It is the delicious cherry to taste at the end, the rare pearl: the large altarpiece “San Giorgio kills the dragon” of the Vatican Museums, which was commissioned for the church of San Giorgio in Noale, an absolute masterpiece also mentioned by Longhi in his “Viaticum for five centuries of Venetian painting “. It can be admired from today in Treviso in the underground rooms of the Museum of Santa Caterina as part of the great exhibition “Paris Bordon 1500-1571. Divine painter “. The panel on which Bordon worked in the twenties of the sixteenth century, comes after a careful restoration that has returned fabulous reflections to the colors, financed for 30 thousand euros by the exhibition, or by Marsilio Arte who takes care of the organization and publishes the catalog, and by the sponsors (Banca Intesa San Paolo, Save Aertre, Chamber of Commerce and Consorzio Tutela Prosecco Doc).
Treviso, visit with us the exhibition dedicated to Paris Bordon
Here are the masterpieces of Paris Bordon on display from 16 September to 15 January 2023 at the Museum of Santa Caterina in Treviso. Forty-one wonders arriving from museums across Europe for the homage event in Treviso to one of his most illustrious sons.
THE GIFT
Tribute to the famous painter born in Treviso in 1500, the monographic of Santa Caterina commissioned by the municipal administration, comes almost 40 years after the exhibition curated by the Civic Museums with Eugenio Manzato and Rodolfo Pallucchini, to the fourteenth century, in 1984; and 122 years after the previous photographic exhibition always dedicated to him.
With 41 works selected and loaned, despite the hitches caused by the war, from the most prestigious museums in the world – among others National Gallery, Louvre, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Uffizi, Vatican Museums – the exhibition curated by two scholars that require no introduction like Simone Facchinetti and Arturo Galansino, tells of the artistic path born in the Renaissance workshop of Titian in Venice, which he arrived at very young, and then evolved into the Mannerist style especially after the trip to Fontainebleau at the court of Francesco I.
Paris Bordon, the Divin Pitor is revealed at the Museum of Santa Caterina in Treviso
THE SET-UP
The exhibition is well thought out thanks to the reorganization of the main hall accessible from a separate entrance, without having to go through the picture gallery (we return, however, to visit the room set up with the works in the collection). Eight thematic sections: Legacy of Titian; Historical fortune; Portraits; Mythologies; Eros; Inventions of Paris; Pictures of private devotion; Devotional works and altarpieces). From the works of the early years, still marked by the style of Titian and Giorgione, in the holy families and in some portraits, to the later works in which he landed in a very personal way.
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FAME
Half-length figures in a riot, for the ladies, of curls, folds, sheen, with architectural backgrounds that make Paris Bordon recognizable at a glance, the portrait section includes emblematic pieces such as the “Portrait of a gentleman” in Genoa and the National Gallery’s “Portrait of a Young Woman”. Bordon’s works were, moreover, in great demand and he produced a lot of them for commissions even across the border. Interesting in this regard is the small section of volumes on loan from the Marciana Library, which testify to the attention that the Treviso genius has enjoyed over time: from Vasari who wrote about it in the 1568 edition of the Lives, to Ridolfi and Lanzi, with a narrator that quotes some passages.
EROS AND MYTHOLOGICAL SUBJECTS
On the path traced by the Venetian masters, Paris Bordon distinguished himself for pagan paintings for private use. The famous “Mars, Venus and Cupid crowned by Hymenaeus” (1940s) in Vienna and the “Couple of lovers” in London even later (1555-1560) have an impact. The next more intimate room is opened by seven plaster and pastel studies preparatory to the realization of the oils, coming from the Uffizi Gallery and the Louvre.
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The exhibition itinerary closes with the section dedicated to devotional works and altarpieces including the spectacular “Annunciation” of Caen, dominated by a complex network of architectures. It is here that the “San Giorgio” of the Vatican, of dazzling, bright, beauty steals the show, to close a pleasant and high-level itinerary. Too bad for the absences: the paintings of the Hermitage are missing, “which we luckily managed to replace,” said Galansino. And one of Bordon’s capital works is missing, the “Delivery of the ring to the Doge” of the Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice, which can still be admired after a short trip to the lagoon. –