Wednesday 29 March 2017

OUR TRIP TO ROME: NAPOLEON’S DREAM OF A UNIVERSAL MUSEUM


Hi friends! In today’s post I would like to share with you the experience of our class, 3scB, going to Rome and visiting a very interesting exhibition: Il Museo Universale. Dal sogno di Napoleone a Canova (The Universal Museum. From Napoleon’s dream to Canova).

The exhibition included a lot of paintings and sculptures belonging to different artists and different periods. 

During Napoleon’s time (between 1796 and 1814) a lot of masterpieces were taken as spoils of war by the French and sent to Paris to be exhibited in the newly created Louvre museum. However, few years later, after Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo, a part of those masterpieces came back to Italy thanks to Antonio Canova e the financial support of King George IV of England (1816).

We could admire works by artists well-known worldwide, such as Raffaello Sanzio, Tiziano Vecellio, Guido Reni, Tintoretto, Canova and Il Perugino. 

There were more than 100 masterpieces at the “Scuderie del Quirinale” but, in my opinion, three of them were the most interesting. They are simply marvelous!

“MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS” (Guido Reni).




This painting represents a sad moment of Christian history. Indeed, it shows the episode of the infanticide wanted by Herod the Great. He ordered the execution of all young male children in the nearby city of Bethlehem to kill Jesus, the Jews’ King. The most touching elements of the painting are those babies’ bodies laid down on the ground and the mothers’ gazes filled with sorrow.

“CAPITOLINE VENUS”  



This is an amazing marmoreal sculpture which depicts Venus coming out of her bath. She is embarrassed and we can deduce that because she is covering her private parts with her arms. The expression of her face seems absent, psychologically depicted by the small, languid eyes and the small, fleshy mouth. Finally, in my opinion, the most wonderful element is her hair so  rich in details, that gives the impression of  being wet.


“PORTRAIT OF LEONE X” (Raffaello).



In this imperious portrait is represented the Pope accompanied by two Cardinals. The pontiff sits on a red chair, he wears red clothes and the cardinals wear red tunic, so we can say the red dominates the painting. The pommel onto the Pope's chair evokes the symbolic abacus balls of the Medici family. The Pope has an intelligent gaze and his hands are delicate and touching the Holy Bible. His aspect reflects the healthy environment he lives in. 

I really enjoyed going to Rome with my mates and to learn much about Art and History through this exhibition. It’ll be opened untile 12th March. So you have few days left to visit it! 






Francesco 

11 comments:

  1. Beautiful post!!
    I think that I'll go to the museum with my family....😍

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  2. It was a very interesting art exhibition and a nice trip. Rome is always beautiful!

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  3. I bet some France museums would be empty without Italian art 😒
    Jk jk

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  4. Good post!!I liked the museum and in my opinion the best masterpiece is "Capitoline Venus".

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  5. Very beutiful post! Well done Francesco !😍
    Fantastic museum!!!!!😍

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  6. I loved the museum! Well done Francesco!

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  7. Wow😍 What a beautiful paintings! And Capitoline Venus is very beautiful.

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  8. The paintings are wonderful. In Italy there are many mastepieces 😍

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  9. I loved these mastepieces and I loved the museum.
    I loved so much listening to our guide descibe us these works!
    I loved everything,Well done Francesco.

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  10. It has been my first trip in a museum and before that I didn't think that It would be so interesting...

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  11. I'm glad you enjoyed the outing. I'm looking forward for another one

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