By The Editorial Staff
In front of over four hundred people, the Civic Museum of Palazzo della Penna in Perugia inaugurated the exhibition ‘Renaissance in the Workshop. Perugino Among the Greats of History’, crowning, as a final event, the celebrations dedicated to the Divine Painter: Pietro Vannucci known as Perugino.
The exhibition at Palazzo della Penna chooses to offer visitors an unprecedented reading of Perugia’s story, focusing on the theme of the “artist’s workshop”, which began to take shape in the Middle Ages, in particular with the affirmation of Giotto’s art, and then consolidated, in its most typical characteristics, during the Renaissance period also thanks to Perugino, whose entrepreneurial skills are known no less than their artistic skills.
In the nine exhibition rooms, in a blaze of styles and inventiveness, paintings signed by important masters of the Nineteenth Century reconstruct, between legend and historical sources, an exciting history of art, analysed from within the artists’ workshops, from classical antiquity to the great names of the Italian Renaissance.
The exhibition, in which works from prestigious public and private collections shine, retraces the way in which nineteenth-century painters, in the middle of the Romantic period, revisited the work of the great Renaissance masters, reconstructing – starting from the study of documentary sources and artistic literature – a history through images that highlights not only the technical skills that were transmitted within the workshops, where art and craft coexisted, but also their human weaknesses, their aspiration to make themselves excellent, their sentimental affairs, their relationship with reality, their fragility.
At the centre of this reflection is the shining figure of Perugino, a painter with a difficult character but accommodating, when necessary, a master with a “porphyry brain” but with a proverbial attachment to money, who was able to create artistic workshops as large and organized as his fame was great and his clientele vast.
The exhibition, curated by Cristina Galassi and Francesco Federico Mancini, was strongly supported by the Mayor of the Municipality of Perugia Andrea Romizi and the Councillor for Culture Leonardo Varasano and was organized in all its phases by Maria Luisa Martella, Director of the Culture Unit of the Municipality of Perugia who also coordinated the scientific project. The exhibition was organized in partnership with the University of Perugia and the Nobile Collegio del Cambio and with the contribution of the “Promoting Committee of the celebrations for the Fifth Centenary of the death of the painter Pietro Vannucci known as Il Perugino”.
The exhibition also plays a central role with respect to the enhancement of the national artistic heritage, considering that eighteen works were restored for the occasion, mainly preserved in the deposits of the lending museums and which, due to the state of conservation in which they were located, could not be exhibited to the public and therefore be usable.
In fact, the relationships with the lenders who have lent the thirty-eight works that animate the exhibition itinerary have been articulated and assiduous: as many as twenty public institutions and five private collections have enthusiastically joined the prestigious project, appreciating its scientific qualities and originality.
The exhibition is sponsored by the telecommunications operator Connesi and the Cloud Computing services company Seeweb, which have joined the project with enthusiasm and sensitivity, providing valuable support to its realization.
The exhibition is accompanied by a rich colour catalogue, published by Aguaplano, and a weekly appointment with a free guided tour every Thursday at 4:00 p.m. (reservations are required at the 0755773210 number active from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. or by e-mail biglietteria.palazzodellapenna@coopculture.it).
Civic Museum of Palazzo della Penna, Via Podiani 11, Perugia
Opening hours: Tuesday-Sunday / 10:00-18:00 (closed on Mondays)
Info: biglietteria.palazzodellapenna@coopculture.it