© Galleria Borghese | Alessandro Turchi, Cristo morto con Maddalena e angeli, olio su lavagna, 42 x 53 cm. Galleria Borghese, Roma
Desperate for the loss of many paintings during the Sack of Rome in 1527, the painter Sebastiano del Piombo began to paint on supports other than canvas, more resistant to dangers and time, and therefore capable of extending the life of the work. To the Venetian painter and this terrible event can be attributed the invention of painting on stone, to which the Galleria Borghese is dedicating the exhibition A Timeless Wonder. Painting on Stone in Rome in the Seventeenth Century, curated by Francesca Cappelletti and Patrizia Cavazzini from 25 October 2022 to 29 January 2023.
The exhibition, designed to draw the public’s attention to this production of singular objects, is part of a research project that began in 2021 with an in-depth study of the themes of Nature and Landscape within the Gallery’s collection.
It is the collection itself, assembled by Scipione Borghese in the first three decades of the 17th century, that presents examples of stone paintings of considerable interest, while the context, the diversity of materials used in the works and their harmony with historical collections of plants, animals and other natural curiosities that no longer exist, helps to define the sense of wonder and amazement that has characterised it for centuries.
With over 60 works from Italian and international museums and important private collections, A Timeless Wonder. Painting on Stone in Rome in the Seventeenth Century recounts not only the ambition for eternity of works of art, but also the critical debate of an era sensitive to the
