A chronological span of six centuries, the exhibition “From Renaissance to the 19th Century” at Bund One Art Museum features 54 masterpieces on loan from the Accademia Carrara.

One of the finest European art museums, the Accademia Carrara was founded in 1796 by Giacomo Carrara, who gathered an important collection of ancient paintings, drawings, prints and other works of art during his time. His aim was to build an art school in Bergamo that taught young people not only how to paint, but also how to carry out quality activities from an artistic perspective, such as decorating, carving and blacksmithing.

When he died in 1796, Carrara left the collection and his entire estate to the school. The building of the Accademia Carrara, as a combined gallery and academy of fine arts, was completed in 1810.

Over the course of more than two centuries, it has received more than 200 donations from private collections, resulting in a vast, diverse heritage covering Italian art from the 13th to the 19th centuries — particularly paintings from the Lombardy and Veneto areas.

The exhibition focuses on the work of local Italian masters and is arranged chronologically, taking visitors room by room from 15th century religious art to 19th century portrait and historical subjects.

The highlight of the exhibition is the first section, “Humanism and Renaissance,” probably the best known Italian period. Both were periods of essential rebirth, not only for the arts but also for literature and society in general, thanks to trade and the expansion of cities, enriched with churches and palaces.

There was a vast rediscovery of the ancient world, first Rome and then, from 1453 with the fall of Byzantium due to the Ottoman conquest, ancient Greece.

People began to read philosophy, legislation, poetry, literature and history texts that survived the havoc of the Middle Ages. New copies of the books were produced at the request of clients, richly decorated with miniatures and featuring illuminated initial letters at the beginning of each page.

The passion for classical antiquity also led to the emergence of widespread collecting, with the first important collection of Roman marble statues.

Throughout the Renaissance, inspired by this rediscovery, dozens of artists, especially painters, sought to return to and surpass the splendor of ancient art. This phenomenon took place simultaneously in several cities, such as Florence, Rome, Milan, Venice, and also in smaller towns.

The artists from this period include Giovanni Bellini (1430-1516), Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Michelangelo (1475-1564), Raphael (1483-1520) and Titian (1488-1576).

The exhibition features some of these masters’ paintings, including Raphael’s “Saint Sebastian” and Titian’s “Orpheus and Eurydice.”

Perhaps most figures portrayed in the masterpieces are unfamiliar to local visitors, but the superb painting technique of placing the divine and ethereal in a homely setting may offer viewers a journey back to the early modern era in Italy.

Dates: Through January 3, 2022, 10am-6pm

Tickets: 188 yuan

Venue: Bund One Art Museum

Address: 3/F, 1 Zhongshan Road E1