First monographic exhibition for Noè Bordignon in Veneto

A major retrospective dedicated to Noè Bordignon (1841–1920) opens across two venues in Castelfranco Veneto and San Zenone degli Ezzelini, Treviso, marking the centenary of his death. Curated by Fernando Mazzocca and Elena Catra, leading 19th-century painting scholars, the exhibition titled "Noè Bordignon. Dal realismo al simbolismo" features sixty works tracing his evolution from realism to symbolism. Bordignon, long overshadowed by his Venetian contemporaries, is celebrated for his dual practice: as a fresco painter of sacred art—most notably the 1879 Giudizio Universale in the Parrocchiale di San Zenone degli Ezzelini—and as a painter of everyday life influenced by the Macchiaioli, especially after meeting Federico Zandomeneghi. The exhibition highlights key works such as "La mosca cieca" (1873), noted for its compositional balance, and "La pappa al fogo" (1895), which evokes Dutch Golden Age painting and Rembrandt via Giovanni Segantini, and has been linked to the principles of Pope Leo XIII's 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum. In his final decades, Bordignon embraced Symbolism, moving away from direct observation toward interior landscapes, as seen in his reinterpretation of Dante's Matelda with Pre-Raphaelite echoes. The accompanying catalogue includes a complete register of his oils and frescoes.