HISTRIONICA – Theatres, masks and entertainments in ancient time. San Nicolò Complex, Via Rondinelli, 26 – Ravenna: from 20th March to 12ve September 2010 (every day from 10.00 am to 6.30 pm)
The exhibition is organised by RavennAntica with the cooperation of Ravenna Council, the Special Superintendence of Archeology for Naples and Pompei and the Superintendence of archeology for Emilia Romagna. On display a selection of representations of vases, mosaics and frescoes, as well as reproductions of theatre masks; mainly marble and terracotta objects of incredible beauty, discovered during the excavations of some of the towns destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 d.C. and probably used as garden or as architectonical decoration of public buildings as well as private houses. The theatre activity represented one of the most favourite entertainments during roman feriae and was also a social event actively attended by a large public.
Both the Greek and Latin theatre are at the origin of our modern theatre tradition, starting from its techniques and dramaturgies: mimes and actors, masks and buskins, comedies and tragedies.
I PRERAFFAELLITI E IL SOGNO DEL ‘400 ITALIANO (The Pre-Raphaelites and the dream of the italian Quattrocento painting) Museo d’Arte della Città di Ravenna, Loggetta Lombardesca: from 28th February to 6th June 2010 (Euro 6,00 for groups accompanied by Abaco guides). Starting from 15th September the exhibition will take place in Oxford UK, Ashmolean Museum.
Edited by Colin Harrison, Christopher Newall, Claudio Spadoni and promoted by Ravenna Council with the Ashmolean Museum of Oxford and the support of Cassa di Risparmio di Ravenna Foundation, the exhibition is devoted to the Pre-Raphaelites painters, with masterpieces ranging from the italian Beato Angelico and Perugino, to Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Burne-Jones.
Main aim of the curators was the artistic and cultural role of Italy for the so called Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, founded in England in the second half of the XIX century. This group of artists reacted against traditional academy art, pursuing the recovery of a style modelled on italian Quattrocento painting, prior to Raffaello. The brilliancy of the colours, the attention to natural details, the extreme simplicity and intensity of expression were elements that fascinated the group of young painters guided by William Holman Hunt.
The exhibition is organised through two main sections: the role of Italian artists as source of inspiration for the Pre-Raphaelites with masterpieces of Beato Angelico, Perugino, Gentile da Fabriano and others; the interest in Italian art, literature and landscape according to the representations of Pre-Raphaelites artists. On display also the cartoons of the mosaics in the protestant church of San Paolo within the walls, in Rome, created by Burne-Jones at the end of the XIX century.