The exhibition “Glory of Light and Colour. Four centuries of painting in Venice” was inaugurated on the 24th of March 2016 in Beijing, offering to the Chinese public an overview of Venetian pictorial production from the 15th to the 18th century. Seventy-seven paintings and sculptures are on display at the National Museum of China in Tiananmen Square until the 20th of October 2016, on loan from important Italian museums: Musei Civici di Venezia, Gallerie dell’Accademia di Venezia, Gallerie degli Uffizi, Gallerie Nazionali d’Arte Antica di Roma, Museo Nazionale di Palazzo Venezia, Galleria Spada, Accademia Nazionale di San Luca, and Musei Capitolini.
The exhibition starts from the Early Renaissance (Mantegna, Alvise Vivarini, Gentile Bellini, Giovanni Bellini, Cima da Conegliano, Carpaccio), progressing through the 16th century (Giorgione, Tiziano, Savoldo, Lorenzo Lotto, Veronese, Tintoretto, Jacopo Bassano) and the subsequent Baroque and Rococo periods to the threshold of a rediscovered classicism (Sebastiano Ricci, Rosalba Carriera, Giambattista Piazzetta). Works on show also include pieces by Pietro Longhi, Giambattista Tiepolo and the much-admired Venetian speciality, the “veduta”’ represented by Canaletto and Francesco Guardi.
The show has been created in partnership with Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia. Scientific curation is by Andrea Bellieni, director of Museo Correr in Venice.
The project, which has been fullfilled by the Directorate-General of Museums, is part of the Memorandum of Intent on the Partnership for the Promotion of Cultural Heritage between the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities of the Italian Republic and the State Administration for Cultural Heritage of the People’s Republic of China. This agreement has strongly boosted cooperation between Chinese and Italian museums for the promotion of Chinese culture in Italy and Italian culture in China.
This is the third exhibition project presented by MiBACT in China, after “Renaissance in Florence. Masterpieces and Protagonists” (6 July 2012/30 April 2013) and “Rome and Baroque” (April 2013 / March 2015).