The exhibition is curated by Daniele Benati and promoted and organized by: Municipality of Cento, Department of Culture and International Study Center "Il Guercino" and will be inaugurated on 8 November, the birthday of Sir Denis Mahon, the art historian who dedicated his life to Italian Baroque and who, with his discoveries and studies, brought to light exceptional artists such as Guercino, until then painter not recognized in its true importance.
The exhibition itinerary starts from the Pinacoteca San Lorenzo with the works of three masters to whom Guercino looked with particular interest in his early years: Ludovico Carracci (Enthroned Madonna and Saints, from the Pinacoteca civica di Cento), a true model for the painter from Cento and of which the elderly Bolognese artist was a fervent supporter and passionate admirer, Charles Bononi (The Saints Lorenzo and Pancrazio, from the church of San Lorenzo in Casumaro, a hamlet of Cento) one of the protagonists of seventeenth-century painting from which he learned the plastic sense of forms and the Ferrarese Scarsellino from which he learned the chromatism of Venetian painting.
It will also be an opportunity to present other canvases from nearby cities such as'Assumption with angels and saints Peter and Jerome: from the Cathedral of Reggio Emilia, a work that comes out of the city cathedral for the first time, the Saint Francis with Saint Louis of France oranti coming from the parish church of Brisighella and the spectacular Madonna with sleeping Child from the Salamon Collection in Milan.
At the Pinacoteca San Lorenzo it will be visible the rich collection of drawings by Guercino owned by the Pinacoteca Civica di Cento, and other sheets that come from private collections and banking institutions.
While at the Rocca will be exhibited frescoes such as the decorative cycle that Guercino and his pupils executed in the Casa Chiarelli (formerly Benotti) in Cento, recently acquired by the Municipality and never exhibited to the public, among which the works created in tempera on canvas with the gouache technique are of particular interest: Landscape with country dance party e Landscape with brigands attacking the dance party. This acquisition was also the subject of a study by the prestigious magazine The Burlington Magazine.
At the end of the exhibition it will be possible to appreciate the first work by Guercino known so far, created at the age of eight on the wall of his father's house in Cento, which depicts the Our Lady of Ghiara.
Contextually with the “Centro Pandurera” of the Borgatti Theater Foundation 33 engravings will be exhibited, coming from the collection of the Cassa di Risparmio di Cento Foundation, made on Guercino's models by artists of the '600, '700 and '800.
The initiative includes a series of collateral events such as i led wall in the Governor's Palace, on the square dedicated to the painter from Cento, such as: the smartphone, created by the University of Bologna in collaboration with the Municipality of Cento, which will accompany the visitor in the discovery of the places inspired by Guercini in the city, and again the interactive whiteboards which will present the works carried out by the Department of Cultural Heritage of theAlma Mater of the University of Bologna Diagnostic Laboratory, in collaboration with the International Study Center 'Il Guercino', on three works by Guercino, The Madonna with the Blessing Child, il Miracle of San Carlo e St Charles in prayer with the two angels, to learn about the technique and materials of the pigments from the painter from Cento, and the cycle of conferences on some paintings and issues related to Guercino.
Cover image: Guercino, Sibyl, 1620, oil on canvas, Cento, Cassa di Risparmio Foundation
