Poletti Collection on View at Rome's Galleria Corsini

The Galleria Corsini in Rome is hosting an exhibition of the Poletti Collection, curated by Paola Nicita. Ruggero Poletti (d. 2012, Como) was an art historian, collector, and painter influenced by Francis Bacon and Mario Sironi. His friendship with art historian Roberto Longhi sparked his interest in Caravaggio, the Caravaggisti, and 17th-century Italian and Spanish painting. The collection, rooted in Italian culture of the 1950s–70s, is displayed in two rooms of the gallery, with the 'Camera Verde' temporarily altered. The installation separates the historic Corsini collection from Poletti's works. Paintings include a 'Villano che ride' (Democritus) by Jusepe de Ribera, a 'Maddalena penitente' attributed to the circle of Velázquez, and works by Bartolomeo Manfredi and a follower. The blue room features still lifes, Poletti's passion, displayed without frames in a 1950s style. A small room presents three versions of 'Pescatore che sventra una rana pescatrice' from the Gallerie Nazionali, the Poletti Collection, and the National Museum in Warsaw—united for the first time. The Gallerie Nazionali version, once attributed to Cagnacci or Fidani, is now identified as by a mid-17th-century Neapolitan painter. The enigma deepens with private collection pendants depicting a 'Pescivendolo dal berretto rosso' selling fish to a nun.