Under the High Patronage of the President of the Italian Republic
An extraordinary artistic journey towards modernity

DEFYING THE BAROQUE
Rome Turin Paris 1680 - 1750
The exhibition, curated by Michela di Macco and Giuseppe Dardanello, flanked by an international scientific committee, is the result of a vast research project carried out within the framework of the Research Program on Baroque Age and Culture developed by Fondazione 1563.
Designed by the Fondazione 1563 per l’Arte e la Cultura, with the support of Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo, the exhibition is organized by the Consorzio delle Residenze Reali Sabaude. In partnership with Intesa Sanpaolo.
For the quality and wealth of the artworks, the exhibition features the exceptional collaboration of the Louvre Museum.
Over 200 masterpieces from the most prestigious museums around the world, public and private institutions, religious bodies and private collections.
Spectacular paintings and altarpieces, sculptures, tapestries, drawings, engravings, furnishings and precious objects for an unmissable exhibition, set up in the grandiose spaces of the Juvarra's Citroniera at Reggia di Venaria, a marvellous example of Baroque architecture on the outskirts of Turin, declared World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
The exhibition takes the visitors on an extraordinary journey into European art between the late seventeenth and mid-eighteenth centuries. A journey towards modernity that hinges upon the direct confrontation between Rome and Paris, the two main cultural hubs of the whole of Europe, with which Turin established in those years a fruitful exchange of ideas, artists and works.
The timeline encompasses a broad period that is generally “squeezed” between the traditional historiographical time frames associated with Baroque and Neoclassicism. Here, instead, this period is highlighted as a breeding ground for epochal changes.
The defiance to the Baroque is launched by artists in the name of modernity: vying with the great works of the Ancient Masters of the Renaissance and the first half of the seventeenth century, the artists explored the potential of the observation of nature, reality and emotions, experimenting with innovative languages of expression and communication, aimed at illustrious patrons and new targets.
The exhibition narrates that “defiance”, showcasing the masterpieces created in the three cities between 1680 and 1750. An unprecedented journey that marks a fundamental turning point in the figurative scene: when Rome reasserts itself as the custodian of the greatness of Antiquity and the inventions of the masters of both Renaissance and Baroque; when Paris seeks different references in the everyday life depicted in the works of Flemish and Dutch masters, to affirm new styles of life and taste through art; when Turin, thanks to the creative intelligence of Filippo Juvarra, is confirmed as the laboratory of the modern city, offering contemporary Europe the unprecedented perspective of a gallery of painters of Italian Schools, showcased on the altars and in the residences of the Savoy court, by selecting the best masters of the Venetian, Neapolitan, Roman and Bolognese schools.
An itinerary that unfolds throughout Rome – the cosmopolitan city of the Popes –, Paris – during the reign of the Sun King Louis XIV and Louis XV –, Turin – the capital of the new kingdom of Vittorio Amedeo II and Carlo Emanuele III.
Divided into 15 stages ordered chronologically and thematically, the exhibition develops in parallel paths that cross the plurality of choices in the comparison between the three cities on themes such as history, memories, inventions, sensitivity towards nature. It showcases works from the main artists of the figurative current of those years, compared with each other in an unprecedented critical order.
A significant selection of artworks allows the visitors to admire the quality and variety of the figurative production of the time, including artists such as Maratti, Trevisani, Conca, Giaquinto, Subleyras, Pannini and Batoni, painters from Parisian modernity such as Boucher and Chardin, sculptors such as Cametti, Legros, Bouchardon, Ladatte and Collino – the ambassadors of their grandiose enterprises, masters of ornamentation and precious arts, the most important exponents of the Roman, Neapolitan and Venetian schools summoned to Turin by Filippo Juvarra.
The masterful quality, the grace, the seductive and engaging representation of passions in painting and sculpture, the virtuosity and precious refinement of furnishings and ornaments and the spectacular Savoy Bucentaur at the end of the exhibition, accompany the visitors throughout this fascinating and surprising journey full of masterpieces bequeathed to future elaborations of modern art .
Images of the exhibition: (in Italian)
www.lavenaria.it - Press office - Area riservata - Giornalisti 2020 - Sfida al Barocco. Roma Torino Parigi 1680 – 1750
You can download press kits and images of the Reggia and the Gardens here:
www.lavenaria.it - Press Office - Presentation and history

Curated by:
Giuseppe Dardanello and Michela di Macco
Project of the Fondazione 1563 per l’Arte e la Cultura realized thanks to
Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo.

General organization by Consorzio della Residenze Reali Sabaude. In partnership with Intesa Sanpaolo.
Scientific Committee:
Andrea Bacchi (Director of the Federico Zeri Foundation, Alma Mater Studiorum –
University of Bologna)
Liliana Barroero (“Roma Tre” University)
Anne-Lise Desmas (Department Head, Sculpture and Decorative Arts, The J. Paul Getty
Museum, Los Angeles)
Sybille Ebert-Schifferer (Director Emeritus, Bibliotheca Hertziana, Rome)
Guillaume Faroult (Conservateur Peintures françaises 18e siècle, Département des
Peintures, Musée du Louvre, Paris)
Peter Fuhring (Conseiller Scientifique, Fondation Custodia, Paris)
Chiara Gauna (University of Turin)
Enrica Pagella (Director of the Royal Museums of Turin)
Simonetta Prosperi Valenti Rodinò (“Tor Vergata” University of Rome )
Giovanni Romano (Professor Emeritus University of Turin)
Pierre Rosenberg (de l’Académie française, Paris)
Guilhem Scherf (Conservateur Département des Sculptures, Europe 18e siècle, Musée du Louvre, Paris)

LENDING MUSEUMS
The exhibition borrowed artworks from about a hundred major museums from Rome, Turin and Paris:

• Rome, Accademia Nazionale di San Luca
• Rome, Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica - Palazzo Barberini e Galleria Corsini
• Turin, Musei Reali - Biblioteca Reale, Galleria Sabauda, Palazzo Reale
• Turin, Palazzo Madama - Museo Civico d'Arte Antica
• Paris, Musée des Arts Décoratifs
• Paris, Musée du Louvre

Italian Museums
Castenaso (BO), Collezione Molinari Pradelli
Ceva (CN), Duomo (Collegiata dell'Assunzione della Beata Maria Vergine)
Città del Vaticano, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana
Città del Vaticano, Musei Vaticani - Pinacoteca
Firenze, Collezione Giovanni Pratesi
Firenze, Gallerie degli Uffizi
Firenze, Gallerie degli Uffizi - Tesoro dei Grandu-chi
Firenze, Museo Nazionale del Bargello
Genova, Musei di Strada Nuova, Palazzo Rosso
Genova, Palazzo Reale
Grazzano Badoglio (AT), Chiesa dei Santi Vittore e Corona
Masino (TO), Castello, Biblioteca dello Scalone
Milano, Castello Sforzesco, Civiche Raccolte d’Arte Applicata
Milano, Walter Padovani
Modena, Galleria Estense
Pistoia, Biblioteca Capitolare Fabroniana
Rivoli (TO), Comune
Rivoli (TO), Fondazione Francesco Federico Cer-ruti per l'Arte
Roma, Accademia di Belle Arti
Roma, Associazione Bancaria Italiana
Roma, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale
Roma, Chiesa dei Santi Andrea e Gregorio al Ce-lio (Fondo Edifici di Culto del Ministero dell’In-terno)
Roma, Chiesa di Santa Maria in Vallicella (Fondo Edifici di Culto del Ministero dell’Interno)
Roma, Chiesa di Santa Maria in Portico in Campi-telli

Foreign Museums
Ajaccio, Palais Fesch-Musée des Beaux-Arts
Auxerre, Musée d'Art et d'Histoire
Bath, The Holburne Museum
Berlino, Staatlichen Museen, Gemäldegalerie
Besançon, Musée d'Art et d'Archéologie
Kassel, Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel
Lione, Académie des Sciences, Belles-Lettres et Arts
Londra, National Gallery
Longniddry, Gosford House
Los Angeles, County Museum of Art (LACMA)
Los Angeles, The J. Paul Getty Museum
Madrid, Museo de Historia de Madrid
Madrid, Museo del Prado
Madrid, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza
Minneapolis, Institute of Art
Monaco, Bayerisches Nationalmuseum
Montpellier, Musée Fabre
Nancy, Musée des Beaux-Arts
New York, Metropolitan Museum
Nîmes, Musée des Beaux-Arts
Oberschleißheim, Staatsgalerie, Neues Schloss Schleißheim
Parigi, Banque de France
Parigi, Collection Motais de Narbonne
Parigi, Collezioni private
Parigi, Courtesy Galerie Perrin
Parigi, École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts
Parigi, Église Saint-Pierre-du-Gros-Caillou
Parigi, Mobilier National
Parigi, Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature
Parigi, Musée Jacquemart-André

Italian Museums
Roma, Chiesa Rettoria del SS. Nome di Gesù all’Argentina (Fondo Edifici di Culto del Ministe-ro dell’Interno)
Roma, Collezioni private
Roma, Collezione Fabrizio Lemme
Roma, Fondazione Camillo Caetani
Roma, Galleria Spada (Polo Museale del Lazio)
Roma, Istituto Centrale per la Grafica
Roma, Musei Capitolini – Pinacoteca Capitolina
Roma, Museo di Roma
Roma, Museo Nazionale di Palazzo Venezia (Polo Museale del Lazio)
Roma, Palazzo del Quirinale
Roma, Pontificio Collegio Irlandese
Torino, Archivio di Stato
Torino, Arciconfraternita della Misericordia
Torino, Basilica di Superga
Torino, Chiesa del Carmine
Torino, Chiesa di Santa Croce
Torino, Collezioni private
Torino, Congregazione dell’Oratorio di San Filip-po Neri
Torino, Galleria Giamblanco
Torino, Museo di Arti Decorative Accorsi-Ometto
Torino, Regione Piemonte
Venezia, Ca' Rezzonico
Vercelli, Museo del Tesoro del Duomo

Foreign Museums
Parigi, Musée Jacquemart-André
Parigi, Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris
Reims, Musée des Beaux-Arts
Rouen, Musée des Beaux-Arts
Sèvres, Cité de la céramique
Stoccolma, Nationalmuseum
Strasburgo, Musée des Beaux-Arts
Tolosa, Musée des Augustins
Versailles, Musée du Château
Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum
Windsor, Eton College

INFORMATION
An extraordinary artistic journey towards modernity

DEFYING THE BAROQUE
Rome Turin Paris 1680 - 1750
Reggia di Venaria (Turin)
Juvarra’s Citroniera
May 30 - September 20, 2020
ENTRANCES ALLOWED BY ONLINE RESERVATIONS ONLY
For information, reservation and visit method:
tel. + 39 011 4992333 – www.lavenaria.it

For media contacts:
Residenze Reali Sabaude
Managemente Staff — Communication and Press Office
Andrea Scaringella (Head)
Matteo Fagiano
with Carla La Gatta
tel. +39 011 4992300
press@lavenariareale.it
www.residenzereali.it
www.lavenaria.it