At the Civic Museum of Bari, an exhibition places Rembrandt and Barocci engravings in dialogue

Two great protagonists ofengraving, who lived more than 70 years apart and in very different geographical contexts, meet ideally in Bari in the exhibition Rembrandt and Barocci. Engraving Light, hosted at the Museo Civico di Bari from March 19 to May 3, 2026. The exhibition compares the graphic works of Rembrandt van Rijn and Federico Barocci to explore two artistic visions united by their ability to translate light into an engraving sign. With this exhibition, the twinning between the City of Bari and the City of Gradara is officially sanctioned, initiating an institutional collaboration based on shared cultural promotion, with the aim of developing common projects, enhancing artistic heritage and strengthening the dialogue between communities and museum institutions.

The exhibition project, curated by art historian Luca Baroni, director of the Marche Nord Museum Network and one of the leading scholars of Federico Barocci’s work, is promoted by the municipalities of Bari and Gradara with the support of Consorzio Idria s.c.r.l. and thanks to the collaboration of the Battaglini family, owner of the collection from which the works on display come.

The exhibition path proposes a direct comparison between the graphic production of Rembrandt (Leiden, 1606 - Amsterdam, 1669) and that of Barocci (Urbino, 1535 - 1612), bringing together more than forty original etchings, including Barocci’s rare autograph etchings, considered among the earliest examples of modern Italian printing, and a significant selection of Rembrandt’s etchings from the Battaglini collection, presented for the first time in an organic way. At the center of the exhibition emerges a critical hypothesis that Rembrandt may have known a print by Barocci, the Madonna and Child on the Clouds, drawing inspiration from it for his own etching made in 1641. The exhibition is divided into six thematic sections that span spiritual visions, scenes of everyday life, self-portraits and domestic interiors, developing a continuous dialogue made up of light, sign and atmosphere.

The exhibition includes the complete series of Federico Barocci’s autograph etchings, four sheets of extraordinary quality such as Stigmata of St. Francis, Pardon of Assisi, Madonna and Child on the Clouds,Annunciation and Flight into Egypt, in which the artist experiments with the expressive potential of etching with a vibrant sign full of emotional intensity. Alongside these works, thirty-eight sheets by Rembrandt, selected from the Battaglini collection, restore all the technical and narrative variety of the Dutch master: TheSelf-portraits (the one with hat from 1638 and the one with his wife Saskia from 1636) stand out, along with works such as theScholar in the Study (also known as Doctor Faustus), the Deposition from the Cross and the Woman Bathing Her Feet in the Stream, which reveal intellectual pursuit, counter-reflective pathos and attention to the everyday, respectively.

Scenes of popular life, such as The Pancake Maker and The Schoolmaster, and images of intense spirituality, such as Saint Jerome in the Dark Room, built on the contrast between light and shadow, complete the itinerary. The entire selection shows how, for both artists, engraving is not a secondary activity, but an autonomous field of research and experimentation, in which the image takes shape directly from creative thought, without mediation.

At the Civic Museum of Bari, an exhibition places Rembrandt and Barocci engravings in dialogue

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.