At Gallerie d'Italia - Vicenza, ancient ceramics talk to comics
10 April 2025
Intesa Sanpaolo opens to the public at the Gallerie d'Italia - Vicenza the exhibition “CERAMICS AND CLOUDS. What ancient Greek ceramics tell us about ourselves”: this is an unprecedented project that brings seemingly distant worlds such as ancient ceramics and comics into dialogue, thanks to universal topics spanning the centuries.
Just as the scenes depicted on antique vases constitute a very important source of historical and social analysis, so today comics tell the story of society by following its evolution and reflecting on the questions to which man has always sought answers.
More specifically, the exhibition displays four works selected from Intesa Sanpaolo's collection of antique and Magna Graecia ceramics, which are compared with the art of comics and are dedicated to four topical themes related to four mythological characters:
- Helen or women - portraying women and femininity
- Dionysus or diversity - focusing on the theme of diversity
- Ajax or conflict - portraying conflict and war
- Eros or desire - symbolising love, feelings and desire.
The artists who have been entrusted with the task of measuring themselves against Magna Graecia art are Lorenza Natarella, on the theme of the feminine, Elisa Macellari for Dionysus, Fabio Pia Mancini for Ajax, and Giovanni Esposito, aka Gio Quasirosso for Eros.
Coinciding with the exhibition are educational activities and workshops for schools and visitors, as well as family laboratories and talks with the artists. Special attention has been paid to accessibility through, for example, tactile aids and 3D reproductions.
The exhibition is curated by Francesco Poroli for Associazione Illustri and has the patronage of the Municipality of Vicenza.
The Vicenza museum – along with those of Milan, Naples and Turin – is part of Intesa Sanpaolo's Gallerie d’Italia museum project.
Open to the public from 11 April 2025 to 22 March 2026. For information on timetables and admission, please visit the Gallerie d'Italia website.
Intesa Sanpaolo's collection of antique and Magna Graecia ceramics
The Intesa Sanpaolo collection of antique and Magna Graecia ceramics consists of more than five hundred artefacts from Ruvo di Puglia, a flourishing ancient centre in the present-day province of Bari.
Imported from Athens or produced in Apulia and Lucania between the 6th and 3rd centuries BC, the vases provide valuable evidence of the culture of Western Greece.
The collection was originally owned by the Caputi family and has been part of Intesa Sanpaolo's art holdings since 1999. It is currently preserved in its entirety in the Gallerie d'Italia in Naples.
1. Cratere a campana apulo nello stile di Gnathia
Antico Gnathia, 360-340 a.C.
Lato A: Eros insegue una lepre
Collezione Intesa Sanpaolo
2. Manieristi Indeterminati
Cratere a colonnette attico a figure rosse, 460-450 a.C.
Lato A: Scena di toilette
Lato B: Scena di sacrificio?
Collezione Intesa Sanpaolo
3. Officina del Pittore di Baltimora
Cratere a volute apulo a figure rosse, 330-310 a.C.
Lato A: Fanciulle alla fonte e amazzonomachia
Lato B: Defunta entro naiskos
Collezione Intesa Sanpaolo
4. Pittore di Leningrado
Cratere a colonnette attico a figure rosse, 470-460 a.C.
Lato A: Donne celebrano un rito davanti al simulacro di Dioniso
Lato B: Scena di danza
Collezione Intesa Sanpaolo
Last updated 28 April 2025 at 08:42:19
