At the Pilotta Complex in Parma the Farnese family between architecture, art and power

Twenty-seven years after the last exhibition on the theme, the Monumental Complex of the Pilotta in Parma hosts, from tomorrow to 31 July, ‘I Farnese. Architecture, Art, Power ‘, a large exhibition dedicated to the client of the Farnese family, with the aim of investigating the affirmation of the family in the European political and cultural structure from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century, through the use of the arts as an instrument of legitimation. The scientific project presents a double novelty, that of dealing with the themes of Renaissance collecting with the tools of Global History, and of including the great architectural factories in the patronage of the family. The exhibition involves the most spectacular environments of the Monumental Complex and is part of the broader project to relaunch the Institute, which in 2022 inaugurates all of its restored and refurbished spaces. “What we are inaugurating today – says Simone Verde, director of the Pilotta Monumental Complex – is a major exhibition dedicated to Farnese collecting through which the return of the Pilotta Monumental Complex to the international museology scene is celebrated. The review, of over 300 works coming from public and private collections, Italian and European together with works from the Farnese Collection in Parma, presents some absolute novelties in the exhibition panorama; for the first time, the themes of Renaissance collecting are treated with the tools of Global History and large architectural commissions are included in the family patronage. Five years after its real re-foundation – concludes Verde – Pilotta represents a leading cultural and scientific center that opens up to a new and fruitful dialogue with its citizens online with the civil mission of our scientific work within the broader c homogeneity “. The exhibition presents over 300 works from Italian and European public and private collections together with works from the Farnese Collection in Parma. An exceptional loan is worth noting, confirming the relationships and interest of the Farnese in culture and objects from distant and unknown lands: for the first time in Italy from the Musée des Amériques-Auch, the Mass of San Gregorio performed in Mexico by the Indians to thank Paul III for the bull Sublimis Deus, who recognized the humanity of Native Americans and condemned their exploitation.Among the loans, a nucleus of about 200 architectural drawings – from the Cabinet of Drawings and Prints of the Uffizi Gallery, from the state graphic collections of Munich, from the State Archives of Parma, Piacenza, Naples, Rome and Modena, from the National Library of Naples, from the Reverend Fabbrica di San Pietro and from the Pilotta Monumental Complex itself – presents, together with models, graphic elaborations and films, the overall picture of Farnese architecture from a historical, urban and territorial point of view, highlighting the relationship between This discipline is the dynastic affirmation in terms of prestige, expansion and vision of the client. And therefore: 20 paintings, masterpieces from the Museum and Real Bosco di Capodimonte in Naples, including works by Raphael, Tiziano Vecellio, El Greco and Annibale Carracci, are arranged in dialogue with the works of the Complex in re-enactment of the Farnese gallery, where the 100 most significant paintings of the family collection were kept.Finally more than 80 objects from the Cabinet of Rare Things of the Museum and Real Bosco di Capodimonte including the Cassetta Farnese, together with the Farnese Cup from the National Archaeological Museum of Naples, the coins and medals of the Monumental Complex of the Pilotta and the pieces from the Gonzaga di Guastalla Collection that have merged into the Farnese collection, allow for the reconstruction of a Renaissance chamber of wonders. of museum and archival materials that converge for the first time in one of the most important exhibitions ortanti ever made on the theme of Renaissance collecting and certainly the richest ever on the Farnese Collection, in which we find a reflection of the adherence between residences and artistic collections, capable of evoking that union between works and architecture that linked the contents to their container. The exhibition itinerary, developed on different thematic nuclei, Architecture, Art, Power, is divided into the different spaces of the Pilotta Complex: the Voltoni del Guazzatoio, the Farnese Theater, the Petitot Gallery of the Palatine Library and the National Gallery. The exhibition itinerary is joined by the musical and artistic project ‘Farnesian Weeks’ created in collaboration with La Toscanini which provides, in addition to the programming of some concerts in the Farnese Theater, the setting up of a section on musical culture in the Farnese era. In a specially dedicated space, some manuscripts, printed booklets and printed edition music pages of the time are exhibited and a multimedia installation is set up in which Enrico Onofri, principal director of La Toscanini, illustrates the relationship between the Farnese family and the music, with musical examples on the violin and continuo (lute). On the occasion of the exhibition Electa publishes an exhibition catalog (480 pages, 550 illustrations, AA.VV, edited by Simone Verde) and the book La scuola del mondo. Global Stories of the Farnese Collection a collection of essays entrusted to Italian and international scholars, curated by Simone Verde. Graphic project by Studio Leonardo Sonnoli.The exhibition is part of the larger project to relaunch the Pilotta, an imposing palace symbol of the ducal power of the Farnese family, in the heart of the historic center of Parma. Today it is a unique Monumental Complex that contains the Farnese Theater, the National Gallery of Parma, the National Archaeological Museum, the Palatine Library and the Bodonian Museum, united by an ancient history, with collections rich in treasures. their unity, giving life to a cultural and scientific center that opens up to a new dialogue with citizens, thanks also to a plan for the recovery and re-functionalization of the spaces, a critical rethinking of the collections, a notable series of restorations and inauguration of new sections. Next ‘restitutions’ to the public heritage will take place with the opening of the new headquarters of the Bodonian Museum and the new path of the National Archaeological Museum.