Bergamo and Brescia United in Painting Exhibition for Italian Capital of Culture 2023

The exhibition 'Lotto Romanino Moretto Ceruti' opened on January 21, 2023, at Palazzo Martinengo in Brescia, celebrating Bergamo and Brescia as joint Italian Capital of Culture 2023. The show features master painters active from the late 15th to the 18th century, including Lorenzo Lotto, Romanino, Moretto, and Ceruti. Lotto's 'Madonna with Child' (1522) includes a squirrel and a small coffin as premonitions of Christ's martyrdom. Romanino's 'Samson and Dalila' is also displayed. The portrait section highlights Moroni, Moretto, Fra Galgario, and Ceruti, who is known for his unflattering depictions of nobles and dignified portrayals of the poor. Ceruti has a solo show at Museo di Santa Giulia. Baroque and 18th-century sections feature Antonio Cifrondi, still lifes by Evaristo Baschenis, and genre paintings by Faustino Bocchi and Enrico Alberici. Curator Davide Dotti rediscovered lost works like Ceruti's 'Suonatore di colascione' and Antonio Rasio's 'L'uomo delle carni', an Arcimboldo-like portrait made of meat. The upper floor extends the chronology to the mid-20th century with four focus sections: food (including ceramics by Bertozzi & Casoni), urban planning by Marcello Piacentini in the 1920s-30s, the relationship of Popes John XXIII and Paul VI with art (including works by Picasso, Chagall, Dalí, Guttuso from Paul VI's collection), and music featuring Gaetano Donizetti and Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli.