from the Medici circle 1620-1720
Francesco Curradi (1570-1661)
Rutilio Manetti (1571-1639)
Giovanni Martinelli (1600-1659)
Lorenzo Lippi (1606-1665)
Stefano della Bella (1610-1664)
Alessandro Gherardini (1655-1723)
on Friday, May 31, 2024 at 17:00.
R.S.V.P.
Kindly confirm your attendance by phone (12 257 56 34) or e-mail zderzak@zderzak.pl
Their love for the art of painting was so great that it is astonishing. Good taste, thanks to which they gracefully navigated difficult color scales, formal elegance based on the cult of disegno, self-awareness resulting from the cultivation of tradition, the patronage of the Medici and the company of friendly criticism, give us much happiness.
The invitation to the exhibition of Florentine Baroque artists includes a painting by Alessandro Gherardini with a dragon in the lap of Saint Margaret – only for the pleasure of taking a closer look at the painting game (enlargement of the fragment at the link: https://zderzak.pl/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/cid_80A0680F-5179-4B37-97C2-CD4B051FCB1E.png). The scene is a prison cell with an underground river flowing through it – the only source of light is the faint gleam of the waves. The reflections on the detainee’s robes are opalescent, like the bodies of some sea creatures; these plays of light hide the sorry state of her clothes from the viewer’s view. Traces of painters’ hands are sometimes destroyed by time and excessive conservation – the modeling of a well-preserved painting by Gherardini is a feast for the eye.
Our collection of baroque artists from the Medici circle, although small, provides aesthetic and cognitive joy – all paintings are painted by the hand of outstanding artists in the Florentine chromatic scale. We present painters of three generations, from late Counter-Mannerism to the beginnings of Rococo – a set of works unique in Central Europe. Among them:
– „Laura” by Francesco Curradi, the only female portrait with a solar eclipse in the world (https://zderzak.pl/pl/8455-2/);
– “Saint Catherine of Siena Receiving the Stigmata” by Rutilio Manetti, considered an Italian national treasure;
– „Tobias with the Angel” by Lorenzo Lippi, a painting with unusual spatial geometry, from the collection of Lords Crawford and Balcarres, acquired in Florence in 1865 by Alexander William Crawford Lindsay, a famous connoisseur of Italian primitives;
– „Madonna and Child” by Giovanni Martinelli, a little gem of a collection in cool tones of pastel and metallic colors.
The collection of paintings is enriched by three excellent etchings by Stefano della Bella from the series „Quatre grands paysages en hauteur” (1652-57), showing a journey through the Apennines to Florence and the unity of man with nature.
These are the late fruits of a noble tree, full of gentleness and pictorial wonders. Hosting such masters in Zderzak is an undeserved honor.
We invite you!
The exhibition „Baroque Masters from the Medici circle” will last until November 30, 2024.
The gallery is open from Tuesday to Saturday from 12-5 p.m.
Visits by appointment only. Admission tickets are required for the exhibition.
Free admission: active and retired primary school teachers.
Photo: Alessandro Gherardini, „Saint Margaret”, oil on canvas, 116 x 87 cm, Florence, circa 1720, The Zderzak Collection
Provenance: Giovanni Pratesi collection, Florence
Expertise: Dr. Ornella Casazza (1943-2020), director of the Palazzo Pitti Silver and Porcelain Museum
Bibliography: Sandro Bellesi, Catalogo dei pittori fiorentini del '600 e '700. Biografie e opere, Florence 2009, vol. I, p. 162, vol. II, p. 344, no. 770, illus.
Text © Archiwum Galerii Zderzak 2024