Genoese Baroque Masterpieces on Display at Rome's Scuderie del Quirinale

The Scuderie del Quirinale in Rome is hosting 'Superbarocco,' a major exhibition dedicated to Genoese Baroque painting, running until summer 2022. Curated by a team of scholars, the show brings together 120 works—including paintings, wooden altarpieces, sketches, drawings, prints, and sculptures—from international collections. The exhibition traces the development of Genoese Baroque from Pieter Paul Rubens's stay in Genoa (1605–1607) to the death of Alessandro Magnasco in 1749. It highlights how Genoa's oligarchic republic, wealthy from manufacturing, trade, and finance, fostered a distinctive artistic language blending Flemish, Tuscan, Lombard, Neapolitan, and Emilian influences. Key loans include Rubens's equestrian portrait of Giovan Carlo Doria (1606) from the Galleria Nazionale della Liguria, and works by Antoon van Dyck, Bernardo Strozzi, Simon Vouet, Guido Reni, and others. The exhibition is organized thematically and chronologically, with sections on portraiture, still life, religious subjects, and sculpture. It underscores the role of art as an economic and identity resource for Genoa, and the freedom of subject matter that characterized its Baroque school. The show concludes with Magnasco's dark, feverish compositions, marking the twilight of this glorious period.