Emilia-Romagna – Pinacoteca Nazionale

Before our departure from Bologna (pop 390,850 in 2024), we squeeze in a visit to the Pinacoteca Nazionale (17th century). Near the Via delle Belle Arti, we pass a street-art mural painted in a faux arch; the subject is the Canale di Reno (just a block or two away), complete with painted inhabitants.

This is a preview for the Pinacoteca, which is famous for its frescos. It's housed in an old convent, the former Noviziato Gesuitico e Chiesa di Sant’Ignazio. The ceiling mural over the stair hall, "Gloria di Sant’Ignazio" (Giuseppe Barbieri, 1660/75), is a remnant of its previous incarnation.

The gallery show drops us into the late medieval, with some lyrical imagery. The "Visione di San Romualdo" (Maestro dei Polittici Bolognesi, c1329) is the dreamy sight of white-robed monks climbing to Heaven, in unearthly pinks and gold. The surreal portrayals continue with "Crocefissione e i santi Giacomo, Bartolomeo, Agostino e Stefano" (Maestro dei Polittici Bolognesi, c1340), with the wily, mask-like faces.

The figures in "Gesù Cristo crocifisso e dolenti" (Dalmasio, 1335/40) seem to float on the gilded background, at the top of the Cross is a stork's nest and a dragon in the distance. The figures in the "Madonna col Bambino, angeli e il donatore Giovanni da Piacenza" (Simone di Filippo, c 1378) convey wildly contrasting scales.

 

 

 

The two leaves of the "Storie di Cristo e Santi" and the "Storie della Passione" (Maestro di San Nicolò degli Albari, c1320) further divide into ten panels and read exactly like a comic book. 

Two triptychs exemplify the idea of a mobile altarpiece: "Trittico" (Dalmasio, c1390) and "Santi Pietro e Giovanni Battista. [in alto] La Vergine Annunziata" (Jacopo di Paolo, 1400/10). The central panels appear to work like inserts between the side leaves. The presentations, while still fantastical, fit the architecture of the triptych, and are full of amazing detail and portraiture. Note the 'Jacopo di Paolo' piece is signed, and the patron still appears as a smaller dark figure underneath le scale di San Michele.

The gallery is dominated by the"Crocifisso [Croce sagomata col Padre Eterno, l'Addolorata, San Giovanni e San Francesco]" (Giovanni da Modena, c1415). With the bloody Jacopo di Paolo Crocifisso fresh in our minds, we are struck by the unusual 'laser show' in the lower trefoil – San Francesco evidently receiving the stigmata from a glowing, red angel.

 

 

  

Finally, we reach the gallery room with the "Polittico [Madonna col Bambino e Santi]" (c1330), an altarpiece painted by Giotto for the Cappella Magna del Palazzo Apostolico. Almost shocking in its simplicity and clarity, the Polittico contains four saints, labelled: Scs Petrus (keys), Scs Ghabriel (scroll, "Ave gratia plena"), Scs Micchael (defeating dragon), and Scs Paulus (sword).

The predella is used as a platform separate from the five panels, portrait inside the roundels (left to right): San Giovanni Battista (pointing to the Child), la Madonna (blue cape), il Cristo della Passione (center), San Giovanni Evangelista, and Maria Maddalena. The Polittico represents Christ in His early youth and in His passing.

Sharing the gallery with the Polittico, the "Giudizio Universale. [in basso] Cristo con i simboli della Passione" (Maestro della Misericordia, 1360/65) is stiff and almost cryptic in its symbology, suggesting perhaps a path toward someone like Hieronymus Bosch. But with the "Última Cena" (Andrea di Bartolo, c1420), we truly arrive in the Proto Renaissance and begin to see an attempt to represent a 'realistic' architectural setting. Judas, unconcerned and looking away at the opposite end of the table from Christ, even appears to be smoking (?).

 

Coming out the small gallery, a docent notices our excitement and tells us not to miss Sala 21. We assume he means there's more Giotto, so we head back to Sala 21, where we find "L'Orlando Furioso [Gli Affreschi di Palazzo Torfanini]" (Niccolò dell'Abate, c1548, relocated from Via Galliera), a series of Late Renaissance fresco fragments illustrating the poem by Ludovico Ariosto (published 1516). The frescos are a series of Ionic archways at sunset, decorated with floral swags and monumental sculptures.

"Alcina riceve Ruggero nel suo castello" is on the left side, in which the evil sorceress Alcina plies her magical beauty on our hero, Ruggiero; next is "Ruggero fugge dal castello di Alcina", where he escapes the sorceress and heads to the kingdom of Logistilla. "Ruggero diretto al castello di Logistilla" is on the right wall, where just enough remains of the panel to see Alcina's fleet (blinded by reflected light?), and the cannon fire from the castle. Finally, "Battaglia fra la flotta di Logistilla e quella di Alcina", Alcina's broken ships scatter, and the triumphant Ruggiero enters the castle.

An intriguing installation, but we think the docent has very specific different tastes. We're unsure of the connection to Giotto, but perhaps the poem is a local favorite, and in all cases, virtue prevails.

Making our way back through the gallery we revisit the "Crocifisso [Croce sagomata con la Madonna tra Angeli, San Francesco e Sant'Elena]" (Jacopo di Paolo e Maestro dei Crocefissi Francescani, c1254) which is reminiscent of the Crucifixes by Cimabue (S Franciscus reappears at the base of the Cross). The "Madonna in trono col bambino fra i Santi Girolamo e Petronio" (Lianori Pietro, 1453, full image) includes an excellent portrait of San Petronio with a large architectural model of the Due Torri. 

There are additional suggestions of Bosch-like imagery in "Paradiso e Inferno" (Maestro dell'Avicenna, c1435) and the wonderful "Trionfo del Tempo" (Zanobi di Benedetto di Caroccio degli Stozzi, 1440/45) – notice the towers and hills reflected in "Tempo's" crystal ball.

 

 

 

We rejoin the Proto Renaissance in the Salone degli Affreschi Trecenteschi, where the frescos continue. The "Madonna col bambino e San Giovanni Evangelista" (Andrea de' Bruni, 1360/65, Ospizio di San Giuseppe / Chiesa di Santa Maria Maddalena) is from a ruined church, the current site of the Arena del Sol. The dramatic "San Giacomo alla battaglia di Clavijo" (Mestro della Crocefissione Campana, 1315/20, Chiesa di San Giacomo Maggiore) looks like an inspiration for the L'Orlando Furioso cycle.

The "Última Cena [e i santi Caterina, Ludovico di Tolosa, Antonio da Padova e Raffaele Arcangelo]" (Vitale da Bologna, c1340, Convento di San Francesco) spreads across the entire far wall. Though much of the work is faded, there are salvaged areas of striking beauty and pathos.

 

 

 

Up a small stair, we enter the Early Renaissance. The "Polittico della Certosa" (Antonio e Bartolomeo Vivarini, 1450) builds on Giotto's legacy, though loses some of the strength of his simplicity. On the other hand, it's a treat to see all the finials intact, and the 'bay window' with the wounded Christ and the Annunciation on either side – again, the beginning and the ending of His life's story.

Another "Annunciazione" (Nicolò di Liberatore detto l'Alunno, c1482) stands nearby, with sharply constructed architectural perspective.

The spirit and theme of 'rebirth' is also expressed in the"Madonna in adorazione del Bambin Gesù, San Giovannino e due angeli" (Giovan Francesco da Rimini, 1460/65) and the diptych of the "Annunciazione" and the "Visitazione della Vergine e Sant'Elisabetta" ('Ignoto pittore della Germania meridionale o fiammingo' / unknown, c1480).

 

 

We being to run out of time and hurry through the rest of the Renaissance galleries, some highlights:

• "Santa Apollonia" (Maestro di Ambrogio Saraceno, 1488/90), wonderfully framed;
• "San Sebastiano" (Antonio di Bartolomeo Maineri, 1492) "alla colonna" after Andrea Mantegna;
• "Madonna col Bambino in trono tra i santi Petronio e Tecla" ("Pala di Santa Tecla", Lorenzo Costa, 1496);
• "Última Cena" (El Greco, 1567/68) brings us into Mannerism;
• "San Petronio fra i Santi Domenico e Francesco" (Lorenzo Costa, 1502);
• "Madonna col Bambino in gloria e i Santi Michele Arcangelo, Pietro e Benedetto" (Francucci Innocenzo detto 'Innocenzo da Imola', 1517/22)

Somewhere in the galleries, we miss a large painting by Raffaelo, but we move on.

 

 

 

Before catching our train, we make sure to see the "Gli Affreschi di Mezzaratta", frescos from the Chiesa di Santa Apollonia di Mezzaratta (13th century). These are primarily by Vitale da Bologna ("Storie di Mosè e Giuseppe" and "Il Presepe", center and left wall – Espitle side) and Simone di Filippo ("Storie della Vita di Cristo", right wall – Evangelist side).

The central image under the opening for the rose window is the "Presepe" (Nativity). This enormous fresco is from the church's 'back' wall, behind the front facade (as explained here). "L'Arcangelo Gabriele" and the "Vergine Annunziata" (upper left and right) are on either side of the rose and form the Annunciation. The "Sogno della Vergine" and the "Discesa di Cristo al Limbo" and the lower left and right wings add elements of the story foretell and follow the primary narrative subjects.

On the left-hand side, upper register, "Giuseppe Prediletto dal Padre" and "Giuseppe Calato nel Pozzo" (Jacobus) tell the story of Joseph, as he is favored by his father and thrown into the well. In the lower register, "Strage degli Idolatri" (Jacopo Avanzi) and "Consegna della legge" appear to be two episodes from the story of Moses, who is shown with horns. Continuing in the lower register, "Punizione dei ribelli al sacerdozio di Aronne" (Jacopo di Paolo) and "Il Ritrovamento della Coppa" (Jacopo del Biondi) may be out of sequence but complete the Old Testament cycle.

On the right-hand side, many of the frescos are worn. But the central panel in the lower register,

"Guarigione del Paralitico" (Simone di Filippo), represents Christ's miracles, framed by a wrap-around architectural arcade like a theatrical stage.

 

 

 

On our way to Bologna Centrale, we pass the Basilica di San Giacomo Maggiore (13th-14th centuries), the Basilica di San Martino (13th-16th centuries, facade 1879), and the Colonna della Beata Vergine del Carmine (Andrea Ferreri, 1705).

Each portico or piazza adds another vignette to the story, though now covered with posters or filled with bicycles. But the shades and shapes of the backdrop remain eternal.

 

Emilia-Romagna – Museo Morandi e Casa Morandi

We don't often focus so much attention on one artist, though we went out of our way to see Le Corbusier's Unité and Picasso's prints at the British Museum. Artists like Le Corbusier and Picasso hold a great deal of cultural impact and 'star-power', so how do we explain our fascination with Giorgio Morandi. Not an 'unknown', he's a prominent artist, but probably less familiar to those who don't read art history books. But he's a native son and local favorite in Bologna (pop 390,850 in 2024).

The Museo Morandi is a wing of the MAMbo (Museo d'Arte Moderna di Bologna) in the northwest section of the old city. We visit the permanent collection before focusing on Morandi.

As tourists, "Punti di vista (Bologna)" (Sabrina Mezzaqui, 1998) certainly makes a connection; it's a grid of postcards with punched windows mounted on a five-panel wooden and plexiglass screen. All the postcards are of buildings in Bologna. The removal of the windows is like a portrait without eyes, as if a mysterious someone is looking back at us. When we walk to the other side, we are that someone.

A piece with a similar duality is "Impressions" (Bartolini Massimo, 2008), which is a folding stage and photo print. The underside of the stage looks sculptural, geometrically intricate; it catches light, creates a rhythm, and activates the surface. Only when we study the frame do we see the hinges. We cannot see the folded stage and the photo at the same time.

Another work occupies the end of another long gallery. "rs548049170_1_69869_TT (The Other Shapes of Me)" (Emilio Vavarella, 2020-21) is a video installation composed of a modified Jacquard loom, a punch-card program, and a textile. The program is based on the artist's DNA. The video shows the loom running the program and creating the textile, mindlessly and mechanically (evidently, the artist's mother ran a loom, thus connecting her work and his gestation).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sala delle Ciminiere contains a special exhibition of "Facile ironia. L'ironia nell'arte italiana tra XX e XXI secolo", which we see through tinted windows. But it's also painted in intense, matching colors (the show is a separate ticket).

An upper gallery contains "Figurabilità. Pittura a Roma negli anni Sessanta", a smaller show which features a few pieces from the permanent collection. The shows centers on "Funerali di Togliatti" (Renato Guttuso, 1972), which depicts the idealized funeral of Palmiro Togliatti, leader of Italy's Communist Party (recall Bologna's 'Rossa' nickname). The painting contains dozens of accurate portraits of world leaders: (left side) Pablo Neruda, Angela Davis, Jean-Paul Sartre, Lenin; and (right side) Luchino Visconti, Rosa Luxemburg, and Stalin.

The title of "Autoritratto a nove anni" (Giosetta Fioroni, 1966) translates to "self-portrait at nine years old"; a single portrait that also rewards intense scrutiny.

 

 

Museo Morandi, formerly housed in the Palazzo d'Accursio, now fills several rooms on MAMBo's upper level. Its curatorial path clearly documents the artist's movement towards graphic abstraction. Perhaps because of the clarity of the execution and the simplicity of the compositions, we've rarely seen a clearer path.

For example, "Composizione" (ink on paper, 1915) is from his early year just out of art school and looks like a Cubist collage even though it's an ink drawing. While "Natura morta" (watercolor on paper, 1960) jumps to the end of his career, beautifully balanced and composed forms that could be read in many ways.

Filling the timeline, "Natura morta con conchiglie" (soft ground etching on zinc, 1920) and "Natura morta" (etching on copper, 1930) show Morandi's early mastery of etching, pieces that resemble quick pencil or ink sketches, but in fact are the results of a printing process.

"Natura morta" (oil on canvas, 1956) and "Natura morta con cinque oggetti" (etching on copper, 1956, top image) represent the iconic Morandi image: a flattened composition of bottles and vases with intense attention to light and color. And it's hard to separate the specific colors and shadowy 'towers' from the streetscapes of Bologna.

For example, the sharp highlights and reflections in the "cinque oggetti" etching provide tremendous depth (note the duller highlight on the bottle behind the pitchers), yet their 'striped' rendering flattens them out. And his mature images are typically set on a folded stage, like a surrealist landscape, where the emotional impact is generated by absence.

 

 

Through "Natura morta" (oil on canvas, 1957) and "Natura morta" (watercolor on paper, 1959) we can feel Morandi's drive to perfect this. Morandi takes his simple ideas and pushes towards their extreme conclusion through careful study and iteration.

These include landscapes, such as the two "Peesoggia" (both watercolor on paper, 1960), which are treated in the same manner as a 'natura morta'. 

In three more "Natura morta" (watercolor on paper, all from 1962), Morandi aligns shapes and edges, overlaps negative forms, and reduces his palette to basic tones, on a quest to show and say more with less.

 

 

The final two "Natura morta" (oil on canvas / graphite on paper, 1964) images date from just before his passing. They are a proper culmination of this progression – reduction to the essential. Plus, he makes it work in both painting and drawing, perfectly encapsulating the artist, his city, and the story of his art.

Along the way the gallery offers shuttered views of the city, one over a pigeon's shoulder to a crosswalk on Via Giovanni Minzoni and another through a reddish tint to the Parco del Cavaticcio. This sets up our return to the ticket lobby where "Ghosts" (Maurizio Cattelan, 2021) is on display, part of the "Facile ironia" show.

Thus, we re-enter the world outside MAMBo with altered perspectives.

 

 

After lunch in the Quadrilatero, we have a few hours before our tickets to the Casa Morandi, and we stop into the Santuario di Santa Maria della Vita (17th-18th centuries), which is slotted into this dense market neighborhood.

The Santuario is an incredible, elliptical, Baroque space filled with dramatic sculptures. The heroic figures in the pendentives are "Le Quattro Sibille: Cumana, Persica, Eritrea, e Frisia ("four Sibyls", Luigi Acquisti, 18th century). The four arches are carried by luscious, three-quarter round Corinthian columns, with smaller chapels set into the diagonal corners.

The main, oval dome, raised on an extended drum, spills light onto the gleaming terrazzo. The circular, chancel dome features "L'Assunzione della Vergine" (Gaetano Gandolfi, 1776-79), with a third trompe-l'œil dome beautifully blended into the architecture behind the retable. The scale is thus multiplied in all dimensions.

VITA ET SPES NOSTRA SALVE

The altar maggiore houses the "Madonna in trono col Bambino e Santi" ("Madonna della Vita", attr Pietro di Giovanni Lianori, 15th century), a framed, fresco fragment – 'miraculous' survivor of an ancient vault collapse.

 

 

 

 

The "Compianto sul Cristo Morto" (Niccolò dell'Arca, 1463) consists of seven figures arranged on an empty stage in the large side chapel at the Epistle side of the altar maggiore. The figures are (left to right):

Nicodemo (disciple of Jesus, pliers at his belt), 

Maria Salomè (mother of James the Greater & John the Evangelist)

Il Corpo Ricomposto di Cristo

Maria (Mother of Jesus)

San Giovanni Apostolo (evangelist)

Maria di Cleofa (hands forward)

Maria Maddalena (at Christ's feet)

Known as the "Urlo di Pietra" ("scream of stone"), its emotional content is obvious and striking for Quattrocento sculpture. But the realism, detail, and craftsmanship are undeniable: the lace collars, the trim on the pillow, and Maria Maddalena's billowing robe. The group's faded pigment is proof that in its day, this would have been a full-color, operatic marvel.

Strangely, the most impactful figure is the reserved Nicodemo, who is kneeling, having just taken Christ from the Cross, and looks directly at the audience. His stern demeanor demands our engagement, and we share the grief.

 

 

The figures on either side of the altar maggiore are "Continenza e l'Umiltà" (Petronio Tadolini, 18th century); from the side chapel, we get a closer look at "Continenza". A large semi-circular painting of "Madonna in gloria con San Francesco ed altri Santi" (Jacopo Calvi detto il Sordino, 18th century) is in the same chapel as the "Compianto" and includes the skyline of Bologna.

 

 

Upstairs and to the west, L'Oratorio dei Battuti (17th century) is a long, rectangular room beside the Santuario which connects to the adjoining hospital. A small domed chapel, lavishly decorated, sits to the north. The lower walls are stripped of furnishings and the bare surfaces used to exhibit other art pieces. But above the 'eye line', the Oratorio's complete Baroque interior is intact.

Walking to the south, San Petronio and San Procolo (Alessandro Algardi 17th century) are to the north, and San Francesco and San Domenico (Giulio Cesare Conventi, 17th century) are further south, the four patron saints of Bologna.

 

 

 

The "Transito della Vergine" (Alfonso Lombardi, 16th century) is at the north end of the Oratorio, another terracotta sculptural group, but this one is centered around the body of the Vergine. The work is the result of a commission by the Confraternita dei Battuti soon after the "Madonna della Vita" was recovered and provides a 'bookend' to the Madonna and the Marian cycle, at the heart of the brotherhood's devotion.

The subject of the Transito is may also be a reaction against the Reformation as well as the prominence of local Jewish bankers. Taken from the "Legenda Aurea" by Jacopo da Varazze, Mary's procession is stopped by Jewish high priests, but San Pietro (kneeing) and the Apostles call divine intervention, represented by the suspended angel, to paralyze and convert them. The Apostles carry books, which represent their absolute adherence to scripture, as opposed to Martin Luther.

The angel retains the white-ish, 'faux-marble' finish that all the forms once had, suggesting the Renaissance 'classical' ideal. The composition lives in ornamented, tiered Corinthian stage, with a trompe-l'œil Doric backdrop. Though above eye-level, one Apostle practically falls off the stage, and we feel the urgency of the moment.

 

 

Casa Morandi is on the Via Fondazza in the southeast section of the old city. Hoping to see more Morandi artwork, we are disappointed that the Casa Morandi is almost all "Casa": his bedroom, studio, library, and so on. There is limited gallery space and much of the art is at such a distance that interaction is impossible.

If properly preserved, Morandi's life is simple and focused on his work. Devotional images hang beside the beds. The glass shelves in the closets are packed full of household pieces for the still lives – vases, bottles, figurines. The cast shadows become paintings of their own.

 

 

 

 

On the way back to the hotel we pass through the Portico dei Servi (14th-16th centuries) which encloses the Basilica di Santa Maria dei Servi (14th century).

Coming upon the Due Torri (12th century), the barricades that had surrounded them last November are now down, and the base of the Torre degli Asinelli is approachable, with the Torre della Garisenda leaning towards us just over the parapet.

Back on the Via Rizzoli, the campanile of the Parrocchia dei Santi Bartolomeo e Gaetano (16th century) joins the duo.

 

 

 

Just northwest, we find another tower, the Torre dei Prediparte (12th century), with its dynamic 'zigzag' crown. Finally at a distance, the tops of the towers disappear and reappear, above the elemental shapes, the grey and earthy tones, and the quiet streets.