Rock art and ancient art
The first Italian site to be classified as a Unesco World Heritage Site, Val Camonica tells us about no less than 12,000 years of history through 300,000 rock paintings. Signs and figures engraved in the rock have as their theme agriculture, hunting, navigation, dancing and fighting among geometric compositions. On both sides of this valley near Brescia, the tradition of petroglyphs continued during the Roman and medieval periods, ensuring a pictorial continuity. There are many museums dedicated to this art around Lake Garda. In the archaeological museum of Sirmione, associated with the Grotto of the poet Catullo (Grotte di Cattullo), the Roman period is magnificently represented by the polychrome mosaics and frescoes that adorned the villa built on the site.
Medieval period
In northwestern Italy, Romanesque art developed at the end of the 11th century and spread as far as Sardinia and England. Aesthetic innovations came over the Alps through the intermediary of artists who came to work in the border countries. Thus, the models born in Northern Europe spread to the Como region. They modified the architecture but also the work of the stone and the religious art in general. A group of anonymous sculptors, called the Masters of Como, worked on the emergence of Lombard Romanesque art in the lake area. In Como, they carved zoomorphic figures, griffins and other monsters on the exterior of the Basilica of Sant'Abbondio and in the choir of the Basilica of San Fedele. The human representations, which were rarer in this period, are stocky and unrealistic, contrasting with the more elaborate animal and plant decorations. Other masters followed in northern Italy: Wiligelmo in Modena, Nicolaus in the cathedral of Piacenza and in Ferrara; in 1138, he participated in the polychrome tympanum of the basilica of San Zeno in Verona. In 1139, he sculpted a Madonna, an Annunciation scene and an Adoration of the Magi for the portal of Verona Cathedral, revealing elements borrowed from northern Spain.
Paint
The eleventh century was characterized by the development of large mural paintings for churches. Lombardy preserves magnificent Romanesque frescoes such as those in Civate (Lecco), San Pietro Al Monte, and the chapel of San Martino in Carugo (Como). In the latter, the artists freed themselves from the Byzantine model. Little by little, the figures became longer and a more naturalistic trend emerged at the beginning of the 13th century, as can be seen in the fresco of the Sacrifice of Isaac
in the church of San Jacopo do Grissiano, which has the snowy peaks of the Dolomites as its background.The Lombard Renaissance was marked by the transition of power from the Viscontis to the Sforzas in the mid 15th century. The characteristics of the various Italian territories merged with the ancient heritage to produce innovative talents. Bramante and then Leonardo da Vinci, who arrived in Milan in 1482, showed that all artistic daring had a place in the city. Francesco Sforza and his descendants were responsible for the most exceptional commissions. In the frescoes that Vincenzo Foppa executed for him in the Portinari Chapel, the artist took care to integrate his paintings into the architecture, playing with the illusion of space through the common vanishing point.
Ludovico il Moro entrusts Leonardo with the decoration of a small wall in the refectory of the Basilica di Santa Maria delle Grazie. It was here that the genius painted the Last Supper in 1498. The lively emotions of the apostles dominate the composition of the figures grouped in threes, so as to isolate Christ in the centre of the fresco. The light takes up the natural lighting of the room, so that the viewer has the illusion of entering the scene.Leonardism
During his lifetime, Leonardo made such an impression that his direct or indirect pupils, the "leonardeschi", spread his art to the point where taste was harmonised in this part of Italy. In the border towns, such as Bergamo and Brescia, the artistic effervescence was nourished by the passage of foreign painters, particularly Venetians. The quest for a local style was supported by the installation in Bergamo of the painters Gaudenzio Ferrari and above all Lorenzo Lotto, who left remarkable altarpieces and paintings exhibited at theAccademia Carrara
.Among the masterpieces in the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana in Milan are Leonardo, Raphael, Botticelli and a still life by the great Lombard painter Caravaggio (1571-1610), which marks the beginning of Baroque painting. Caravaggio's tumultuous temperament, which is reflected in his paintings, led him to travel. His native region nevertheless preserves his Meal at Emmaus, with its perfect rendering of light and shadow, in the Pinacoteca di Brera
. The 29 rooms of the Museo di Castelvecchio in Verona show medieval, Renaissance and 18th-century art in a single visit.Modern times
In Lombardy, the 18th century was marked by private commissions. Giacomo Ceruti, known as the Pitocchetto, was active in Brescia and depicted the poverty of a peasant and working class society. In the following century, Romantic painting reached its peak with Francesco Hayez, who painted his famous Kisses in 1859 (Pinacoteca di Brera
).In 1910, Milan saw the birth of Futurism under the impulse of artists wishing to transcribe the typical speed of the emerging world. The Museo del Novecento was to open on the centenary of the publication of the Futurist Manifesto
.A century later, street art flourished in the design capital. Nowadays, art lovers can explore the Isola and Lamabrate districts, or turn to the Museum of Urban Augmented Art. The MAUA offers cultural tours outside the centre. From frescoes to graffiti, the works of 200 artists come out of the wall under the amazed eyes of visitors who are invited to frame them with their smartphones
. Another initiative, the artist Cibo, takes us to Verona where he covers the racist graffiti with drawings of vegetables, cheeses and other Italian culinary specialities. Because cooking also calms people down! One last tip: Varese combines gems from all eras, culminating in the Villa Panza collection. The installations in the garden echo the avant-garde in the rooms. Bruce Nauman and Rauschenberg remind us that the cultural mix continues to embellish the Italian heritage.
