Three centuries of Italian painting. The treasures of the ancient art gallery of Trieste
By Mariam Chanishvili
Friday, September 27
The Georgian capital hosts the exhibition "Colors from Tintoretto to Canaletto", a review of the extraordinary works coming from the National Gallery of Ancient Art in Trieste, from September 27 until November 20, at the National Gallery of Georgia, in Tbilisi.
"A journey through time, in geography, in style, a fascinating journey through three centuries of Italian painting, starting in the second half of the Renaissance almost until the end of the 18th century, " explains the Ambassador of Italy to Georgia H.E. Antonio Enrico Bartoli.
Within a single exhibition route, the visitor will have a chance to find about 55 paintings - an opportunity to learn about the major schools of Northern Italy, from Bologna (Giuseppe Maria Crespi) to Genoa (Giovanni Battista Paggi, Gioacchino Assereto, Giovanni Francesco Castiglione), from Lombardy (Pier Francesco Mazzucchelli known as Morazzone, Pier Francesco Cittadini) to Veneto (Bonifacio De 'Pitati, Tintoretto, Carlo Caliari, Francesco Maffei, Nicola Grassi).
During the 17th century, the representation of nature or “Vedutismo” slowly became an independent subject. Some of the paintings on display reveal how the landscapes turned into an autonomous genre starting with the picture entitled Madonna with Child and the saints Dorotea and Catherine during the renaissance.
The painter, Bonifacio de Pitati was from Venetian School and gravitated in the circle of the famous Venetian master Palma il Vecchio, famously renowned for the innovative use of color and the important place he attributed to the landscape in his composition – by attributing it almost the same importance as the figure – both in terms of structure and emotional impact.
The exhibition offers a complete panorama of pictorial styles and the main genres of the era: portrait, landscape and still life. In addition to historical, allegorical-religious and mythological painting, you will be able to admire many scenes of daily life and also four magnificent sketches by Antonio Canaletto that gives us some suggestive views of Venice.
Giovanni Antonio Canal, commonly known as Canaletto, was an Italian painter. He also painted imaginary views, although the demarcation in his works between the real and the imaginary is never quite clear.
This exhibition is part of the program "Vivere ALL'italiana" which, only in the art sector, has so far attracted over 150 thousand visitors to Georgia and has been a big success. It is the product of the closer collaboration between the institutions of the two countries - Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Italy, the Embassy of Italy in Tbilisi and the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports and National Museum of Georgia. This last initiative was carried out by the Italian company Glocal Project Consulting.
