who enter the museum to see Caravaggio’s works will find the collection devoid of two notable works, among the museum’s most recognizable pieces, those for which people tend to line up: the Ragazzo con canestra di frutta and Caravaggio’s San Giovanni Battista have in fact flown to Shanghai where they will remain from December 12, 2023 to April 4, 2024 for the exhibition Caravaggio. Wonders of the Italian Baroque.

As is often the case on these occasions, there is no news from the Galleria Borghese, and as of today, in the “News” section of the website, there is no information about the move (only in the section of “Works currently not on display” are the two works listed, but the Chinese exhibition does not appear in the list of exhibitions in which the works participated).

The Foreign Ministry website reports that the exhibition is organized by the Italian Cultural Institute in Shanghai and the Consulate General of Italy in collaboration with the Museum of Art Pudong , which is hosting the show, while the Chinese press reports that it is produced by a local company, Shanghai Liujiazui Development Group Company Ltd.“The exhibition,” says the presentation, “aims to astonish and amaze, and the baroque music, which accompanies the exhibition route, creates a unique and engaging atmosphere. The itinerary, among the works of the major exponents of the art workshops of the period-the Roman, Emilian, Neapolitan, Veneto-Lombard, and Tuscan-Marchigiana Schools-allows visitors to immerse themselves in the context and pictorial techniques characteristic of this artistic period.” Part of the exhibit are 57 paintings lent not only by the Galleria Borghese, but also by the Uffizi, Gallerie Nazionali d’Arte Antica and Intesa Sanpaolo. In particular, as for Caravaggio’s works, the Uffizi lent the Portrait of a Knight of Malta from Palazzo Pitti, the National Galleries of Ancient Art sent the Saint John the Baptist, while Intesa sent theCoronation of Thorns, and there is also the Portrait of Maffeo Barberini from a private collection. The Borghese Gallery, however, is the most substantial contributor: among the pieces that left for China are works from the museum (including some key pieces) such as Guido Reni’s Country Dance (one of the Borghese’s last purchases, recently featured in an exhibition dedicated to her), Federico Barocci’s Escape of Aeneas from Troy , Domenichino’s Sibyl , Faith Galicia’s Judith with the Head of Holofernes , the Still Life by the Master of Hartford, theGian Lorenzo Bernini’sSelf-Portrait , Cavalier d’Arpino’s Venus Crowned by Love , Giovanni Baglione’sEcce Homo , Gerrit van Honthorst’s Concerto , and Lionello Spada’s Concerto .

“We are happy,” said Francesca Cappelletti, director of the Borghese Gallery, in a note published on the website of the Italian Cultural Institute in Shanghai, “that in Shanghai the Borghese Gallery can present the variety and richness of Scipione Borghese’s collection, especially in this exhibition that focuses precisely on the masterpieces of artists contemporary with him.”

In short, on the one hand an exhibition that declares that its intent is to want to “astonish and amaze,” and on the other the director of the Galleria Borghese affirming her intention to present the richness of her museum’s collection.This is the first “Caravaggio-themed” exhibition in China, as the Pudong Museum of Art points out, but as is often the case on these occasions the scientific project seems anything but compelling. The museums involved at the moment do not seem to have made it known what the quid pro quo was that comes from China in exchange for such important loans. The case is reminiscent of that of the Complesso della Pilotta in Parma , which let it be known that it received 150,000 euros in exchange for not exhibiting for three months one of its most famous pieces, Leonardo da Vinci’s Scapiliata , lent for an exhibition in Shanghai at the same time as Caravaggio’s. Instead, what will come into the coffers of our museums in the face of being unable to show other iconic pieces to visitors for the duration of the Chinese exhibition?

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the Museum of Art Pudong

Borghese Gallery also sends iconic works to China: Caravaggio on a trip to Shanghai

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