The Bper Banca Gallery presents, from 17 March to 2 July 2023, at the art gallery in via Scudari 9 in Modena, a new study dedicated to Emilian painting from the 14th to the 18th century. The exhibition ‘In the rooms of art. Unveiled paintings of ancient masters’, curated by Lucia Peruzzi, ideally continues the itinerary presented by the Galleria Bper Banca in 2017, ‘A casket for art’, offering visitors the opportunity to discover unpublished masterpieces of the Modena nucleus, once placed for the decoration of the headquarters offices. With this project, Bper Banca is continuing to promote its artistic heritage, which is increasingly usable and accessible thanks to a dynamic, constantly evolving exhibition programme. A note from the credit institution announces it.
“Rethinking what we have achieved in recent years – says Sabrina Bianchi, Head of Cultural Heritage of Bper Banca – allows us to confirm with conviction that the enhancement of the artistic and archival heritage of Bper Banca is what makes it possible to spread awareness towards the art, a commitment that the Galleria Bper Banca has undertaken and is carrying on establishing itself, today, as a corporate collection known, recognized and appreciated by over 30,000 visitors.Evolution, development and transformation are the key words that characterize the path of La Galleria Bper Banca, whose direction is certainly traced towards a future that will see us as protagonists, already in 2023, in various squares of the country”.
“Following the evocative fil rouge of Emilian art – explains Lucia Peruzzi – the itinerary opens with a small section dedicated to works of a devotional nature. These images, almost all poetic variations on the theme of the figure of the Virgin, sometimes delicate and sweet, sometimes intense and protective, they follow one another in the short space of the wall like prayers that mark the time in a Book of Hours”.
Among the main works on display, we note “The continence of Scipione” by Francesco Vellani (Modena, 1688 – 1768), a painting certainly destined for an important noble collection, which is characterized by the lightness of the pictorial touch, the extenuated narrative vein and elegant and cold and at the same time dazzling colors of typical Baroque taste; the “Holy Family in the carpenter’s workshop” by Giuseppe Maria Crespi (Bologna, 1665 – 1747), a masterpiece by the Bolognese master, capable of grasping reality in the most anecdotal and human cues and of measuring himself against the local tradition, restoring it in a language of the all personal, imbued with accents of truth sometimes so powerful as to prelude to Goya; the “Death of Priam” by Giovan Gioseffo Dal Sole (Bologna, 1654 – 1719) which renders the Virgilian episode of the Death of Priam with a dramatic excitement and with a skilful attention to underline in melodramatic terms the pathetic apex constituted by the weeping face of the woman at the center of the composition.
Precedents are the rare “Madonna of humility” by the Bolognese painter Lippo di Dalmasio (Bologna, documented from 1377 to 1410), witness of that adherence to the late Gothic climate which, between the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, had also spread in Bologna, and the “San Girolamo” by Annibale Carracci (Bologna, 1560 – Rome, 1609), in which the deeply sincere and intimate devotion of the penitent reverberates in a sweetly autumnal nature under the passing of the evening light.
The exhibition also includes paintings by Francesco Zaganelli, Innocenzo Francucci known as Innocenzo da Imola, Bartolomeo Ramenghi known as Bagnacavallo, Orazio Samacchini, Alessandro Mazzola, Ludovico Carracci, Carlo Bononi, Giacomo Cavedoni, Alessandro Tiarini, Marcantonio Franceschini, Giuseppe Marchesi known as Samson and Giacomo Zoboli.
Two precious canvases deserve separate mention which, although outside the Emilian artistic context, have entered, together with other works, to enrich the collection in recent times following the dispersion of a large Emilian private collection. It is a rare work with a religious subject, “Christ and the adulteress”, by the Roman Ottavio Leoni (Rome, 1578 – 1630), “portraitist of Caravaggio’s Rome”, as defined by Roberto Longhi, and the canvas depicting “The Continence di Scipione” by the Neapolitan Francesco Solimena (Canale di Serino, 1657 – Barra di Napoli, 1747), who, increasingly engaging in the great themes of history painting, will become a prominent protagonist in the panorama of the highest Italian late Baroque culture between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
The exhibition can be visited from Friday to Sunday from 10.00 to 18.00. Free and free entry. For guided tours for groups and schools, it is necessary to contact La Galleria, while the catalog is available free of charge at the exhibition venue. It is also possible to request information by calling 059 2021598 or via email at [email protected] and www.lagalleriabper.it.
The Gallery is the corporate cultural reality that enhances, protects and makes Bper Banca’s artistic and archival heritage usable. Bper Banca believes in a widespread culture and is committed to ensuring that its corporate collection is always accessible, close to the territories and constantly evolving. It promotes cultural heritage with social responsibility objectives, stimulating reflections on current and relevant issues, with particular attention to the new generations, for a fair, aware and sustainable future. The Modena exhibition space hosts dynamic temporary exhibitions presenting the masterpieces of the Bper Banca corporate collection, thus becoming a place of exchange and meeting, where art and culture are the protagonists of continuous scientific research.