Venice, a special guest at Palazzo Cini: Antoon van Dyck's Christ Crucified arrives from Genoa

The Guest at the Palace event returns for 2025, taking place as usual at Palazzo Cini in Venice. The Giorgio Cini Foundation will host, from May 14 to September 8, Antoon van Dyck’s Christ Crucified, considered one of the absolute masterpieces of the famous Flemish painter. The work, on loan, comes from the Royal Palace of the National Museums in Genoa. In return, the latter will welcome two Ferrara paintings belonging to the collection of Palazzo Cini, on the occasion of the exhibition Genoa and St. George, scheduled for autumn 2025.

In Venice, van Dyck’s painting will take center stage, and will be compared with Palazzo Cini’s permanent collection, in particular with the Crosses of the early masters, kept in the gold fund section.

Painted in 1627, Christ Crucified depicts, on a 124 by 93 cm canvas, the body of Jesus nailed to the cross, silhouetted against a dramatic sky, laden with dark clouds illuminated by intense glow, barely mitigated by pinkish hues. A wide white drape, enveloping the figure of Christ, helps to enhance his still vital presence, which turns upward a gaze filled with pain and intensity.

No details are yet known about the commissioning or history of the painting before 1821, when it was purchased by Carlo Felice of Savoy along with the collection of Andrea Carlo Gabaldoni. The first inventory recording its presence in the Royal Palace of Genoa dates back to 1836, with an attribution to van Dyck that has never been doubted and that, according to many scholars, represents the only autograph Crucifix of the artist that has come down to us among those made during his Italian sojourn.

A refined compositional harmony and profound pictorial skill, especially in the use of color, can be recognized in Christ Crucified. From the somber background of the setting the candid drapery emerges powerfully, the true emotional focus of the painting and the unmistakable signature of a master in light direction.

It is “a masterpiece of extraordinary lyrical intensity, played on striking color combinations. It is a vivid testimony to the Flemish master’s art, mindful of the Rubensian lesson, complemented by the skillful and refined use of color and luministic contrast,” explains Luca Massimo Barbero, director of the Giorgio Cini Foundation’s Institute of Art History.

The Art Conversations 2025

On May 14, at 5 p.m., Christ Crucified will be the focus of a lecture-dialogue given by Mari Pietrogiovanna, professor of Flemish and Dutch art history at the University of Padua. This is the second event in the ’Art Conversations’ series, a review that invites the public to dialogue with experts and scholars around themes and works in the Palazzo Cini collection.

The third conversation (May 28, 5 p.m.) will be dedicated to the core of the Ferrarese Renaissance: Vittorio Cini, a native of Ferrara, had devoted special attention to this collection, thanks also to the suggestions of museologist Nino Barbantini. Art historians Valentina Lapierre and Roberto Cara will discuss it.

Closing the series of meetings will be Loredana Luisa Pavanello, an art historian at the Giorgio Cini Foundation, on June 5 (5 p.m.): she will talk about the masterpieces of the Tuscan Renaissance for which the Palazzo Cini Gallery is famous, and to which an entire room is dedicated, in the room that was once used by Vittorio Cini as a salon for distinguished guests.

Participation in “Art Conversations” is free and open to all, with prior reservation: palazzocini@cini.it

Venice, a special guest at Palazzo Cini: Antoon van Dyck's Christ Crucified arrives from Genoa

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