Scuderie del Quirinale: Arte Liberata, masterpieces saved from the war

Le Stables of the Quirinale pay due tribute to the passion and courage of superintendents, state officials, scholars, religious, ordinary citizens to whom it is owed if important works of art, paintings, sculptures, tapestries, ancient texts, were saved from the fury and devastation of war. With the exhibition “Arte Liberata. Masterpieces saved from war. 1937-1947” curated by Luigi Gallo and Raffaella Morselli, which will last until April 10, 2023, reconstructs the extraordinary work of these brave men who often, running serious dangers, secured great testimonies of our artistic heritage. And, it must be said that the great exhibition of the Stables, in the light of the war events in Ukraine and the devastation wrought by the Russian invasion, acquires a particular significance, not to mention creepy.

Over 100 masterpieces for a compelling story

There are over one hundred masterpieces on display - as well as a broad documentary, photographic and sound panorama - brought together thanks to the collaboration of no less than forty museums and institutes - for a compelling and exciting story of a dramatic moment for our country but equally far-sighted and foundational for a new civic consciousness. A unique opportunity to admire, for the first time together in the same place, works of the highest artistic value that fortunately survived: from the Danae by Tiziano Vecellio to Santa Palazia by Giovan Francesco Barbieri known as il Guercino, from the famous portraits of Alessandro Manzoni by Francesco Hayez and Henry VIII by Hans Holbein the Younger up to numerous masterpieces kept in the National Gallery of the Marches in Urbino, such as Crucifixion by Luca Signorelli, the Immaculate Conception by Federico Barocci and the Madonna of Senigallia by Piero della Francesca.

“La túche, the destiny or fate to which the ancient Greeks subject the adventures of gods and men, is the noun that best suits the works gathered in this exhibition – declares Raffaella Morselli – Each of them could have no longer been there if someone hadn't worked for this or that to be packed, hidden, transported, saved. The resistance of art historians and historians, in what was the war of objects, was the key to determining the fortune of the Italian heritage in danger during World War II. This exhibition stitches together, for the first time, many stories of individual operators animated by a strong civic conscience, and transforms their singularity into a great collective epic of passion and commitment".

At the center of the exhibition project is the forward-looking action of many Superintendents and officials of the Fine Arts Administration – often forcibly retired after refusing to join the Republic of Salò – who, assisted by art historians and representatives of the Vatican hierarchies, they became interpreters of a great undertaking to safeguard the artistic and cultural heritage. Among these are Giulio Carlo Argan, Palma Bucarelli, Emilio Lavagnino, Vincenzo Moschini, Pasquale Rotondi, Fernanda Wittgens, Noemi Gabrielli, Aldo de Rinaldis, Bruno Molajoli, Francesco Arcangeli, Jole Bovio and Rodolfo Siviero, secret agent and future plenipotentiary minister in charge of restitutions : people who, without weapons and with limited means, became aware of the threat looming over works of art, siding in the front line to avoid it, aware of the educational, identity and community value of art. In particular, the exhibition highlights to the figure of Pasquale Rotondi, at the time Superintendent of the Marches and Director of the National Gallery based in the Palazzo Ducale in Urbino, who was among the protagonists of that difficult moment. "It is important", says Luigi Gallo, "that the stories of the protagonists of the rescue of our heritage reach the public clearly, renewing the exceptional value of the work carried out by a team of people who believed in the ethical value of art, because it has no past we would have been without a future. For example, Pasquale Rotondi, the historic director of Palazzo Ducale, everyone in the Marche remembers the lucidity of his choices, the composure of his behavior, the depth of his culture". 

The exhibition unfolds like a story starting from forced exports to satisfy the collecting cravings of Adolf Hitler and Hermann Göring

In this context, the Fascist hierarchs favored the permission to transfer important works of art, even under restrictions, such as the Discobolo Lancellotti (restricted since 1909), a Roman copy of the famous bronze by Mirone – among the outstanding works of the exhibition – or the masterpieces from the Contini Bonacossi collection in Florence. 

The second nucleus deals with the theme of the movements and shelters of works of art in 1939, when, with Hitler's invasion of Poland, the education minister Giuseppe Bottai implemented operations to make the cultural heritage insecure , with the consequent elaboration of the plan for moving the works of art. Many stories unravel from here: the relationship between the Italian superintendents and the Vatican, the commitment of individual officials to inventory and hide cultural assets in Lazio, Tuscany, Naples, Emilia and Northern Italy, the fundamental commitment of female curators, such as Fernanda Wittgens, Palma Bucarelli, Noemi Gabrielli, Jole Bovio and others, as well as the raiding of the Jewish Library in Rome. The third and final strand – The end of the conflict and the restitutions – takes into consideration the missions for the recovery and safeguarding of the works stolen at the end of the war. The Italian officials were joined by the men of the "Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives Program" (MFAA), a task force made up of art professionals from thirteen different countries and organized by the Allies during the Second World War to protect cultural heritage and artwork in war zones.