Prized Longhi collection stars in Paris

(ANSA) - Paris, March 27 - Giotto, Masaccio, Piero della Francesca and Caravaggio were the "passions" of art historian and collector Roberto Longhi (1890-1970) to be showcased at an exhibit opening Friday in Paris.
    The show, which runs until July 20 at the Jacquemart-André Museum, vies to convey to the French public "the modern taste and figure of an enlightened collector" and art historian, curators said.
    Some 30 Italian masterworks star at the exhibit called 'From Giotto to Caravaggio. The passions of Roberto Longhi'.
    Most hail from the Florence-based Roberto Longhi Foundation and also include about 10 loans from Italian and European museums to highlight the art historian's interests, ranging from the Primitives to Renaissance masters, Caravaggio and Caravaggesque painters.
    Longhi "was a scholar before a collector who studied during the years of the avant-garde", Maria Cristina Bandera, the scientific director of the Longhi Foundation and one of the show's curators, told ANSA.
    Other curators include Mina Gregori, who studied under Longhi and is one of the leading experts on Caravaggio, and Nicolas Sainte Fare Garnot of the Jacquemart-André Museum.
    "Longhi started being engrossed in art history around 1910 and immediately defined a new interest of Italian art" in the study of Caravaggio, continued the curator.
    "At the University of Turin he chose to do a thesis on Caravaggio, which would be a theme at the center of his life-long studies".
    "We must remember that, at the time, Caravaggio was not in fashion, nor was Baroque painting", she said.
    Longhi was also interested in Futurist painters including Carlo Carrà and Giorgio Morandi as "he was constantly focused on new things", added Bandera.
    Longhi also studied Piero della Francesca, Venetian painting and the Officina Ferrarese, among others.
    And the exhibit focuses on Longhi's evolution as an art critic and collector through works that are especially meaningful. In particular, the first room in the show features paintings by Caravaggio, his first artistic interest.
    The Boy Bitten by a Lizard, which is the icon of the show, hails from the Longhi Foundation, while the Crowning with Thorns is on loan from the collection of Vicenza's Banca Popolare and the Sleeping Cupid from Florence's Galleria Palatina.
    The Primitives follow with two Giotto paintings - St John the Evangelist and Saint Lawrence - then the Madonna with Child (1426-1427) by Masaccio, and masterpieces by Piero della Francesca, Carlo Saraceni, Bartolomeo Manfredi, Matthias Stomer and Mattia Preti.
    The exhibit closes with three apostles by Jusepe de Ribera.
    "Longhi had a special connection with Paris", said Bandera.
    He sojourned in the city when he was very young and visited all the museums.
    "He loved France very much and in exchange for his affection received the Légion d'Honneur - this show is a homage to Roberto Longhi", she concluded.