News Release: 6 October 1998

"Bernini's Terracottas from the State Hermitage Museum, Russia" on View at the National Gallery of Art 11 October 1998 - 18 January 1999

Washington, DC--Thirty-five remarkable terracottas by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) and other Italian baroque masters in the collection of The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, will be on view at the National Gallery of Art, West Building, 11 October 1998 - 18 January 1999. Bernini's Rome: Italian Baroque Terracottas from The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg is the first showing in the United States of these rarely exhibited works primarily by the great Roman sculptors Bernini and Alessandro Algardi (1598-1654), along with works by twelve other prominent masters. Tsar Paul I purchased these works in 1800 from the collection of the wealthy Venetian prelate Filippo Farsetti. The exhibition was seen earlier this year at The Art Institute of Chicago and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

The exhibition was organized by The Art Institute of Chicago and The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg.

The exhibition is made possible by Republic National Bank of New York, Safra Republic Holdings S.A., Luxembourg, and Banco Safra S.A., Brazil.

"There is enormous interest in the masterpieces of Bernini worldwide and the National Gallery is very grateful to Republic National Bank for enabling the gallery to present these sculptures and other fascinating works of the Italian baroque period," said Earl A. Powell III, director, National Gallery of Art. "It is particularly appropriate that the exhibition coincides with quadricentennial celebrations of the birth of Bernini and Algardi, both born in 1598."

"Republic is pleased to continue its longstanding partnership with the National Gallery of Art," said Walter H. Weiner, chairman of the board and chief executive officer, Republic National Bank of New York. "We are particularly pleased to be associated with this splendid exhibition of Italian baroque terracottas from the collection of The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg--the latest in a long line of exhibitions Republic has sponsored at the National Gallery for more than a decade."

For nearly two centuries, the Farsetti collection of terracotta sculpture lay unseen and little-known in the storerooms of various museums, palaces, and other institutions in St. Petersburg, Russia. Most of the works were purchased by the Venetian in the mid-eighteenth century, before his collection was acquired by Tsar Paul I. One sculpture by Algardi from the National Gallery's own collection will also be on view.

The majority of the seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century Italian sculpture terracottas are characterized by the warm tones of the fired clay, and average

eighteen inches in height. Generally, they were used as studies for much larger marble or bronze works. More than two-thirds were created as bozzetti or "three-dimensional sketches" made for the majestic monuments erected in Rome and other cities during the Italian baroque period. Other terracottas in the exhibition were made as "presentation" or stand-alone pieces. Previously regarded as unfinished works of art or preliminary sketches, these terracottas today can now be fully appreciated since each sculpture reflects the master artist's personal touch and freedom of imagination that working in clay permits.

Bernini's and Algardi's Rome

Rome was a powerful and wealthy city, the center of Catholicism, and the cultural capital of Europe in the seventeenth century. Popes and cardinals sponsored artistic projects that were intended to proclaim the Church's spiritual values and enrich the fabric of the city. No artist of the period had a greater impact on Rome than Bernini, who astonished the Roman public with the naturalistic effects of his sculpture. A child prodigy, he was also a playwright, architect, painter, and impresario, as well as a sculptor who created an exuberant style that has become nearly synonymous with the idea of the baroque.

Many of Bernini's best works were executed in the name of Catholicism, including marble sculptures for the Basilica of Saint Peter. The Throne of Saint Peter is represented in the exhibition by the model of a supporting figure, Saint Ambrose, and the famous equestrian portrait of Saint Constantine by Constantine the Great. The magnificent Ecstasy of Saint Teresa in the Cornaro Chapel in Santa Maria della Vittoria is represented by a stunning preparatory piece of 1644.

The scale of these projects drew many of the city's sculptors into Bernini's workshops (except his rival Algardi). Bernini combined his brilliant facility in carving marble with a masterly ability to supervise teams of assistants. In fact, nearly every sculptor in Rome in the second half of the seventeenth century worked for Bernini on one or more of the colossal projects he directed.

The single most important Italian baroque sculptor, apart from Bernini, was Algardi. He also espoused the drama and movement that characterize the baroque in works such as the study of The Executioner for The Beheading of Saint Paul in the Church of San Paolo in Bologna. Unlike Bernini, however, Algardi's art was more deliberate and less demonstrative.

Curator and Catalogue

Ian B. Wardropper, Eloise W. Martin Curator of European Decorative Arts and Sculpture, and Ancient Art, The Art Institute of Chicago, is the curator for the exhibition.

The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated, 120-page catalogue, Bernini's Rome: Italian Baroque Terracottas from The State Hermitage Museum, featuring essays by Sergei Androsov, Dean Walker, and Ian B. Wardropper, with contributions by Nina Kosareva.

Sponsor

This is the ninth exhibition at the National Gallery to be sponsored by Republic National Bank of New York. Previous exhibitions include An American Perspective: Nineteenth-Century Art from the Collection of Jo Ann and Julian Ganz, Jr. (1981); Renaissance Master Bronzes from the Collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (1986); Berthe Morisot: Impressionist (1987); Franz Hals (1989); Circa 1492: Art in the Age of Exploration (1991); Cesarini Venus (1993); John Singleton Copley in England (1995); and Georges de La Tour and His World (1996).

General Information

The National Gallery of Art and its Sculpture Garden are at all times free to the public. They are located on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue NW, and are open Monday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The Gallery is closed on December 25 and January 1. For information call (202) 737-4215 or the Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD) at (202) 842-6176, or visit the Gallery's Web site at www.nga.gov.

Visitors will be asked to present all carried items for inspection upon entering the East and West Buildings. Checkrooms are free of charge and located at each entrance. Luggage and other oversized bags must be presented at the 4th Street entrances to the East or West Building to permit x-ray screening and must be deposited in the checkrooms at those entrances. For the safety of visitors and the works of art, nothing may be carried into the Gallery on a visitor's back. Any bag or other items that cannot be carried reasonably and safely in some other manner must be left in the checkrooms. Items larger than 17 x 26 inches cannot be accepted by the Gallery or its checkrooms.

For additional press information please call or send inquiries to:

Press Office
National Gallery of Art
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phone: (202) 842-6353 e-mail: pressinfo@nga.gov

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