(6 February 2017) The exhibition “Memories of Serenissima” curated by Marco Bertoli was inaugurated on February 2 and will remain open to the public until March 2 at the Italian Cultural Institute in New York. The exhibition is part of the festival “La Serenissima: Music and Arts from the Venetian Republic” at Carnegie Hall and pays a tribute to the city of Venice through concerts featuring masterpieces of vocal and instrumental music. The celebration extends throughout the city in various cultural institutions and include discussions, theatre soirees, and art exhibitions that not only highlight the culture of the Venetian Republic but its scandal and libertine history that the passage of time has rendered less recognisable. “Memorie of Serenissima” is the final stage of a three-year project devoted to 19th century Italian painting recently on show at the ICI, the Macchiaioli and the Scuola Napoletana. A select works of different genres dated back to the second half of the 19th and early 20th century that demonstrate how the historical memory and the artistic tie with the Venetian Republic were still alive decades after its fall. Paintings that capture the Venetian laguna whose sky and water appear to be one, the surrounding countryside and the city, canals, and bell towers animated by the daily bustle of life: the works are characterised by an extraordinary light and by the fugacious and improvised study of light. (Red)

THE EXHIBITION

The exhibition includes works by the major proponents of the 19th century Venetian school such as Giovanni Boldini, Vittorio Emanuele Bressanin, Beppe Ciardi, Emma Ciardi, Guglielmo Ciardi, Angelo Dall’Oca Bianca, Eugenio De Blaas, Giacomo Favretto, Pietro Fragiacomo, Francesco Hayez, Egisto Lancerotto, Alessandro Milesi, Luigi Nono, Antonio Rotta, Rubens Santoro, Lino Selvatico, Ettore Tito, and Federico Zandomenighi.