VANCOUVER.- The Vancouver Art Gallery welcomes some of the greatest names in European art with the opening of Of Heaven and Earth: 500 Years of Italian Painting from Glasgow Museums on Friday, June 12. Tracing the Golden Age of Italian painting from the late 14th century to the late 19th century, this exhibition features masterpieces by extraordinary artists such as Sandro Botticelli, Giovanni Bellini, Titian, the Cavaliere d’Arpino (Giuseppe Cesari), Francesco Guardi, Domenichino and Salvator Rosa, presenting artworks produced in the principal artistic centres of Italy, such as Rome, Milan, Bologna, Florence, Siena, Naples and Venice. Subjects of the paintings include saints and religious figures, as well as scenes of Roman and Italian history. Of Heaven and Earth provides a rare opportunity for visitors to experience the breadth and sheer beauty of works by many iconic artists who helped achieve international acclaim for Italian art.
“Of Heaven and Earth is an unprecedented exhibition that showcases this extraordinary collection of Italian painting, which is one of the finest civic collections in the UK, from Glasgow Museums,” said Kathleen S. Bartels, Director of the Vancouver Art Gallery. “We are delighted to offer a rare opportunity for our visitors to witness and appreciate the sheer beauty of these Italian masterpieces in the coming months.”
For much of the last 500 years, Italian painting has been one of the driving forces in European art. Arranged chronologically, the exhibition is divided into five sections, beginning with Niccolò di Buonaccorso’s St. Lawrence (c. 1370–75); with its gold-leaf background and two-dimensional representation, it provides an excellent example of 14th century Sienese tradition. In comparison, Sandro Botticelli’s Annunciation (c. 1490– 95) demonstrates how masters of the 15th century employed more sculptural forms and a greater sense of perspective with the transition from the late Middle Ages to the Renaissance.
Under the influence of the High Renaissance, early 16th century painters reached a tremendous command over representation of nature as well as a fluency in figuration. One of this period’s great visionaries, Titian, developed a mastery of colour that can already be seen in his early painting Christ and the Adulteress (c. 1508–10). Late-century Mannerism is also well represented in this section, with works showing a characteristic elongation of the figures and the use of somewhat acidic colours.
The 17th century Baroque period was dominated by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, whose dramatic influence is seen in the remarkable painting Salome (c. 1681–85) by Carlo Dolci. The contrast between the gruesome head of St. John the Baptist and the demure delicacy of Salome gives the image a visual frisson. The beginnings of independent landscape painting are also seen here in the two magnificent canvases by Salvator Rosa, which—beyond their religious subjects—present studies of what became known as sublime landscape.
Artists of the 18th century engaged with allegorical and mythological subjects due to continued interest in the classical past. In addition, British patrons on their Grand Tour through Italy instigated a demand for vedute (view) paintings, such as Francesco Guardi’s masterful View of San Giorgio Maggiore (c. 1760). This growing diversification of art patronage led to a depiction of a wider range of subjects beyond the religious, imagery which had predominated in earlier periods.
The exhibition closes with a selection of outstanding 19th century works showing the popularity of patriotic and genre scenes in the new open market. The neo-classical period is evidenced in two austere canvases with frieze-like compositions by Vincenzo Camuccini. The pomp of history painting was gradually displaced with the dawn of the modern era and a growing interest in Realism. The final work in the exhibition is Antonio Mancini’s depiction of The Sulky Boy (1886), which presents a contemporary genre scene under the influence of French Impressionism, providing a stark contrast to what came before.
