The paintings of Italian Renaissance masters are gracing Moscow in a new exhibition.
This includes the works of Titian, Tintoretto, and Veronese.
Twenty-three paintings from Italian museums and churches were transported to the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts.
Some of these pieces have never left Italy before.
“Despite the fact that Italy is full of art. This is a huge storage house of art. Nevertheless, they are very careful. Italian directors are very reluctant to give things, especially important things from their own collection,” said Marina Loshak, director of the museum.
One highlight of this exhibition is Titian’s painting “Venus and Adonis.”
This piece is in Russia for the first time. For many years it was considered only a copy.
The curator of the Moscow exhibition discovered it was the original when she was asked for an consultation on the piece a year ago.
Previously, the original was thought to be the version in the Prado Museum in Madrid, Spain.
“Now Prado has admitted that their picture was made later. Also it was drawn from our picture. It is obvious. In it’s manner, style, color—this picture was painted at least 10 years before the Prado’s painting,” said Victoria Markova, curator of the exhibition.
Tintoretto and Veronese are the younger contemporaries of Titian and his unofficial followers. But they each have their own distinctive style as well.
Tintoretto worked mainly for the churches. His work work is very dramatic.
“As soon as you come to the painting in which you see monochrome, a special drama, tension, inner concentration—you understand: this is Tintoretto,” said Loshak.
Veronese was a secular man. His customers were the wealthiest families of Venice, who commissioned paintings for decorating their homes.
“He was younger and he was nice. Accommodating. And Titian liked him. He was more of a narrative painter. He liked to tell stories by his paintings,” said Bernard Aikema, a professor at the University of Verona.
Because of the humid climate in Venice, painters didn’t paint on the walls or create frescoes like in Florence and Rome.
The paintings in city of water were created exclusively on canvas. But they can rival frescoes in size.
“The pictures are really huge. I was interested to see in person such a size picture of the XVI century. What is represented in our museums – they are much smaller. What was bought from abroad usually was pretty small,” said Catherine, an antiquarian who visited the exhibition.
“Interestingly, it’s half of one thousand years in fact, five hundred years—you can see here. As I walk through, get acquainted with this, it’s as if I’m communicating with those people who lived 500 years ago,” said Alexandra, another visitor.
The exhibition is open until the end of August.
