Pienza and the Flowers", thirty-second edition, from 1 to 13 May, naturally in the historic center of the "Ideal City" of the Renaissance.
The spectacular fulcrum of the event – promoted by Pro Loco Pienza and the “Città di Pienza” Natural Shopping Center in collaboration with the Municipality of Pienza, with the contribution of Bottega Verde – will once again be Piazza Pio II, against the background of the Cathedral. The large stone square will be transformed, from 1 to 13 May, into a wonderful ephemeral garden. To offer an unmissable glance, very fragile and amazing, unique in the world.
Many urban spaces will be decorated as for a great Renaissance celebration. Box trees, climbing roses and many flowers will adorn the most beautiful areas of the city.
This exceptional context, on 12 and 13 May, the last weekend of the event, will welcome the eagerly awaited Flower Market. Here, green thumbs will find original proposals and ideas, unraveled along the streets of the entire historic center and in the nearby gardens of Piazza Dante Alighieri.
An event within an event, the exhibition, curated by Francesco Petrucci and Roggero Roggeri, in the halls of the Palazzo Borgia Museum (from May 2st to June XNUMXnd), of an extraordinary painting, until now considered lost.
We are talking about the magnificent, very luminous “Landscape” by Andrea Locatelli (Rome 1695-1741), one of the works of the great Roman landscape painter that belonged to the King of Spain, until now completely unknown to scholars.
The canvas represents a "Lazio landscape with a fantastic view of the temple of the Sibyl in Tivoli, with shepherds and herds in the foreground".
The re-emergence of this authentic masterpiece was stimulated by the Pienza event. In every edition of "Pienza and the Flowers" it is in fact customary for the presentation, in Palazzo Borgia (every day except Tuesday, time: 10,30-13,30/14,30-18,00), of a painting that documents a garden, a still life or a landscape and, over the years, there have been many works of notable level that have had the function of testimonial of the event.
Andrea Locatelli's oil on canvas stands out in this remarkable tradition. For the indisputable quality of the painting, first of all. But also for its particular events.
The painting (cm. 74×136), which will be exhibited in Pienza, can be considered as an important find as it is, as can be seen from the seal on the back, one of the paintings that Locatelli, one of the greatest exponents of Roman painting of landscape, he executed for the King of Spain.
What leads art historians to describe this as one of the paintings of the King of Spain? several objective elements.
First of all, the painting bears on the back, clearly legible, a sealing wax seal of the royal house Bourbon of Spain and Bourbon of Naples and Sicily whose progenitor is Charles of Bourbon (1716-1788) known as Charles III of Spain.
The seal depicts the union of the two coats of arms relating to the kingdom of Naples and Sicily, on the left, and the coat of arms of the kingdom of Spain, on the right.
The only documented commission from Locatelli for the Bourbons is that of two overdoors, of sacred subjects, still considered lost, a commission that the Roman artist obtained through the intercession of Filippo Juvarra, in 1735, for the Palazzo Reale della Granjia in San Ildefonso in Madrid, built by the father of Charles III, Philip V, from 1721 to 1739. The two works have been lost but the presence of the royal seals also on our painting leads us to assume that we are dealing with another commission Bourbon painting, not mentioned in the sources, which joins the two lost paintings, commissioned by Philip V and inherited, once he ascended the throne of Spain (1759), by Charles III. Precisely the latter is, with good certainty, the client of the splendid landscape on display, an important testimony of the interest of the Spanish Royal House for this great artist.
These and other insights will be published in the catalog edited by Francesco Petrucci, Director of the Roman Baroque Museum in Ariccia.
