Baroque Pathways:
The National Galleries Barberini Corsini in Rome
The Museum Barberini presented its first Old Master exhibition showcasing fifty-four masterpieces from the collections of the Palazzo Barberini and the Galleria Corsini in Rome, including an early work by Caravaggio, Narcissus of 1597–99.
Fifty-four masterpieces from the collections of the Palazzo Barberini and the Galleria Corsini were exhibited in Potsdam, including paintings by Giovanni Baglione, Guido Reni, Jusepe de Ribera, Carlo Saraceni, Michael Sweerts, and Simon Vouet, as well as the famous Narcissus of 1597–99, an early work by Caravaggio.
David von Becker
“From the very beginning we hoped that we would one day be able to collaborate on an exhibition with our renowned namesake in Rome. It is a great honor and a mark of recognition for the still young Museum Barberini to cooperate with the illustrious national galleries of Italy.”
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio brought about a new kind of art by focusing on the decisive moment of a narrative. His chiaroscuro effects broke with all accepted norms and made him one of the pioneers of Baroque painting. The exhibition, the Museum Barberini’s first project focusing on the Old Masters, highlighted the themes and stylistic developments of Baroque art in Rome, tracing the birth of Roman Baroque painting in the wake of Caravaggio and its spread to Naples and transalpine Europe.
Henry Balaszeskul
David von Becker
The exhibition explored the role of the Roman family of the Barberini as patrons of the arts and the Prussian kings’ yearning for Italy. In the seventeenth century, Maffeo Barberini collected pictures and commissioned works that are now considered masterpieces of Italian painting. During his papacy as Urban VIII, he transformed Rome into the capital of the Baroque. Under the Prussian kings Frederick the Great and his successor Frederick William IV, many buildings in Potsdam were designed after Italian models.
David von Becker
In conjunction with the exhibition, the Stiftung Preußische Schlösser und Gärten Berlin-Brandenburg, the city of Potsdam, and the Museum Barberini celebrated Italian art and culture during the summer of 2019 in a citywide festival. Guided tours, concerts, talks, film screenings, an open night at the Potsdam palaces, and many other events showed Potsdam at it most Italianate.
An audio tour entitled Italy in Potsdam on the Barberini App introduced visitors to buildings and works of art in Potsdam that were inspired by Italy. The tour is now also available as a book.
An exhibition of the Gallerie Nazionali Barberini Corsini, Rome, in collaboration with the Museum Barberini, Potsdam. Under the patronage of His Excellency Luigi Mattiolo, Italian Ambassador to Germany.
Retrospect
The exhibition offered not only the museum, but also the entire city of Potsdam the opportunity for a summer-long celebration of Italian culture, with concerts, readings, performances, and the Potsdam “Schlössernacht.” Conversations with Wolfgang Joop, Wolfgang Huber, and others took place in the museum, while visitors enjoyed open air cinema in the museum courtyard and Baroque concerts and lectures in the auditorium. An audio tour on the Barberini app, conceived as a city tour and narrated by Günther Jauch, is still available and continues to introduce visitors to Italian-inspired buildings in Potsdam.
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