The exhibition “Caravaggio. There is no energy without color” with free entry and created by the Eos Sud Association as part of the Eos Arts XIII Exhibition, within the Monumental Complex of Catanzaro, financed by the Calabria Region and sponsored by the Municipality of Catanzaro.
The exhibition, dedicated to Caravaggio, stages the cycle of original works Caravaggesque Stories by Guido Venanzoni (much appreciated by Italian art critics and in particular by Vittorio Sgarbi who wanted to exhibit them in Sutri) which faithfully follow the most evocative events and episodes of Caravaggio’s life, as well as some copies of the most famous works.
In a continuous union between real and virtual, the exhibition is accompanied by a multimedia project which sees the immersive projection of the dialogue between Orazio Gentileschi (father of Artemisia Gentileschi) and Maddalena Antognetti (courtesan and muse of Caravaggio) and there will also be animation digital of Caravaggio’s painting “The Capture of Christ”, 72 years after the last exhibition; a complete and innovative “digital story”.
The visitor will therefore be projected into the Rome of the early seventeenth century in which Caravaggio spent his professional and personal life, marked on the one hand by the inability to respect ethics, rules, decorum and on the other by the ability to intercept the restless sensitivity of the short century who establishes himself in the contemporary artistic imagination as a master of inexhaustible poetic richness.
The original idea of Guido Venanzoni (Rome, 27 March 1951) is to tell the life of Caravaggio in painting: a unique example of its kind.
Vittorio Sgarbi writes about the cycle of works: “The Stories of Caravaggio’s life told by Guido Venanzoni are essential episodes of Caravaggio’s biography, illustrated with Manzonian spirit. It is a nineteenth-century narrative taste, with the description of environments and characters created with a descriptive suggestion that was born in a circle of Caravaggists. Venanzoni works as the set designer and costume designer of a film about Caravaggio, with obsessive attention to detail in an evocative story with essential moments, such as his training with Simone Peterzano; frequenting taverns in Rome; reflection and comparison in the study of the Cavalier d’Arpino; the show for the beheading of Beatrice Cenci; the assassination of Ranuccio Tomassoni; the arrest in Palo Lazio; and finally death. Sequences of a film with the identification of Venanzoni in Caravaggio. Venanzoni’s reconstruction is philological and at the same time picturesque, not fictionalized or even literary, since we have sources, in particular Giovanni Baglione, who are very precise about Caravaggio’s adventurous life. Thus Venanzoni’s painting obeys passion more than anecdote and is both an act of love and a critical act”.
Caravaggio is one of the best-known Italian artists in the world. The extraordinary pictorial technique and the intensity of his paintings made him a witness to the tormented historical period in which he lived, that of the Counter-Reformation and the Baroque, but above all an absolute master of light. His innovative technique has transcended eras and genres, influencing photographers and filmmakers in the 20th century. It is no coincidence that during the Catanzaro exhibition a series of collateral events will be organized dedicated, among other things, to the master’s influence on cinema and on international and Italian artists.
Light, innovation, genius and art: the relationship between colour, light and energy is at the center of the exhibition which aims to enhance on the one hand the artist’s life, marked by many spectacular twists and turns and on the other, also thanks to the use of the most modern and appreciated technologies, to enter the world of energy and color of Caravaggio.
It is known how much the artist preferred dark settings to recreate that atmosphere indispensable to him in which the light, which filtered through the skylights in a direct and punctiform way, allowed him to stage compositions with a strong chiaroscuro pathos.
The curatorship of the exhibition is entrusted to the Arch. Francesco Petrucci, one of the greatest experts and connoisseurs of 17th century art. He currently holds the position of Conservator of the Palazzo Chigi in Ariccia (since 1998) and director of the Baroque Museum (since 2007). In addition to this he is also an Affiliated Professor of Art History at Auburn University, College of Human Science (USA, Al), based in Palazzo Chigi in Ariccia (since 2002); Director of the historical magazine “Castelli Romani. Events, men, folklore”, founded in 1955 (since 1995); President of the Academy of Idlers; Honorary Inspector of the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities, for Archaeology.
The exhibition is financed by the Calabria Region, with PSC Public Notice of Cultural Activities 2022 funds, with the patronage of the Municipality of Catanzaro and the collaboration with Palazzo Chigi of Ariccia.