The Seduction of Portraits in the 1700s

Bergamo exhibition explains why Fra' Galgario was one of Italy's most famous artists

Admiring the 18th century Portrait of a Knight of the Constantinian Order, Giovanni Testori, one of Italy's best-known art critics, exclaimed, "This is the greatest portrait that 18th-century painting has given us." The portrait, currently belonging to the Poldi Pezzoli Museum, was painted by Lombard painter Fra' Galgario, a friar of the Society of St. Paul who lived from 1665 to 1743. His real name was Vittore Ghislandi and he was a great European artist straddling the 17th and 18th centuries.
This extraordinary artist was the living emblem of a pictorial tradition distinguished by style features having great technical importance. His name is little known nowadays because his portraits, highly sought after by the aristocracy and bourgeoisie of the period, remained jealously in private collections, largely inaccessible to the public. Now some 50 paintings can finally be seen, all together, in an exhibition at the Modern Art Gallery of Bergamo entitled "Fra' Galgario, le seduzioni del ritratto nel '700 europeo" ("Fra' Galgario, the Seduction of Portraits in Europe in the 1700s"), doing justice to his delicate genius. The exhibition also displays numerous works by other famous portrait painters of the time, especially from France.
Fra' Galgario led a wandering life. From his native Bergamo, where he became a friar and began honing his painting skills with his fellow friars and later with Giacomo Cotta and Bartolomeo Bianchini, he moved to Venice, apparently after many altercations with his father, where he would perfect his art and letters. There, in the throbbing heart of the Enlightenment, this artist was offered the extraordinary opportunity of working in Sebastiano Bombelli's workshop and studying the works of Titian and Paolo Veronese. His thirst for knowledge led him to Milan where he collaborated with German Salomon Adler, coming to terms with the latest currents of central European style.
The field where Fra' Galgario excelled was portrait painting. This is testified by the many canvasses he did on commissions by noble local families, e.g. the Secco Sguardos, the Albanis, the Bettanis, and the Camozzis. His work was also requested by foreign houses such as the Lowerstein princes and the Earls of Daun. His fame is particularly linked to his portraits of young men: one of the most famous paintings is his Portrait of a Young Painter, kept at Accademia Carrara.
Bergamo, the city where the artist worked in his most fecund years, confirms its vocation as a city of art, honouring Fra' Galgario's memory and refreshing his fame with this exhibition. This is the fifth edition of an event that showcased prestigious painters like Caravaggio and the Venetians. Organized by the Accademia Carrara and the Musée des Augustins of Toulouse (France), this important cultural event was born of the co-operation among several institutions: local authorities (the City and the Province of Bergamo and the Region of Lombardy), the Bergamo Chamber of Commerce, the local Industrialists' Union, and several banks such as Banca Popolare di Bergamo, Credito Varesino, and Fondazione Cariplo, just to mention a few.
The exhibition includes 90 works, 52 of which by Fra' Galgario, with the primary purpose of highlighting how this painter fully belonged to the contemporary world of European art, dispelling the myth of his supposed local dimension where his production had been confined until now. This man, who worked in one of Europe's artistic centres with painters such as Cotta, Baschenis, Kupezky, and the already mentioned Adler, certainly deserves a European perspective.
The first part of the exhibition retraces the steps of Fra' Galgario's artistic growth, between Bergamo, Venice, and Milan. The second part displays works from the phase of his artistic maturity, his collaboration with great Giovan Battista Tiepolo, his works at the Uffizi, and especially his portraits, done with full command of his characteristic style. These works have been borrowed from prestigious private collections, such as those of Marshal Schulemberg and Prince Eugenio of Savoy. In both sections, works by Fra' Galgario are displayed alongside those of his French, British and Austrian contemporaries, underscoring the context of the friar's artistic creation.
The works are arranged so that recurring themes are evident, e.g. portraits of children, or the sumptuous portrayal of members of the nobility. The last hall is devoted to the final period of this artist when, according to Tassi, "he painted with his fingers", producing paintings of great impact and technical novelty. The exhibition ends with three sections showcasing the Schulemberg Collection and the works of Gian Antonio Guardi and Jacopo Ceruti, as well as the indexing of Fra' Galgario's paintings belonging to the Accademia Carrara.
Finally, the Drawings and Printings Cabinet has a few pertinent samples related to the artist. The reconstruction of the 1700s in the halls, via period dresses and multimedia clips, contributes to the magical atmosphere.

Publication Date: 2003-11-23
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=3371