Bartolomeo Cesi Exhibition in Bologna Revives a Counter-Reformation Master

The Museo Civico Medievale in Bologna is hosting 'Pittura del silenzio nell’età dei Carracci,' a major exhibition dedicated to Bartolomeo Cesi (1556–1629), a once-celebrated but long-overlooked painter of the Counter-Reformation. Curated by Vera Fortunati, the show brings together about thirty works, some newly restored, focusing on Cesi's most productive period between 1585 and 1597. The exhibition opens with a portrait of Cardinal Gabriele Paleotti, who in 1581 published 'Discorso sulle immagini sacre e profane' to guide artists toward clear, sober, and naturalistic sacred imagery—a directive that shaped Cesi's output. Cesi's career was overshadowed by the Carracci and Guido Reni, but scholarly rediscovery began with Alberto Graziani's 1939 thesis. The show includes works by contemporaries Prospero Fontana, Lavinia Fontana, and the young Ludovico Carracci, and highlights Cesi's psychological portraiture, notably the intense 'Ritratto di certosino in veste di Dioniso Cartusiano,' which curator Fortunati compares to Zurbarán's mystical spirituality. Altarpieces reveal a dialogue between Carraccesque naturalism and a meditative, silent religious atmosphere, with major commissions for the Paleotti family and the chapel of San Girolamo della Certosa. Cesi's frescoes are explored through guided itineraries across Bologna's museums, palaces, and churches. The exhibition runs until February 22, 2026.