Ottocento: Da Canova al Quarto Stato
This is the very first time that an exhibition has been devoted purely to 19th century painting in Italy. Despite being the century in which Italy won its freedom and its national independence, in other words the era of the Risorgimento or national reawakening, the 19th century has always seemed to coincide with Italy's loss of its former leading role, after the country's culture and civilisation had dominated the world for centuries. While opera, with Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini, Verdi and Puccini, was universally appreciated (and has remained so), only the sculptor Canova in the early part of the century and the painters Boldini and Segantini in the latter part have enjoyed anything like genuine international recognition.

So this exhibition is something of a challenge. The Scuderie del Quirinale will be playing host to some 100 masterpieces selected by Maria Vittoria Marini Clarelli, (Director of Rome's National Gallery of Modern Art), and by Fernando Mazzocca and Carlo Sisi (the two most eminent scholars in the field of 19th century Italian art, also responsible for the organisation of two previous exhibitions, devoted to the Macchiaioli school and to Boldini respectively -- both of which were extremely well received by the general public and by the critics).

Discussion