Caravaggio's Heirs - Baroque in Naples / First Comprehensive Exhibition of Masterpieces of Neapolitan Baroque Painting

The arrival of Michelangelo Merisi, known as Caravaggio (1571-1610), in Naples in the autumn of 1606 marks the real beginning of the Baroque era in the city. Within a short period of time, Caravaggio became a much-admired model for generations of Neapolitan artists. His novel use of chiaroscuro and his provocative naturalism provided the impetus for the formation of a local school of European standing. Among his followers were a number of excellent artists such as Giovanni Battista Caracciolo, Artemisia Gentileschi and the Valencian Jusepe de Ribera who, together with a new generation of Naples-trained painters like Salvator Rosa, Mattia Preti, Luca Giordano and Francesco Solimena, developed Neapolitan Baroque painting and successfully sold astonishing numbers of outstanding works into collections all over Europe.

The works of this Golden Age of Italian painting testify to the splendour, sophistication and culture of the vibrant Mediterranean city at the foot of Mount Vesuvius. That Neapolitan artists were not blind to the everyday reality of their city is demonstrated by more than a hundred monumental paintings whose dynamic energy and striking realism also bears witness to the experience of poverty, brutality and decay.

Presenting more than 200 works by some 50 artists from as many lenders in eleven countries, the exhibition traces the development of Neapolitan Baroque painting. Prominent lenders are the Louvre in Paris, the Uffizi Galleries in Florence, the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna and historic private collections such as the Graf Harrach'sche Familiensammlung at Rohrau Palace in Austria. Of particular note is the fruitful cooperation between the Museum Wiesbaden and the Museo di Capodimonte in Naples, which is generously supporting the exhibition with the loan of 18 exceptional works from its permanent collection.

The exhibition is held under the joint patronage of the Hessian Prime Minister, Volker Bouffier, and the Embassy of the Italian Republic in Berlin.

The exhibition is supported by the Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain and the Art Mentor Foundation Lucerne.

The exhibition Caravaggio's Heirs- Baroque in Naples is accompanied by a comprehensive catalogue published in cooperation with the Art History Department at the Institute for Art History and Musicology of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and supported by the Ernst von Siemens Foundation.

Evelyn Bergner
[email protected]
Tel. +49(0)611-335-2189