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Italiano
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Mola and His Time
Figure Painting in Rome from the Koelliker Collection
Ariccia, Palazzo Chigi - Piazza di Corte, 14
22 January - 23 April 2005
(click the photo to enlarge)
The exhibit "Mola and his time. Painting of Figures in Rome" on loan from the Koelliker Collection
from 22 January to 23 April 2005, focuses on the figure of Pierfrancesco Mola (1612-1666) and
the Roman art world to which he was connected, though a homogenous group of paintings from one of the most
Italian private collections, the collection of Luigi Koelliker from Milan.
 Pier Francesco Mola, God Omnipotent Father oil on canvas, Milan, Koelliker Collection  Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Portrait of Virginio Cesarini oil on canvas, Milan, Koelliker Collection  Giuseppe Cesari a.k.a "Il Cavalier d'Arpino", David with the head of Goliath oil on canvas, Milan, Koelliker Collection  Pier Francesco Mola, Endymion (detail) oil on canvas, Milan, Koelliker Collection  Mattia Preti, St. Anthony and S.Paul hermit oil on canvas, Milan, Koelliker Collection  Carlo Maratta Portrait of Francesca Gommi oil on canvas, Milan, Koelliker Collection  Salvator Rosa, Mary Magdalene oil on canvas, Milan, Koelliker Collection In the exhibit we can see many newly-discovered works, among which a splendid God the Father, a painting of rare naturalistic and expressive power, a new version of The Viola Player, a splendid Endymion and some other works. The exhibit also displays the works of Pierfrancesco Mola's teachers: Guercino, Cavalier d' Arpino and, a central figure of the Roman Baroque as well as an influence and surely an inspiration to the painter, Gian Lorenzo Bernini. We see the great sculptor, painter and architect, express spiritual force in the portrait of the poet Virginio Cesarini, one of the great intellectuals of the Barberini papacy, recently added to the Koelliker collection, and also a remarkable Self-portrait in which Bernini paints himself with the aid of a mirror, and we see him from the back, while he is drawing. The Roman artistic environment is represented by works of Lanfranco, Salvator Rosa, Carlo Maratta, Baciccio, Schonfeld, as well as Andrea Pozzo; all artists from the "neovenetian" tradition of lively painting that characterizes Roman painting between the 1620s and the last quarter of the 1600's of which Mola is its major exponent and founder. We can admire portraits by Ferdinand Voet, portraitist of naturalistic style, and Alexander Mattia, classical painter but strongly introspective spirit and very sensitive to realism. Between the many exposed masterpieces, a portrait by Carlo Maratta of his wife attracts our attention, who after the death of Mola and Cortona became the leader of the late Roman Baroque school of painting. The never-before exhibited sculpture, Portrait of Francesca Gommi, becomes a bench mark that rewrites the history of the great Roman portraits of the 1600's. Several works of Mola's influence or of his students are present here, which demonstrate his fame and reputation both while alive and after his passing. All are newly discovered paintings or have never been viewed by the public. One of the most important new acquisitions within the school of Mola, is Elias with the Angel by John Batiste Boncori, an artist who has been all but forgotten but that in the second half of the 1600's was greatly appreciated and even became Prince of the Academy of Saint Luke; a Samson and Delilah by Antonio Gherardi, another great student, recently returned to our attention in the exhibit in Rieti; and works by Francis Giovane, another disciple to re-discover. Among the artists influenced by Mola in this exhibit we find French artists such as Pierre Louis Cretey and Guglielmo Cortese, called Borgognone, who was Mola's collaborator in the works for the Pamphilj, as were Giacinto Brandi, John Batiste Beinaschi and Gerolamo Troppa. A surprising and previoiusly unknown Saint Anthony and Saint Paul by Mattia Preti, datable to slightly before his last Roman sojourn (1660-61), recalls the commission obtained by the Calabrian painter to the detriment of Mola for the completion of the decorations in the Pamphilj Palace in Valmontone.
Catalog: Skira
Opening hours: 10,00 – 19,00, all days but monday; the ticket office is open from 9,45 to 18,30 Prices: € 7,00 - € 4,00 reduced - € 2,00 school groups tel. 0039 6 9330053, fax 0039 6 9330988 e-mail: info@palazzochigiariccia.it fax 0039 6 6791943; e-mail: ufficiostampa@novellamirri.191.it |
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