Towards Baroque

The exhibition features 50 exceptional 17th-century works on loan from some of Italy’s most important museums. Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Annibale Carracci, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Pietro Da Cortona and Alessandro Algardi are all represented in the exhibition. All are different from the other, although they are united by a common idea. Caravaggio, for instance, is considered a precursor of the baroque style that was born in Rome and soon spread throughout Europe. Developing this new style, the Carracci brothers reached fame after decorating the Farnese’s palace between 1598 and 1607. After the early deaths of Annibale Carracci and Caravaggio (1610), the world seemed to divide in two: on the one hand, there were the Caravaggisti with their extreme and vivid interpretations of reality; and on the other the Classicists, who provided a fresh perspective to existing classical styles.