An exhibition in Modena hosts portraits made from the 16th to the 20th century

The Cantore antiques gallery in Modena is hosting until June 29 the exhibition Volti. Italian Portraits from the 16th to the 20th Century, dedicated to portrait collecting. The emotions conveyed by portraits from any era, up to the present day, make the subject matter highly topical, also because human feelings are more or less always the same: in the 16th century, as well as in the 20th century. That is why the portraits are always relevant and close to us.

For the realization of this ambitious and significant exhibition, two leading Galleries in the panorama of the Italian and international art market have joined forces: the Cantore Gallery, which specializes in ancient painting from the 15th to the 18th century, and will host the event, unique in its chronological extension, which will present a nucleus of twelve ancient paintings in dialogue with as many works from the prestigious Frediano Farsetti Gallery in Milan, to give completeness to a historical path that unravels like a tale along five centuries.

In a chronologically articulated itinerary, visitors will be able to admire a 16th-century Portrait of a Gentlewoman by Innocenzo da Imola, two splendid portraits by Bartolomeo Passerotti of Bologna, and then move on to 18th-century Neapolitan portraiture by Gaspare Traversi and Giuseppe Bonito. Chronologically, the exhibition continues with a masterpiece by Giovanni Boldini from 1896, depicting The Two Friends, before moving on to Gino Severini’s Fillette au lapin, Alberto Savinio’s 1942 depiction of the Oriental, and concluding with Gino de Dominicis’ 1993 Opera ubiqua.

“It’s a very exciting experience to be able to see my paintings dialoguing with the modern and contemporary works of the Frediano Farsetti Gallery,” says Pietro Cantore, director of the gallery and vice president of the Associazione Antiquari d’Italia, “peculiar in this art historical journey, is the centrality of man and his emotions, which here are expressed through portraits, and it’s interesting to see the pictorial evolution: from the accuracy of the details of Innocenzo da Imola, to the chromatic preciousness and officiousness of Gaspare Traversi’s portraits; then moving on to a return to order, to the rules of the 19th century and arriving at the ’new’ emotionalities described in the portraits of the 20th century. Surprising it is to see how all the works come together in an extraordinary harmony, this proving how works of great quality do not know time.”

“We enthusiastically accepted the proposal of the Cantore Antique Gallery for an exhibition that would place alongside fine examples of antique portraiture works by the great masters of the early and late twentieth century from our gallery, all of which in various ways can be traced back to the representation of the human figure in every possible facet,” adds Sonia Farsetti, a specialist in modern and contemporary art and owner of the Frediano Farsetti Gallery. "It is surprising to see how the gleam of the armor of Felice Brusasorzi ’s armiger is in harmony with the glow of the gold background against which the silhouette of Urvasi painted by Gino De Dominicis stands out, and how the restlessness of the portraits by Ottone Rosai and Lorenzo Viani are a perfect counterbalance to the depth of the faces of Salomon Adler and Agostino Carracci. An exhibition that testifies to how art can transcend the barriers of history."

Artists on display: Benedetto Gennari, Felice Brusasorzi, Giuseppe Bonito, Salomon Adler, Agostino Carracci, Gaspare Traversi, Bartolomeo Passerotti, Lavinia Fontana, Innocenzo Francucci, Ludovico Lana, Felice Casorati, Gino De Dominicis, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Ottone Rosai, Lorenzo Viani, Massimo Campigli, Ottone Rosai, Giovanni Boldini, Gino Severini, Alberto Savinio, Filippo de Pisis.

Hours: Monday through Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 3:30 to 7:30 p.m.

Image: Bartolomeo Passerotti, Portrait of a condottiere of the House of Legnani in arms.

An exhibition in Modena hosts portraits made from the 16th to the 20th century

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