Palazzo Barberini I grandi capolavori in mostra

di Mario GaMbatesa

In occasione del quattrocentesimo anniversario dell’elezione di Maffeo Barberini al soglio pontificio col nome di Urbano VIII, avvenuta nell’agosto del 1623, le Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica dedicano un’imponente mostra ai suoi ventuno anni di pontificato (1623-1644).

Insieme ai nipoti, i cardinali Francesco e Antonio e il Principe

Taddeo Barberini, Urbano VIII perseguì con tenacia un pro- getto politico-culturale molto ambizioso che pervase tutti gli ambiti della conoscenza e della credenza popolare.

La mostra (aperta al pubblico dal 18 marzo scorso al 30 luglio prossimo) celebra il profilo culturale e politico del Papa che più di ogni altro incise in maniera straordinaria e radicale sul pensiero filosofico, sul sapere scientifico e sulle arti del Seicento, con l’obiettivo di illustrare le modalità con le quali il pontefice privile- giò lo strumento dell’egemonia culturale in funzione dell’azione politica e di governo.

Urbano VIII diede un timbro inconfondibile al suo pontificato, promuovendo imprese colossali, come ad esempio il baldacchino di San Pietro di Gian Lorenzo Bernini o l’affresco di Pietro da Cortona nel grande salone di Palazzo Barberini. In quel momento di grande magnificenza si impose un nuovo stile, il Barocco, che ebbe immediata diffusio-

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Puoi abbonarti o richiedere una copia online: artshop.biancoscuro.it e co-curatrice della mostra, che prosegue - Sono infatti moltissimi i musei, i collezionisti e le istituzioni con cui abbiamo intessuto rapporti in questi anni, che hanno capito l’importanza del progetto e aderito con entusiasmo concedendo prestiti prestigiosi”. Nelle grandi sale di Palazzo Barberini si possono

THE SOVEREIGN IMAGE. Urban VIII and the Barberini Palazzo Barberini,Roma - March 18 - July 30, 2023

To mark the 400th anniversary of Urban VIII Barberini’s election to the papacy, the Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica is devoting a major exhibition to the longest and most representative pontificate of the 17th century (1623–44). Curated by Maurizia Cicconi, Flaminia Gennari Santori and Sebastian Schütze, the exhibition is produced by the Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica with the support of the Direzione Generale Musei del Ministero della Cultura. “The Sovereign Image” celebrates the cultural and political personality of the pope who had the most incisive impact on 17th century philosophical thought, scientific knowledge and the arts in an attempt to illustrate the ways in which the pope afforded priority to the tool of cultural hegemony to further his political and government agenda.Urban VIII and his nephews, Cardinals Francesco and Antonio and Prince Taddeo Barberini, tenaciously pursued an ambitious political and cultural agenda which permeated every aspect of knowledge, art and culture. For Maffeo Barberini, a poet and a man of letters, patrongage and promotion of the arts was part and parcel of his drive to empower the Church’s spiritual and temporal governance as well as boosting his own personal prestige and that of his family. Urban VIII placed an unequivocal seal on his pontificate by promoting such massive projects as the baldaquin in St. Peter’s, designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, or Pietro da Cortona’s fresco in the great hall of Palazzo Barberini. A new style came into being that was to spread like wildfire not only in Rome and in Italy but in the whole of Europe: Baroque was born in Rome under the Barberini. Players and masterpieces of the outstanding moment in history that was Urban VIII’s pontificate will once again be reunited for the very first time in Palazzo Barberini, the sumptuous family residence erected opposite the Quirinale. Thus masterpieces from the Barberini collection dispersed over the centuries and now housed in the world’s leading museums will be returning to their original home. They include work by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Caravaggio, Valentin de Boulogne, Francesco Mochi, Nicolas Poussin and Andrea Sacchi, together with some of the spectacular tapestries produced in the Barberini Tapestry Manufactory. The exhibition showcases more than 80 works from the museum’s own collection and from over 40 Italian and international museums and private collections. The exhibition is divided into twelve sections, moving from the Exhibition Space on the ground floor to the museum’s most emblematic spaces such as the monumental rooms on the piano nobile: the Pietro da Cortona Hall, the Marble Room, the Throne Room, the Landscape Room and a number of rooms housing the permanent collection: “Pleasure, good fortune and strategy”; “Imagining the dynasty”; “Making saints”; “Hic Domus”; “Family business”; “Ancient culture”; “Modern science”; “Weaving the fabric”; “Poetry and rhetoric”; “The munificent bees”; “Around the hive”. The exhibition winds up with Section 12, “The theatre of amazement”, which explores Palazzo Barberini’s role as a stage set consistent with the room’s original function, when it hosted performances of plays. The room showcases exhibits testifying to the grand “urban” events organised by the family, for instance an imposing painting depicting The Saracen Joust stage-managed by the loyal Andrea Sacchi, or the spectacular Carousel in Honour of Christina of Sweden by Pietro Gagliardi (both on loan from the Museo di Roma, Palazzo Braschi). The section also showcases two large paintings, The Massacre of the Niobids and Diana’s Rest, by Andrea Camassei (1602–49), one of the greatest and most assiduous interpreters of the family’s patronage strategies. The two paintings were restored especially for the exhibition, The Massacre of the Niobids with the technical sponsorship of CBC Conservazione Beni Culturali Soc. Coop, and Diana’s Rest with the technical sponsorshop of Teleperformance Italia in partnership with the Associazione Civita. The exhibition sets out to acquaint visitors with the dominant ideas and the functioning of an extraordinarily ambitious intellectual blueprint that turned Rome into the birthplace of Baroque culture and the centre of its dissemination in Europe, with Palazzo Barberini lying ideally at its heart. s l

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