, Electa, 2022 Paperback, 416 pages, ITA., 280 x 240 x 35 mm, in good condition, illustrated in colour / b/w. ISBN 9788892822795.
The volume is the catalogue of the homonymous exhibition held in Genova at Palazzo Ducale from 6 October 2022 to 22 January 2023, an extraordinary exhibition to tell the greatness of the most important Baroque painter ever: Peter Raul Rubens and his relationship with the city. The project was born on the occasion of the fourth centenary of the publishing in Antwerp of the Rubens? famous volume of Palazzi di Genova (1622). Rubens stayed on several occasions in Genova between 1600 and 1607 and thus had direct contacts relations ? in some cases very close ? with the city?s richest and most influential aristocrats. In exhibition and in the catalogue are presented more than 150 works, including more than twenty Rubens works, playing the role of protagonists, from European and Italian museums and collections (with some very significant ?re-entries?), which sum up to the ones present in the city, reaching a number such as there has not been since the end of the 18th century in Genova; since, that is, the crisis of the aristocracy with the repercussions of the French Revolution triggered an inexorable diaspora of masterpieces towards the collections of the world. From the Rubensian nucleus, the story of the cultural and artistic context of the city in the period of its utmost splendour is completed by paintings by artists whom Rubens certainly saw and studied (Tintoretto and Luca Cambiaso); whom he met in Italy and in particular in Genoa during his stay (Frans Pourbus the Younger, Sofonisba Anguissola and Bernardo Castello) or with whom he collaborated (Jan Wildens and Frans Snyders). Drawings, engravings, tapestries, furnishings, antique volumes, even clothes, feminine accessories and jewels allow to celebrate the grandeur of an artistic capital visited by one of the major artists of all times and confirm that appellation of Superb, given to Genoa. The catalogue is richly illustrated and gives account of the long path of studies and scientific insights by the curators and the thematic essays see contributions from a consistent number of international scholars. The exhibition guide and the guide to the Rubens? Genoa, a fascinating urban itinerary on the trail of Rubens? masterpieces, complete the proposal for the visitors and enthusiasts.