Light of the Baroque. Paintings from Roman collections

At the core of the exhibition is the theme of light, as an expressive, formal and symbolic motif. A theme that in this specific moment, after months of seclusion and forced segregation, expresses hope and rebirth.

Light has always had a symbolic value connected to birth, awakening, resurrection of nature and, for Catholicism, to a message of hope of eternal life. The Baroque therefore seems the most suitable style to convey an optimistic message of human and social redemption after the Pandemic. On display is a selection of paintings by prominent artists from private Roman collections, mostly unpublished or never exhibited to the public. Selected for their connection with the Baroque Light theme, works by Bernini and his circle, Giovanni Baglione, Mattia Preti, Agostino Tassi, Gaspar Dughet, Sebastiano Conca, Pierre Subleyras and other Masters of the XVIIth and XVIIIth centuries, will offer a broad overview of the evolution of Roman painting during nearly two centuries.

Miriam Di Penta Fine Arts is the lender of A Peasants’ Engagement, a copper painting by the rare Dutch master Jan Linsen (Hoorn 1602/1603 – 1635), who specializes in small classical landscape paintings inspired by the light and atmosphere of the Italian countryside (cfr. Luigi Salerno 1977-1980, vol. III); and of an unpublished painting by the Roman Agostino Tassi (1578-1644), a Coastal View with Christ calling Peter and Andrew (oil on canvas, cm 60 x 75, 1630-35 ca.) depicting the moment when Christ, from the shore of the Sea of Galilee, calls Simon Peter and his brother to join him as the first Apostles (Matthew, 4, 18-20).