The Tretyakov Gallery will show Russian art in a new way in the Vatican Museums. The Tretyakov Gallery will show Russian art in a new way at the Vatican Museums. But at the exhibition this topic became “subtext”

42 works will be presented in Moscow; The exhibition will be held from November 25, 2016 to February 19, 2017

Raphael. Faith, Charity

Photo: official website of the Tretyakov Gallery/Vatican Museums

Moscow. the 25th of October. website - The Vatican Museums will present more than 40 works for the exhibition "Roma Aeterna" at the Tretyakov Gallery, said gallery general director Zelfira Tregulova.

“It is a unique situation that the Vatican Museums are providing 42 works for an exhibition at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, despite the fact that Russian curators played a huge role in shaping its composition,” Tregulova said at a press conference on Tuesday.

She noted that the exhibition "Roma Aeterna. Masterpieces of the Vatican Pinacoteca. Bellini, Raphael, Caravaggio" will be held from November 25, 2016 to February 19, 2017.

“Never before has the Vatican provided an exhibition in such quantity to any country in the world. The display of this exhibition at the Tretyakov Gallery can truly serve as a crossing point for the earliest works of our gallery. Never before have we hosted such a representative exhibition from such a place,” Tregulova said.

She noted that an audio guide was developed specifically for the exhibition, voiced by actor Veniamin Smekhov.

According to Tregulova, on October 25, a month before the start of the exhibition, online ticket sales will start on the gallery’s website. Tickets will cost 100 rubles more than usual - 500 rubles, and their number will be limited.

“We understand that it will arouse great interest among viewers in Russia. And we tried to rely on the experience of visiting our last two exhibitions - Serov and Aivazovsky. Therefore, we organize visits in sessions, once every 30 minutes. We cannot chase huge attendance, we will We must not only ensure the safety of the works, but also give people the opportunity to enter into a spiritual dialogue with the paintings,” said the gallery’s general director.

She called for purchasing tickets in advance at the box office or on the Tretyakov website, without resorting to the services of resellers. According to her, ticket sales for this exhibition will be limited to four or two per person.

Tregulova noted that a reciprocal exhibition of the Tretyakov Gallery in the Vatican will be organized in 2017; a significant part of it will consist of works of Russian painting on gospel subjects from the gallery’s collection.

“We have met several times with colleagues from the Vatican Museum, we hope that our return exhibition will be just as generous. We are ready to present masterpieces of the highest class from the collection of the Tretyakov Gallery,” said the general director.

She noted that they first started talking about this project three years ago after a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Pope.

“We were faced with a difficult situation in the spring, when there was a danger that the exhibition, with its incredible list and idea, might not take place due to lack of funding. It was a dramatic moment. This project was actually saved thanks to Alisher Usmanov and his foundation,” Tregulova emphasized .

Friends, good afternoon. On Saturday we were lucky enough to visit a unique exhibition of Vatican masterpieces, you still have the opportunity to see it within two months, don’t miss it.

The exhibition takes place in the Engineering Building of the State Tretyakov Gallery (Lavrushinsky Lane, 12) from November 25, 2016 to February 19, 2017. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to buy tickets through the website, but you can easily come to the museum and buy a ticket right on the spot, at the box office, Despite the large number of visitors, we did not see any queues.

Operating mode:

Tuesday, Wednesday, Sunday from 10.00 to 18.00 (entrance until 17.00)

Thursday, Friday, Saturday from 10.00 to 21.00 (entrance until 20.00)

Monday is a day off.

Allow yourself a couple of hours to view the exhibition; one hour is clearly not enough.

To be honest, I’m still very impressed, I don’t even know where to start. Works from the 12th to the 18th centuries are presented. This is a tenth of the collection, which includes 460 works. It is interesting that a number of paintings left their native walls for the first time, given that not everyone, in light of the tightening of economic policy, can afford to travel abroad, I think that we are very lucky and I recommend using this chance, you will definitely not remain indifferent. Unfortunately, taking photographs at the exhibition is strictly prohibited, so I took all the photographs from the Internet, and the description from the brochure from the exhibition and from memory what I managed to remember from the audio guide.

The exhibition begins with the rare ancient icon “Christ the Blessing,” created in the second half of the 12th century by a master working in Rome under the influence of Byzantine painting. Before entering the Pinacoteca, it was located in the church of Santa Maria in Campo Marzio, one of the oldest in Rome. The Roman master presented Jesus Christ in the image of Pantocrator, that is, the ruler of the Universe, and the icon, being an analogy of ancient Russian images of the Savior Pantocrator, preserves the memory of the unity of the Christian church before the schism, that is, before its division into Catholic and Orthodox, and shows the direct kinship of Italian and Russian art coming from the same root.

The exhibition continues with Margaritone di Magnano, nicknamed Margaritone d'Arezzo ca. 1216-1290).
Saint Francis of Assisi. 1250-1270. Altar image. Wood, tempera, gold. 127.2x53.9 cm.
“Margaritone d'Arezzo, born before Giotto and Duccio, is one of the greatest painters of medieval Italy. The painting is included in all art history textbooks as an outstanding example of the late Romanesque style, but it is also interesting because it is one of the earliest images of St. Francis of Assisi, made shortly after his canonization in 1228. Saint Francis played a vital role in the history of the Western Church; it is not for nothing that the current pope chose his name, who became the first Francis in the history of the Vatican. This work may have been exactly the one that Vasari described in “The Life of Margaritone” as painted from life, so that it can be considered almost one of the first portraits in Italian painting.”

I was shocked both by the icons themselves and by their preservation, think about it, this is from the 12th-13th centuries!

I will not dwell on all the exhibits; I will note only those that sank into my soul the most and shocked me with their skill. Continuing the inspection of the first hall, I would like to draw attention to 3 frescoes by Melozzo degli Ambrosi, nicknamed Melozzo da Forli (1438-1494).
Angels playing the lute. 1480. Fragments of a fresco removed from the wall. Right size: 117×93.5 cm.
The artist “...was invited to Rome by Pope Sixtus IV. He created many frescoes in Roman churches, so that Melozzo can be considered the founder of the Roman school, which flourished in the 16th-17th centuries. Three angels playing music are fragments of his painting of the dome of the Church of Santi Apostoli, a huge multi-figure composition “The Ascension of Christ”.
The fresco was perceived by contemporaries as a triumph of papal power, which revived Rome. The divine orchestra of angels symbolized the unearthly beauty of paradise, and the abstract concept of “music of heaven” is associated with the philosophical constructions of the model of the world, which the Pythagoreans and Platonists spoke about. Melozzo, as a Renaissance artist, combines ancient and Christian traditions in his work. His angels, glorifying the Lord according to the words of the Bible: “Let them praise His name with faces, with tympanum and harp, let them sing to Him, for the Lord delights in His people, glorifying the humble with salvation,” are ideal, like ancient statues, and at the same time vital - they look like young pages at the courts of Renaissance rulers.”

The fresco “Angel Playing the Viol”, not many of Melozzo’s works have reached us; most of his frescoes were lost during perestroika, but from what remains, one can judge the scale of his talent. Melozzo, turning to medieval models, breathed new life into them, anticipating Michelangelo, Raphael, Correggio, and the painting of the domes of Baroque churches.

Also noteworthy is the work of Gentile da Fabriano (c. 1370-1427).
Scenes from the life of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker: St. Nicholas calms the storm and saves the ship. OK. 1425. Predella. Wood, tempera. But it is interesting not so much for its plot, but because the author depicts the earth here as round, which was an absolute innovation for those times. Look at the horizon line.

Well, I can’t help but draw attention to one of the central exhibits of the first hall, Giovanni Bellini (c. 1432-1516). Lamentation of Christ with Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus and Mary Magdalene. OK. 1471-1474. Altar top. Wood, oil. 107×84 cm.
“Bellini is the greatest artist of the Venetian school of the 15th century. This painting is one of his masterpieces. It was the finial of a large altar, and in its composition Bellini takes a decisive step towards the calm grandeur of the High Renaissance, overtaking many of his contemporary Florentine artists. The work is avant-garde in the mere fact that it is painted in oils, using a completely new technique for Italy, just brought to Venice from the Netherlands. The iconography is also original. Usually the main person in the Lamentation scene is the Virgin Mary. Only Joseph of Arimathea, Saint Nicodemus and Mary Magdalene are depicted here supporting Jesus from behind. The thoughtful silence in which the characters are immersed, emphasized by the tension of their clasped hands, gives this scene a rare psychological acuity.”

Looking at a painting by Carlo Crivelli (1435-1494). Mourning. 1488. Lunette. Wood, tempera, gold. For a long time I could not understand the technique in which it was executed, the work here is so delicate that it seems that the picture is woven from brocade, this is amazing, I have never seen anything like it before.
“Carlo Crivelli, a Venetian by birth, left his native city early and became famous in the Marche region. During his lifetime he was popular, but later he was forgotten and rediscovered only at the end of the 19th century. This lunette, which crowned the large altar, is one of his most stunning works. For the sake of expressiveness, the artist resorts to obvious violations of proportions, and in order to intertwine the hands of Jesus, the Virgin Mary and Magdalene together, Crivelli makes the right hand of Christ much longer than the left. Bent over a knot of palms, Magdalene’s face, distorted by crying, becomes the emotional center of the picture. The work is strongly influenced by Northern Gothic, and is characterized by that incredible intensity of psychological experience that is characteristic of the mystical religious movements of the 15th century.”

Most of the works with their plots take us to where the Birth of Christ and other events took place

Moving on to the second hall of the exhibition, I want to start with a description of the painting that most struck me, namely Guido Reni’s painting “St. Matthew and the Angel,” 1635-1640. Painting size 85×68 cm, oil on canvas. Saint Matthew, original name Levi, one of the twelve apostles and author of the first Gospel. Reni painted this picture over the course of about five years already in adulthood. “Saint Matthew and the Angel” is considered one of the artist’s most significant works in the last period of his work. The magic of the gaze of Matthew and the angel is striking, how one listens to the other, with what amazing accuracy and grace the artist was able to convey the complex range of feelings of both in their glances.

The second most powerful painting on me was the painting attributed to Pensionante del Saraceni, “The Denial of St. Peter.” The painting was considered the work of Caravaggio until 1943, but was then attributed to a student of Carlo Saraceni, one of the main representatives of early Caravaggism. The student's name has not yet been established, and he is tentatively called "Pensionante del Saraceni", which in Italian means "guest of Saraceni". His canvases stand out among the works of other Caravaggists: the artist does not plunge the background into darkness, but illuminates the entire picture with an even iridescent light. The plot of the picture is the gospel story of the denial of the Apostle Peter. The night before he was taken into custody, Jesus predicted to him that he would deny three times before the first rooster. A maid approached Peter, who was waiting for news at the gate of the high priest’s house, where the arrested Jesus was taken, and, recognizing him, said: “And she with Jesus of Galilee,” but the apostle denied. In the picture, Peter’s face is in the shadows, as if hiding his shame .

One of the central works of the second room is the work of Michelangelo Merisi, nicknamed Caravaggio, “Entombment,” which the artist painted for the Roman temple of Santa Maria della Valicella. It is considered one of the best in his work. The composition “Entombment” is structured in such a way that the viewer looking at it involuntarily becomes part of the picture. The stone tomb in which they want to put Christ is turned towards the viewer with one of its corners - this corner seems to break through a thin barrier between the world of the picture and ordinary reality. The impression is strengthened by the sharp elbow of Nicodemus holding Jesus by the legs. It seems that they want to convey the motionless body of Christ to the one who looks at the picture.

Young Maria froze in a silent cry, raising her hands to the sky, her hair sticking out in different directions - apparently, she tore it in lamentations. Mary Magdalene's head is mournfully lowered, he hides his tears, worrying about the loss. Jesus' mother does not cry or scream, she silently looks at her son's face, knowing that she will never see him again. The men's faces are concentrated and mournful.

John, frowning, peers into the lifeless face of his Teacher, and the strong and stocky Nicodemus looks down at the bottom of the tomb, straining under the weight of Jesus’ body. The body of Christ is devoid of any cadaverous shades; it is pale, as if it had lost all the colors of life.

Of course, one of the most significant pieces of the exhibition are two small grisailles by Raphael Santi, which formed the predella of the altarpiece for the church of San Francesco al Prato in Perugia, known as the Baglioni altarpiece, in the center of which was the “Entombment”, now kept in the Galleria Borghese. “Vera”, the side part of the predella, appears in the form of a female figure with a chalice in her hand; putti in the side niches hold tablets with mograms of the name of Jesus.

In the Third Hall we are presented with the series “Astronomical Observations”, the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Satupn, Comet. An unusual series of paintings, mounted in one frame, depicting night observations of all the then known planets of the solar system, created by the Bolognese artist Donato Creti, commissioned by Count Luigi Ferdinando Marsili, an amateur astronomer. The count decided to send the paintings to Pope Clement 11 in the hope of in this way convincing him to allocate money for the construction of an observatory in Bologna and achieved his goal, the funds were allocated.

There are still many worthy and unique works presented at the exhibition and you, friends, have two more months to visit it and see all these creations with your own eyes, I wish you good luck.

Vasily Perov. “Troika” (“Workshop apprentices carrying water”). 1866. Photo: State Tretyakov Gallery

Exhibition “Russian Way. From Dionysius to Malevich" is the second part of a joint project of the Vatican Museums and the State Tretyakov Gallery. The first part was an exhibition that took place in Moscow two years ago. Russian art will be shown from November 20 to February 16 in the Charlemagne wing of Bernini's colonnade of St. Peter's Basilica, where Vatican Museums exhibitions regularly take place. A special architectural solution for the exhibition has been created for the Russian one, which will allow the public to calmly (and, by the way, for free) examine everything that will be brought from Moscow.

Natalia Goncharova. "Trinity". 1910. Photo: State Tretyakov Gallery

The Tretyakov Gallery presents “The Russian Way” as an exhibition that is unprecedented and bold in concept. For the first time, works of exceptional importance for our art have been collected in such a large quantity for a foreign exhibition. Most of them - 47 paintings and icons - are from the Tretyakov collection, another 7 exhibits were provided by other domestic museums. The curators (the author of the concept and exhibition is Arkady Ippolitov, the section of ancient Russian art was formed by Tatyana Samoilova, painting of the 19th-20th centuries by Tatyana Yudenkova) abandoned the traditional chronological principle. At the exhibition, icons and paintings will be shown in such a way that the continuity, the deep internal rather than formal connection between ancient Russian and realistic and modernist art is clear, which is truly unusual, since according to tradition it is customary to contrast them rather as religious and humanistic art, pre-Petrine and post-Petrine . That is, the exhibition will, in essence, outline the spiritual quest of Russian artists over the centuries. Or, as Arkady Ippolitov says, to show “the uniqueness of the Russian artistic mentality.”

Mikhail Vrubel. "Demon Seated" 1890. Photo: State Tretyakov Gallery

The comparisons built in the exhibition may seem unexpected: “Christ in the Desert” by Ivan Kramskoy and the wooden Perm sculpture “Christ in Prison”; “Black Square” by Kazimir Malevich and the Novgorod icon “The Last Judgment” of the 16th century; the textbook “Troika” by Vasily Perov and the iconic “Trinity”. Other parallels are perceived as well-known. Thus, the origins of “The Bathing of the Red Horse” and “The Petrograd Madonna” by Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin are obvious.

Savior Not Made by Hands. XVI century Novgorod. Photo: State Tretyakov Gallery

“Our exposition is called “Russian Way”. Probably the first thing her viewer will immediately notice is the unusually sharp breaks in this path. This path passes through points of self-denial,” this is how poet and philologist Olga Sedakova begins her article in the exhibition catalogue. The anti-clerical “Procession in the Kursk Province” by Ilya Repin, his “Confession”, and Mikhail Vrubel’s beautifully calm “Demon” will be brought to the Vatican. Naturally, the topic, as they say, could not be revealed without “The Appearance of Christ to the People” by Alexander Ivanov. The painting that hangs in the Tretyakov Gallery cannot be exported - it is too large; its smaller version from the State Russian Museum will go on its way.

Ilya Repin. "Religious procession in the Kursk province." 1881-1883. Photo: State Tretyakov Gallery

It is impossible to predict whether a foreign viewer will understand the originality of the concept of the “Russian Way”, whether he will be interested in Russian fine art in close proximity to Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel and Raphael’s “School of Athens”. To the question asked by TANR to Zelfira Tregulova about what would be an indicator of success, the director of the Tretyakov Gallery replied that attendance, of course, is always the main criterion, but it is also very important for her how interested European art historians and the press will be in “The Russian Way”, how they will understand he will be appreciated.

As for the Russian public, who will certainly be able to understand and appreciate the non-banality of the exhibition concept, a Russian-language version of the catalog has been published for them, and it will be sold at the Tretyakov Gallery. This has never happened before. And this seems to be a very important and correct decision, since the articles in the catalog do not repeat what has been known for a long time, but describe the history of the spiritual search of Russian art as it is seen today.