Gallerie d'Italia and National Gallery: loans of works for two major exhibitions
The Gallerie d'Italia - Naples has loaned the painting “The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula”, the last painting by Michelangelo Merisi, known as Caravaggio, to the National Gallery in London for the exhibition “The Last Caravaggio” staged to mark the 200th anniversary of the British museum.
The National Gallery, in turn, has loaned two works by Velázquez, “Immaculate Conception” and “Saint John the Evangelist on the Island of Patmos”, for the exhibition “Velázquez. Un segno grandioso”, held at the Gallerie d'Italia - Naples.
The exchange and cooperation relationship with the National Gallery underlines the recognition of Intesa Sanpaolo's role as a major international cultural player and confirms the Gallerie d'Italia as one of the most open and dynamic museums in Europe.
"Two masterpieces by Velázquez from the National Gallery welcomed in Naples, while our Caravaggio celebrates the 200th anniversary of the prestigious British museum in London, is an extraordinary circumstance that stems from a long bond of friendship, exchange and sharing with the National Gallery"
Michele Coppola, Executive Director for Art, Culture and Historical Heritage of Intesa Sanpaolo
The exhibitions “The Last Caravaggio” and “Velázquez. Un segno grandioso” also testify to the influence of Caravaggio's style on 17th century painting. In the works of the Lombard painter, there are indeed elements that prefigure a new pictorial realism and the theatricality typical of the Baroque.
The use of strong direct light and chiaroscuro contrasts, in particular, are elements of an artistic language that Velázquez borrowed from Caravaggio and had become a very important tool for representing the world at that time.
Velázquez: the “L’Ospite illustre” of the Gallerie d'Italia - Naples
The exhibition "Velázquez. Un segno grandioso" is part of the "L’Ospite illustre” event. Now at its 14th edition, "L’Ospite illustre" is an initiative curated and promoted by Intesa Sanpaolo, which since 2015 has been exhibiting important works on temporary loan from prestigious Italian and international museums in the museums of the Gallerie d'Italia and the Turin Skyscraper.
The "Immaculate Conception" and "Saint John the Evangelist on the Island of Patmos" are the two works from the National Gallery that have enriched the exhibition on Velázquez, which can be visited from 24 April to 14 July.
The exceptional loan of the “Immaculate Conception” and “Saint John the Evangelist on the Island of Patmos”, two early paintings by Velázquez, offers the cue for a reconsideration of the Seville-born master's passage to Naples and, more generally, of the figurative exchanges between Spanish and Neapolitan painting in the first half of the 17th century.
Two more Immaculate Conception paintings complete the exhibition “Velázquez. Un segno grandioso”: one by Paolo Finoglio, from the Franciscan convent of San Lorenzo Maggiore in Naples, the other by Battistello Caracciolo, kept in the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Roccadaspide, Cilento.
“The Last Caravaggio”, an exhibition on the last works of Michelangelo Merisi in London
"The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula" from the Gallerie d'Italia - Naples returns to London, to the National Gallery, almost 20 years after the last time and is exhibited together with "Salome receives the head of John the Baptist" in the exhibition "The Last Caravaggio", from 18 April to 21 July 2024.
“The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula” was only re-attributed to Caravaggio in 1980, following the discovery of a letter describing the commission of the painting. The document was sent from Naples, where the painting was made, to Genoa, where the commissioner Marcantonio Doria lived, and recounts the final stages of the work's realisation.
The letter attesting to Caravaggio's execution of “The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula” is on display for the first time in the UK in “The Last Caravaggio” exhibition.
“The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula” and “Salome Receives the Head of John the Baptist”, two of the very few late masterpieces by Michelangelo that have come down to us, exhibited together at the National Gallery in London, provide a rare opportunity to explore the final period of Caravaggio's artistic production.
1. Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi)
Milano 1571 - Porto Ercole 1610
Martirio di sant’Orsola
1610
Olio su tela
143 x 180 cm
Collezione Intesa Sanpaolo
Credits: Gallerie d’Italia – Napoli
2. Diego Velázquez
Siviglia 1599 - Madrid 1660
Immacolata Concezione
1618-1619
Olio su tela
135 x 101,6 cm
Londra, The National Gallery. Acquistato con il supporto dell’Art Fund, 1974
Credits: The National Gallery, London
3. Diego Velázquez
Siviglia 1599 - Madrid 1660
San Giovanni Evangelista sull’isola di Patmos
1618-1619
Olio su tela
135,5 x 102,2 cm
Londra, The National Gallery. Acquistato con una sovvenzione speciale e i contributi del Pilgrim Trust e dell’Art Fund, 1956
Credits: The National Gallery, London
Last updated 24 July 2024 at 14:29:00
