Over 50 artworks by Venetian
Renaissance masters are to go on display in Tokyo and Osaka as
part of the celebrations for the 150th anniversary of the
friendship and trade treaty between Italy and Japan.
'Venetian Renaissance Paintings from the Gallerie
dell'Accademia' presents paintings by Titian, Bellini,
Tintoretto, and Carpaccio, but also a masterpiece by Jacopo Dal
Ponte, otherwise known as Bassano, that was only rediscovered
recently after years of oblivion.
In all, over 50 artworks dating from 1450 to 1630 will
narrate the great school of the Venetian Renaissance from July
13 to October 10 at the National Art Center in the Japanese
capital and then from October 22 to January 15 at the National
Museum of Art of Osaka.
"It is the first exhibition of this scope on the Venetian
School in 150 years of relations between Italy and Japan,"
Accademia galleries director Paola Marini told ANSA.
"What do the Japanese know about the Renaissance in Veneto?
They are very interested. We have already lent them Leonardo's
drawings for the Fuji museum."
The exhibition, curated by Marini together with Sergio
Marinelli from the University Ca' Foscari and Koshikawa
Michiaki, brings together "a selection of works representing the
full evolution of the School … including famous masterpieces and
works by less well known authors," Marini said.
It also includes three loans from the Ca' d'Oro.
The show has also provided an opportunity to delve into the
museum's storage space, carry out minor restorations and make
major rediscoveries.
This is the case of Bassano and his San Girolamo (St
Jerome), which had been deliberately 'forgotten' for decades.
"It was in our collection but not on display, despite being
a beautiful painting dating to around 1569, when the artist had
reached his full maturity, at the highest moment of his art,"
Marini said.
"I was responsible for cataloguing it and the further back
I went in time the more the ancient sources confirmed its great
importance. And yet, at a certain point it was expunged because
doubts were raised about its attribution: academics claimed that
certain elements did not belong to Bassano's style, but to a
later period."
However, further investigation cleared up the
misunderstanding after it emerged that a monk tried to repair
damage to the canvas sustained in the 18th century by asking an
artist of the time to repaint a figure near the top, the Madonna
with child.
Marini said this portion is only "circumscribed" but that
the 'repair' had been sufficient to raise doubts.
Now that the mystery has been resolved San Girolamo will
travel to Japan with full honours.
"And on its return we will find a place for it to be
displayed at last.
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