Velázquez, Bernini, Luca Giordano. Le corti del Barocco

This catalogue of the great exhibition in Rome on the splendour of the international Baroque is edited by the Spanish art historian Fernando Checa Cremades. The catalogue identifies and examines the common characteristics of figurative language in "court society" in Europe in the second half of the seventeenth century. The settings of the era include the Papal Rome of Innocent X (1644-1665) and Alexander VII (1655-1667), the Hapsburg courts in Madrid and Vienna with Philip IV (1650-1665) and Charles II (1661-1700), and the court of Louis XIV (1643-1715) at Versailles. The creation and spread of a style, and that which Fernando Checa regards as the 'common language among the European courts', was in part assisted by the travels of court artists, the taste for collecting by leading figures of the day, donations of art works for diplomatic purposes, the great celebratory tapestries and, in general, a shared passion for art.
The exhibition itinerary comprises more than 170 works from Italian and overseas museums and public and private collections. The connecting theme of the exhibition is the body of work by Velasquez from his second trip to Rome (Philip IV of Spain, Marianna of Austria, Portrait of the Infanta Margherita in red dress, El bufón Don Antonio de Acedo, "El Ingles"), works from Bernini's mature artistic period, corresponding to his stay in Paris at the court of King Louis XIV, and works by Luca Giordano in Madrid (Minerva and Aracne, Rape of the Sabine, Apollo and Marsia, Flight into Egypt). Flanking the paintings of these famous court artists are the works of other Italian and Spanish artists such as Maratta, Baciccio, padre Pozzo, Juan Carreño de Miranda and Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazo - the works of these artists came together to create the great and complex decorative schemes of the palaces of Baroque power. In addition to paintings and sculpture, the exhibition displays engravings, medallions and equestrian portraits, etchings, designs relating to feasts and public celebrations, the famous tapestries of the Manifactures des Gobelins and exquisite pieces of furniture.
A special section is dedicated to the many works from Bernini's mature period; this fundamentally public artist, tied to the court of Pope Innocent X and the production of urban works of a highly scenographic quality, was at the same time also an artist with a strong intimist vein, as this exhibition shows in a series of works of a profoundly spiritual nature. Alongside sketches and models for the Four Rivers Fountain in Piazza Navona are some of the most religious works the artist created and which are largely unknown to the public: the 'Christo Ligato', two striking canvasses representing the 'Christus Patiens' and the 'Cristo deposto', the beautiful 'Cristo Crocifisso' in bronze and wood from the Escorial and the gilt bronze 'Cristo morto coronato di spine', in addition to two marble busts of the Saviour held respectively in the Cathedral of Sées (France) and in the Convent of San Sebastiano Fuori le Mura in Rome - this latter work has only recently been attributed to the artist and is considered to be the last work executed by the then eighty year-old artist.