Bologna in the Age of Enlightenment – Art and science, between reality and theatre

This new exhibition featuring paintings, sculpture and various curiosities is a collaborative effort with the Pinacoteca Nazionale, the Musei Civici and the Cassa di Rispiarmo Foundation in Bologna. It stands as a sequel to previous exhibitions about italian art in the 17th and 18th centuries. While the Bolognese 17th century, that of Carracche, Reni and Guerchin, is already well-known in France, we have tried to showcase a less familiar time period for such a historical artistic hot spot.

The Bolognese 18th century started off with the creation of the Istituto delle Scienze and the Accademia Clementina with the support of intellectuals in agreement with the new Enlightenment ideology. In the first half of said century, the artistic divide between Donato Crepi and Giuseppe Maria Crespi is profound. The artistic research of the first amount to a stylish elegant brand of classicism while his rival champions naturalism to the point of agression, dabbling in irony with a (almost) people-first approach. At the same time, a lighter style of painting initiates the mutation of 17th century traditional sensibilities towards rocaille. Sculptors and modellers on the other hand follow the example of Giuseppe Maria Mazza to give their shapes a curvy movement and a seductive grace. Trompe-l’oeils, spatial dilatation and theatrical illusions made bolognese scenographers famous all around Europe, especially the Bibiena family.

The second part of the 18th century also saw the emergence of two brothers, Ubaldo and Gaetano Gandolfi. Between classical tradition and popular realism, baroque influences and neo-classical seeds, our exhibition reflects the diversity of practices and commissions : academic contests for drawings and terracotta bas-relief, anatomical preparations where modelling serves the progress of medecine, religious and mythological paintings made for private collections, portraits and self-portraits, grandiose scenographies for theatre and the decoration of palaces as well as representations of Chris in his crib and everyday life scenes.