The exhibition "Caravaggio and his followers", featuring an outstanding collection of works by the famous Baroque painter and a group of pieces by artists of the time, opens on October 25th, 2012 at the National Museum of Fine Arts of Buenos Aires.
As part of the commemoration of fourth centenary of death of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610), his works will be accompanied by more than twenty pieces by artists of the period, influenced by his production and techniques, among them: Artemisia Gentileschi, Cavarozzi Bartolomeo, Giovanni Baglione, Hendrick van Somer and José de Ribera, which works come from Italian institutions and private collections in Italy, Malta and England.
Some of the paintings belong to three of the state's most prestigious museums Italy: Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica di Palazzo Barberini and Galleria Borghese (Rome) and the Galleria degli Uffizi (Florence). Additionally, there are paintings from the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica in Palazzo Corsini, Galeria Spada, Museo Diocesano Prenestino di Arte Sacra, and Galleria Nazionale delle Marche.
Caravaggio was born in 1571, probably in Milan and moved with his family to Caravaggio in 1576, fleeing from the plague that ravaged his hometown. Trained in Milan and Rome, Caravaggio then traveled to Naples, Malta, Syracuse, Messina and Palermo, running from one place to another because of her tumultuous life, and died young, in 1610. These trips allowed the rapid dissemination of his painting, and his work and technique used were the inspiration for his followers (“Caravaggistas”).
The first part of the exhibition consists of the works by the great master: St. Jerome Writing (1605-1606), from the collection of Galleria Borghese; Saint Francis in Meditation (1606), from the Palazzo Barberini; Medusa (1597), from a private collection, and John the Baptist, seventeenth century painting from a private collection, both on display for the first time after their authenticity has been proven.
Also, the portrait of Cardinal (Benedetto Giustiniani), (1599-1600), from Galleria degli Uffizi, which comes out of Italy for the first time; San Genaro beheaded (1610) (attributed to Caravaggio) from the collection of the Diocesan Museum; and San Francisco in meditation (1606-1618), author's copy, from a private collection.
The rest of the exhibition is made up by works by fourteen artists influenced by Caravaggio, who adopted his technique, and comes complete by the large group of Baroque pieces from the permanent collection of the National Museum of Fine Arts, by Bartolomeo Cavarozzi, Luca Giordano, Francisco de Zurbarán, Peter Paul Rubens, Rembrandt van Rijn Harmensz, and José de Ribera, among others.
Location: Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Av. del Libertador 1473, Recoleta
Dates: October 25 - December 15, 2012
Opening hours:
Tuesday to Friday, 12:30 pm to 8:30 pm
Saturdays and Sundays: 9:30 am to 8:30 pm
Mondays closed
FREE ADMITTANCE
