The other collection. Stories and works from the deposits of the National Gallery of the Marche
Nino Caffè, Grande Pannello, 1967 (particolare)
The other collection. Stories and works from the deposits of the National Gallery of the Marche
Ducal Palace, Urbino, from 5 October 2023 to 5 May 2024
Curators: Director of the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche Luigi Gallo, Valentina Catalucci and Andrea Bernardini
Credit photo: popcinema.org
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The artworks in Italy are in an excessive number. The consequence is the invisibility of the majority of works preserved in museums.
The deposits in which they are kept are vast. This causes a problem with cataloguing and studying cultural heritage. Above all, it is unavailable to the public.
Anselmo Bucci, Zio Carletto torna dall'Africa
What is the exact quantity of artwork protected in Italian warehouses? They are infinity:
“ … approximately 480 thousand artworks are exhibited in Italian museums, but in storage are kept 4.5 million ...” (1)
Besides, there is an enormous amount of archaeological material. Therefore, 90% of the assets are hidden, unknown, or known only to a few scholars.
Exhibiting all artwork is impracticable. Museums in Italy are mainly historic palaces with unlimited architectural restrictions. Even if it were possible, the question is how they could be visible and interesting.
Federico Barocci, Il perdono di Assisi
How can we use and manage this abundance?
Deposits are certainly an essential place for careful maintenance and control. Once this function has been consolidated, can deposits be used in a flexible and smart manner?
Accessibility, rotation of artworks, partial exploitation, marketing, interpretation and research to make them attractive. Furthermore, accurate service for loans, finding alternative exposure solutions, taking advantage of many government buildings.
A different option could be decentralization of artworks from huge deposits. It happened with the “100 works return home” project of the Ministry of Culture. Five paintings by Federico Barocci, Simone Cantarini and Pomarancio, left in Pinacoteca di Brera's storage, have been delivered to the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche. The paintings were created in the Marche area and stolen during the Napoleonic period. It is a return home, where they were born and lived for years. However, it is only a small number.
A different system was devised in February 2016 by the Mauritshuis Museum in The Hague. The museum organized the exhibition “In and out of storage” displaying artworks from its deposits.
Simone Cantarini, Il giudizio di Paride
The Galleria Nazionale delle Marche in the Ducal Palace, Urbino, follows the same line.
With the exhibition, The other collection. Stories and works from the deposits of the National Gallery of the Marche, from 5 October 2023 to 5 May 2024, the museum in Urbino offered the opportunity to see sixty paintings.
They are artworks from the fifteenth to the twentieth century, an authoritative and cultural selection.
The best-known authors are Federico Barocci and Simone Cantarini known as Pesarese. Recent artists are Anselmo Bucci and Vincenzo Nini.
The exhibition ends with Nino Caffè with his Grande Pannello from 1967. A landscape, a park. It is observed from the subjective perspective of a person from inside his house, probably a palace. A large window with a balustrade which divides a third of the canvas. The parapet is a precise design, a fixed object, immobile but with small signs of life. A curious lizard, a pipe and a sheet of paper. The other third is a large, lively garden, full of people and vitality. Two men and a friend are having a picnic. A man from the back has his legs crossed. He is leaning on a trunk with one hand and admiring the infinite. A couple is sitting on a bench and petting. A young person is resting on the grass and reading a newspaper. Three couples are celebrating. One is playing a guitar, two are dancing, another is hugging a soldier and one is lying on the lawn. A painter paints en plein air. A priest wanders with his hands behind. Mary Poppins is flying with her umbrella and her bag while children move around her. An elderly man walks with a dog, and another nearby dog barks. An old woman is walking. Another priest is relaxing on his bicycle. However, Mary Poppins is not the only one who soars. The side part is occupied by a seminary. Its terrace has a cleric with an umbrella flying about. Another is throwing himself. Others are ready too. The seminary is imposing, surrounded by a garden and enclosed by walls. From the gate, a nun greets someone with a white handkerchief.
In the upper area, there are no humans. There is just a hilly panorama with houses and a cirrus cloud sky, more white than light blue.
The colours are soft, autumnal. The leaves are already brown, but in some trees, they are still shy green.
The final result is a theatrical environment, with a parapet to separate the audience and the stage. The scene is a choral story, a moment of distraction, play, joy, fantasy in a green space. Many characters engage inplayful activities. It is the exaltation of nature, of being together, it is a collective poem with many priests and Mary Poppins.