Il fregio dei Carracci – Opere a confronto | Palazzo Fava, Bologna | 22.11.2019 to 16.02.2020

On the occasion of the celebrations for the 400 years since the death of Ludovico Carracci, Palazzo Fava. Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Bologna opens to the public the doors of the Piano Nobile frescoed by Ludovico, Annibale and Agostino, great masters of Bolognese art, who gave birth to their first great choral work here.

The Carraccesque pictorial frieze will be in dialogue with 31 works of modern and contemporary art, from the collection of the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Bologna, many of which have never been exhibited, for a cross-sectional comparison between eras and styles, in search of thematic affinities or formal between works.

“The Carracci frieze – Works in comparison” is based on a research work in the vaults, conducted by Benedetta Basevi and Mirko Nottoli, art historians of Genus Bononiae, to identify works that presented thematic relevance. Thus Galileo Chini’s “The Crazy Dictator” – exhibited for the first time – painted on the occasion of the celebrations for Hitler’s arrival in Florence in 1938, refers in its ferocious monstrosity to the threatening Polyphemus met by Enea and his companions in Sicily; while the nudes of Nicola Samorì, one of the most appreciated contemporary artists, recall the aesthetics of the seventeenth century, highlighting the action of time and the relationship with the past. And yet the turmoil of the “Battle” of Giuseppe Maria Crespi, which refers to that of the fights of Jason, or the “Salomé” of Mimmo Palladino, tragic heroine like the Didone of the Aeneid. Among the exhibited works also the “Pietre Alpestri” by Fortunato Depero and the “Bright Sculpture” by Marco Lodola, which in their bright colors and in the joyfulness of the composition recall the theme of the game of the friezes of the Cesi Hall, between competitions with the arch , races and tournaments drawn from the sixth book of the Aeneid.

The reopening of the Piano Nobile also becomes an opportunity to present the Guide of Palazzo Fava by Angelo Mazza (the Tipi of the Maggioli Edizioni) which offers the first complete documentation of the decorative apparatus of the Palace. The photographs in the volume, created by Carlo Vannini, allow you to appreciate every single scene of the six rooms, starting from the cycle of the Sala di Giasone where the naturalistic approach and illusory effects represent a new way of modern painting, opening a new chapter .