|
|
Italian Renaissance Treasures:
|
|
|
How do you celebrate your 75th anniversary when you are a world famous art gallery? If you're Lausanne's Fondation de l'Hermitage you welcome an incredible collection of Italian Renaissance paintings from Bergamo Italy's Accademia Carrara. |
Italian Painting from the Renaissance to the 18th Century
Treasures from the Accademia Carrara in Bergamo
Fondation de l'Hermitage
Lausanne, Switzerland
June 27 - October 26, 2008
Count Giacomo Carrara was a wealthy art collector who upon his death in 1796 left his impressive art works to the city. Among those whose work he favored, found in this exhibit are, Raphael, Giovanni Bellini, Vittore Carpaccio, Titian (Tiziano Vecellio), Canaletto (Giovanni Antonio Canal), Sandro Botticelli and Lorenzo Lotto.
Title: Histoire de Virginie / Story of Virginia, ca. 1500
Artist: Sandro Botticelli (Italian 1445-1510)
Medium: Tempera on Panel
Dimensions: 83 x 165 cm
Permanent Collection: Bergame, Accademia Carrara
Bequest of Giovanni Morelli
© photo Accademia Carrara, Bergame
Image Courtesy: Fondation de l'Hermitage, Lausanne Switzerland
Benedetto Caliari
|
Benedetto Caliari hailed from an artistic family. His father Gabriele was an accomplished stone cutter, his brother Paolo was given the nickname Veronese, taking the name from his birthplace Verona. |
|
Benedetto worked in his older brother Veronese's studio. It is believed Benedetto worked primarily on the architectural backgrounds for Veronese.
Gian Francesco Guardi
Title: Vue de la Place Saint-Marc (View of San Marco's Piazza, Venice), 1760-1770
Artist: Gian Francesco Guardi (Italian 1712-1793)
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: 62 x 96 cm
Permanent Collection: Bergame, Accademia Carrara
Bequest of Guglielmo Lochis
© photo Accademia Carrara, Bergame
Image Courtesy: Fondation de l'Hermitage, Lausanne Switzerland
Venetian born Gian Francesco Guardi, excelled in veduta. Italian for view, veduta is a large scale image of a cityscape. His brothers were also painters. His sister, Maria Cecilia married Giovanni Battista Tiepolo.
Guardi is better known for his Venetian views, second in importance only to Canaletto on that subject matter. Canaletto was likely a strong influence on him. Unlike Canaletto he didn't achieve acknowledgment during his lifetime. He died a poor man.
Lorenzo Lotto
|
|
Lotto preferred religious subjects such as the Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine. The subject could be either Catherine of Alexandria or Catherine of Siena, both of whom had inspirational visions. Usually, as Lotto did in this work, in a painting depicting Saint Catherine the Blessed Virgin and the baby Christ are included as figures in the work. |
Catherine of Siena dedicated her life to working with the poor. When she was nearly 20 years old, in 1366, she went through what she herself described as a "mystical marriage" with Jesus Christ. It was a popular theme in Renaissance artwork.
Evaristo Baschenis
Title: Instruments de musique avec nœud rose (Still Life of Musical Instruments with Pink Bow), 1660-1670
Artist: Evaristo Baschenis (Italian 1617-1677)
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: 75 x 108 cm
Permanent Collection: Bergame, Accademia Carrara
Gift of Paolo Lupi
© photo Accademia Carrara, Bergame
Image Courtesy: Fondation de l'Hermitage, Lausanne Switzerland
Hailing from Bergame near Cremona, home of the Amati family of violins creators, Evaristo Baschenis often painted musical instruments in his still life works. Art historian Rudolf Wittkower described Baschenis as "probably Italy's greatest still-life painter".
Italian artists rarely favored still life themed works prior to the 17th Century. Bachenis was rare in his choice of subject.
|
Raphael is considered to be one of the three greats of the Renaissance artists along with Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci. |
|
Born in Urbino, Raphael's father was the court painter for the Duke of Urbino. Eventually Raphael moved to Rome and came to the attention of Pope Julius II who commissioned him to decorate the Stanza della Segnatura at the Vatican. It is here where one of Raphael's most famous frescoes is found, The School of Athens.
Serenity is oft associated with Raphael figures such as in this wonderful painting depicting Saint Sebastian. The tortures that the martyr endured are not a part of the work. Instead Raphael paints Sebastian holding an arrow, the symbol of the saint's martyrdom. Sebastian was tied to a tree and shot with multiple arrows by Roman soldiers. Believing he was dead they left him. Saint Irene went to tend to what she believed was the dead body and instead discovered he was alive and nursed him back to health. After the Roman Emperor discovered Sebastian had survived he ordered him beaten to death.
|
|
Lausanne is located on Lake Geneva and is home to the headquarters of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The Hermitage Foundation or Fondation de l'Hermitage is one of many splendid museums in the capital city of Vaud canton. |
Raphael, Bellini, Titian, Lorenzo together are a wonderful reason to visit Lausanne and her Fondation de l'Hermitage to celebrate their 75th anniversary with this impressive loan of art works from Bergamo's Accademia Carrara.
Italian Painting from the Renaissance to the 18th Century
Treasures from the Accademia Carrara in Bergamo
Fondation de l'Hermitage, Lausanne Switzerland:
June 27 - October 26, 2008