Gallerie d’Italia celebrates the genius of Giovan Battista Moroni with a carefully curated exhibition in Milan

Intesa Sanpaolo is pleased to present the exhibition Moroni (1521 - 1580). A Portrait of His Time, on view at Gallerie d'Italia in Milan from 06 December 2023 to 01 April 2024. 

Curated by Simone Facchinetti and Arturo Galansino, and part of the official programme of Bergamo Brescia Capitale Italiana della Cultura 2023, this exhibition is truly special. Realised under the High Patronage of the President of the Italian Republic, in partnership with Accademia Carrara di Bergamo and Fondazione Brescia Musei, it celebrates the exceptional work of Giovan Battista Moroni, one of the most important painters of Mannerism, and one of the greatest masters of portraiture of all times.

Realised with loans from the National Gallery, London, the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, the Gemäldegalerie - Staatliche Museen, Berlin, the Musée du Louvre, the Museo Nacional del Prado, National Gallery of Art Washington and the Philadelphia Museum of Art,  the exhibition unfolds as a journey through this great artist’s life and practice, as well as into his time. Along with Moroni's most relevant works, it showcases selected masterpieces by Lorenzo Lotto, Il Moretto, Giovanni Girolamo Savoldo, Tintoretto, Tiziano and Paolo Veronese, so as to highlight the great influence that this artist had on other gifted painters of his time. 

The exhibition is divided into nine thematic sections, each dedicated to a particular aspect of the Italian artist's life and artistic production: from his natural portraits to his pieces of devotional portraiture, as well as the works depicting his intellectual and aristocratic friends. 

All of Moroni’s canvases are characterised by a startling naturalism and vitality, and have great psychological penetration. From the elegant glittering dresses of high society members to the vibrant fierceness of working class people portrayed in their everyday business: Moroni’s paintings are incredibly successful in capturing the exact likeness of Europe’s daily life in the 16th century, as the display of drawings, jewels, armours and books from the 16th century shows. Among these, The Tailor's Book, an original portfolio of a 16th century's Milanese tailor, provides an exceptional window into the secular fashion world portrayed by Moroni.

The final section of this exhibition at Gallerie d’Italia will present, for the first time in Italy since 2015, The Tailor (around 1570), one of Moroni's most iconic paintings and also one of the best works in the National Gallery collection, as Jonathan Jones states in The Guardian . As a result of a fertile collaboration between the two institutions, The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula (1610) by Caravaggio, part of the Intesa Sanpaolo Collection, will be exhibited at the National Gallery, London in 2024 for the exhibition The Last Caravaggio.

On the cover: Installation of the exhibition 'Giovanni Battista Moroni, the portrait of his time' at the Gallerie d'Italia Milan (Roberto Serra / Iguana / Gallerie d'Italia)

Source: Vanessa Saraceno/ Pickles PR