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Portraits and still lifes of the Poletti Collection and Gallerie Nazionali Barberini Corsini

REAL ENIGMAS

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One of the most renowned 18th-century galleries, owned by Florentine Pope Clement XII and his cultured nephew Cardinal Neri Maria, designed and built by the architect Ferdinando Fuga to house their vast collection of paintings, will be hosting some pieces from the collection of Geo Poletti, educated in Milan, London and Lugano starting in the 1950s. The aim is not to compare the two collections, which are very different in terms of their size, time, places, tastes and styles. Yet there are certainly some surprising similarities.The intention is to reflect on the theme of collecting, both as a practice and as a cultural category, by dis-playing an assortment of pieces belonging to one of the most original contemporary collectors. The exhi-bition also presents some unresolved problems, without wishing to offer any new attributions at all costs, allowing them to remain in anonymity, where names and dates are unknown. This exhibition continues the series of shows that Galleria Corsini in Rome has dedicated to collecting, a theme that is fundamental to the identity of Gallerie Nazionali in Rome.

For the first time in Rome, the most significant still lifes from the Poletti collection will be on display along with another four paintings from his collection. They will be shown alongside some pieces from Gallerie Nazionali that are not usually on public display and a piece from the National Museum in Warsaw in order to explore the sometimes unexpected relationships and exchange between works of art and artists. What these paintings share is that they are expressions of the “Painting of Reality” genre and Caravaggesque naturalism, in all its known and in some ways still enigmatic forms.

This exhibition was produced in close collaboration with the Poletti family, whom we thank, and follows, although with important variations, the exhibition held last March at the Palazzo Reale in Milan dedicated to still life paintings in the Geo Poletti collection.

Ruggero Poletti, better known as Geo (Milan 1926–Lenno, Como 2012), was an art historian and connois-seur, a painter and collector who was famous for his keen eye and unerring judgement. He began assem-bling his collection in the fifties, when Italian museums were undergoing radical renewal and works of art, removed from their context and glorified for their formal uniqueness, freed of any external interference, were appreciated and arranged according to strictly qualitative value judgements meant to inspire uncon-ditioned aesthetic experiences.

REAL ENIGMASPortraits and still lifes of the Poletti Collection and Gallerie Nazionali Barberini Corsini

Curated by Paola NicitaGallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica – Galleria Corsini24 October 2019 – 2 February 2020

GEO POLETTI AND THE REASONS FOR THE EXHIBITION

1. ANTECHAMBER \ GEO POLETTI AND THE REASONS FOR THE EXHIBITION2. FIRST GALLERY3 CARDINAL’S GALLERY \ THE PEASANT PHILOSOPHER4. FIREPLACE CHAMBER5. ALCOVE 6.GREEN CABINET7. GREEN CHAMBER \ THE REALITY OF THE BODY8. BLUE ROOM \ TIMELESS NATURE9. BLUE CABINET \ THE MYSTERY OF THE FISHMONGER

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The exhibition takes place in different rooms of Galleria Corsini. It begins in the Cardinal Gallery with Democritus by Ribera and continues into the Green Room with Magdalene, Bacchus and the Faun and Faun with Grapes and Flute. It concludes in the last two rooms hosting the Still Lifes from the Geo Poletti collection and three versions of the Fishmongers from the Poletti collection, the

collections of Gallerie Nazionali Barberini Corsini and the National Museum in Warsaw

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In the early thirties Geo lived with his father and brother in San Paolo, Brazil. When he returned to Milan, he continued his studies, focussing on art. His mother, a friend of Arturo Toscanini and Carlo Maria Giulini, introduced him to opera and music, a passion that accompanied him throughout his entire lifetime. During the war he and his family moved to their villa in Bellagio on Lake Como, where he met Mario Sironi, who urged him to paint. In addition to Sironi, Umberto Boccioni, Giorgio De Chirico and Arturo Martini, Poletti appreciated Francis Bacon, an artist who clearly influenced his painting. In 1962 a solo exhibition was held of his work at Galleria Il Milione in Milan, curated by Giovanni Testori. In another solo show in 1967, again at Il Milione, in the preface of the catalogue, art historian Francesco Arcangeli described him as “an enthu-siastic connoisseur of a great deal of art from the past yet a modern man.” During that time, he gave one of his paintings to art critic Roberto Longhi, which is still on display in the Longhi Foundation’s collection of paintings in Florence.

In the meantime, Poletti’s passion was growing for the study and collecting of ancient painting, as by that time he was only painting for himself and had no intention of showing his pieces, becoming a passionate collector. Meeting Longhi marked a crucial turning point in his interest in works of art. The two formed a very close friendship and shared the same approach to study, mainly exploring the art of Caravaggio, the Caravaggisti, the Caravaggesque painters and in general all 17th-century Italian and Spanish paint-ing, mainly Ribera and Velázquez. He was particularly passionate and knowledgeable about 17th- and 18th-century still lifes. His home in via Cernaia in Milan was frequented by friends, art historians, antique dealers and scholars, including Giovanni Testori, Mina Gregori, Giuliano Briganti and Federico Zeri.

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“…a peasant who is laughing and holding a piece of paper with writing on it with several books on a table.” This is the entry for this painting in the 1638 inventory of the Roman collection belonging to Vincenzo Gius-tiniani, said to be a piece by Jusepe de Ribera (1591–1652). In Geo Poletti’s collection, since the sixties the painting had initially been interpreted as being the Smiling Geographer. However, it is actually Democritus, the mid-5th-century-A.D. Greek philosopher who founded the mechanistic-determinist doctrine of nature, whereby everything occurs out of necessity. He is usually portrayed smiling ironically, unlike his contem-porary Heraclitus, typically portrayed as crying and melancholy. Heraclitus and Democritus: the two faces of philosophy. The painting, marked by its strong naturalism, was painted by the young Valencian painter during his transition from Rome to Naples between 1615 and 1618.

The face, hands, clothes and the tools of the philosopher’s trade – books, pens and the Armillary sphere, a symbol of the cosmos – are superb still life objects, all executed with the minute accuracy of the Flemish painters yet with the realistic, dramatic use of light and shadow that clearly demonstrate the painter’s famili-arity with Caravaggesque culture. Though it is the intensity of the philosopher’s expression that truly makes this painting a portrait. The man in Giustiniani’s inventory is an ordinary peasant: extremely human and vital, naturally portrayed in his individuality and turned protagonist. He is not dressed up as a philosopher; he truly is one. Ribera tells us that the truly wise man is a peasant laughing at human fragility and at those who think they have managed to glimpse the meaning behind things. Pieces like this, found in various Spanish collections, are what significantly influenced the young Velázquez in Seville.

THE PEASANT PHILOSOPHER

JUSEPE DE RIBERA (Xàtiva 1591 – Napoli 1652)Democritus1615-1618 ca., oil on canvas, 99 × 75 cm, Poletti Collection

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The exhibition continues into the Green Room, named after the colour of its 16th-century textile wall cov-erings. Placed between the windows in the room on a magnificent Baroque console, taking the place of St. John the Baptist by Caravaggio (temporarily arranged on the opposite wall), is the shamelessly nude Penitent Magdalene from the Poletti collection. We have called its anonymous author the “Painter of the Briganti Magdalene” because the painting be-longed to merchant and art historian Aldo Briganti of Florence, father of well-known art historian Giuliano Briganti. We know that the piece was moved from Florence to Rome, where in 1966 it caught the eye of Giovanni Testori, who in the auction house catalogue referred to it pointing out its traditional attribution to Romagna painter Guido Cagnacci (1601–1663), yet ascribing it to a French-trained artist. In 1969 it became part of the Paul Getty Museum collection and was later auctioned in New York in 1992 and purchased by Geo Poletti. At the Getty Museum the piece was registered under the name of the Spanish Antonio Puga (Ourense 1602–Madrid 1648) due to the presence on the back of the letters “PVGA”, no longer visible be-cause at some point the canvas was newly lined. Although not all the critics agree because until that time this unusually talented Spanish painter and follower of Velázquez had mainly only been attributed with genre paintings and Bambocciate (paintings of scenes from the everyday life of the lower classes in and around Rome). Vittorio Sgarbi recently suggested that the author may have been Giovanni Serodine, one of the most original painters within the circle of early-17th-century Caravaggesque painters who died in 1630 in Rome. Although there is nothing to indicate where it comes from, we still believe it most likely originates from a Spanish stylistic context, similar to that of the great Seville painter. Therefore, one of the aims of the exhibi-tion is to offer the opportunity to analyse critically and study this hypothesis. The difficulty of identifying its author, its mysterious origin and, above all, its original yet disconcerting ico-nography and composition all undoubtedly make this piece an enigma.The painting portrays a young woman with long, golden hair and a sensual, luminous body that stands out against the dark, rocky background. She is accompanied by a skull, crucifix and the Book of Saints. It was painted using quick, fluid brushstrokes in a natural style recalling the early Velázquez. This Magdalene is not at all spiritual and, according to an earlier diagnosis, was originally conceived with her face turned to-wards the crucifix, as in more traditional iconography and more befitting of an attitude of penitence. Later, however, her face was turned towards the viewers, giving her a more melancholy, earthly expression, her eyes gazing into the distance.

On another wall, the painting from the Poletti collection depicting Bacchus and Faun was placed alongside Gallerie Nazionali’s Faun with Grapes and Flute from the Torlonia Collection and long attributed to Cara-vaggio. Actually, these pieces are from the circle of Bartolomeo Manfredi (Ostiano, Mantua 1582–Rome 1622), a close follower of Caravaggio. In the painting from the Poletti collection, Bacchus is drinking from a hairy wineskin held by a faun. This faun is very similar to the one in the painting from Gallerie Nazionali, also portrayed with crude, almost brutal, realism and strong chiaroscuro. Both paintings show muscular bodies, anatomical details like their clumsy hands, bent arms and heads thrown back, alluding to their awkward state of drunkenness. The theme recalls the iconography of classic sarcophaguses and is an example of

THE REALITY OF THE BODY

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works of art featuring popular scenes inspired by the transgressive myth of Bacchus, also an allegory of the autumn. Some of the details of the paintings viewers should pay special attention to are the perfect balance between the figures and the still life subjects, executed with refined, elegant naturalness: the flute, the small amphora with the cluster of grapes and the sprigs of grapevine in the painting from the Poletti collection are similar to the white ceramic fruit bowl, the grapes masterfully rendered using quick brush-strokes, the flute at the edge and the leaves standing out against the dark background in the painting of the faun from Gallerie Nazionali.

The still life subjects in these pieces introduce a theme portrayed in many paintings from the Corsini col-lection also on display in the Green Room. Actually, the fortune of these subjects is associated with the establishment in the 17th and 18th centuries of painting Galleries, where they were displayed alongside historical, genre and landscape paintings. One wall of the room is dominated by the creations in still life genre of the international Baroque style – sumptuous banquets, elegant refreshments, the Allegories of the Seasons, all highly decorative – by Abraham Brueghel (Antwerp 1631–Naples 1697) and Christian Berentz (Hamburg 1658–Rome 1722). Of these, one piece that stands out, inside a sumptuous golden frame, is a small painting from the Corsini collection – rarely displayed – depicting a composition of Flowers and Fruit (pp. 11) presented in a cup and resting on an open box with curious geometry that is highly foreshortened. In the foreground are withered grapes and apples that are a feast for the eyes, rendered using a sparkling, enamel paint. Although already attributed to Pietro Paolo Bonzi (1576–1636), the date of this piece, perhaps from Tuscany or Lombardy, should be moved forward, roughly to the second half of the 17th century when Caravaggism-turned-Ba-roque still had some intentionally archaic qualities.

FOLLOWER OF BARTOLOMEO MANFREDI (Ostiano, Mantova 1582 – Roma 1622) Faun with Grapes and Flute1620 ca.detail, oil on canvas, 95 × 74 cm, Gallerie Nazionali Barberini Corsini Provenance: Torlonia Collection

TUSCAN PAINTERStill life with flowers, fruit and boxSecond half of the 17th century, oil on canvas, 37 x 48 cm, Gallerie Nazionali Barberini Corsini Provenance: Corsini Collection

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PAINTER OF THE BRIGANTI MAGDALENE (SPANISH?)Penitent MagdaleneFirst half of 17th century, oil on canvas, 91 × 134 cm, Poletti Collection

FOLLOWER OF BARTOLOMEO MANFREDI (Ostiano, Mantova 1582 – Roma 1622) Bacchus and Faun1620 ca., olio on canvas, 93 × 130 cm, Poletti Collection

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17th- and 18th-century still lifes were one of Geo Poletti’s greatest passions. This room hosts some of the most significant works in his collection. As suggested by the way the pieces were displayed at his home in Milan, we have displayed almost all the pieces without frames, typical of the Fifties when works of art were estimated as autonomous pictorial texts, free of all devices or characteristic materials. Geo Poletti’s interest in this kind of collecting began in the years following World War II – the years of Gior-gio Morandi’s poetic still lifes – at the same time as the series of groundbreaking exhibitions in 1952 at the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris and in 1964 at the Royal Palace in Naples. These were the years of Roberto Longhi’s studies published in the Italian art and literature magazine Paragone and the research by Federico Zeri who, as Fine Art Inspector for the Rome Superintendency, sifted through the 17th-century jungle of the public and private Roman collections. The destiny of still life genre is in fact connected to the creation of painting Galleries in aristocratic palaces, which began to spread throughout Europe in the 17th centu-ry, which was the golden age for still lifes as well. And it was those “silent”, Caravaggesque paintings that Poletti so dearly loved. Although the still life genre has its roots in the province of Lombardy and Flanders, as well as late-16th-century scientific illustrations, its new history is originated at a precise place and time: Rome around 1590. Here these Caravaggesque creations had a revolutionary impact also on the depiction of flowers and fruit, parallel to Galileo’s new studies of nature. The extent to which a still life is considered

“Caravaggesque” cannot always be determined; and moreover, one must also consider that many still life painters are difficult to identify and locate geographically because they are often unknown at the source. This is indeed why some of the pieces on display have been attributed to still life painters whose identities are anonymous. Between 1590 and 1630 Roman Caravaggesque painting acted as a model, adopting standard patterns that later spread swiftly throughout all of Italy, giving rise to actual regional schools. It is this path that we have decided to follow in the room dedicated to Poletti’s still lifes.Vase of Flowers in a glass bowl and the basket of fruit are a pair of pendant paintings featuring true, Cara-vaggesque leitmotivs: flowers and fruit in brilliant colours, depicted with studied symmetry against a dark background (p. 13 and p. 18). These two masterpieces, their luminosity clear and transparent, already attributed to Orazio Gentileschi and later to Carlo Saraceni, date back even further than the history of still life painting, maybe even to the second or third decade of the 17th century. Next to them, a painting from Gallerie Nazionali collection that is not usually on display has been placed alone: Still Life with Tuberose (pp. 14), where the black background sets off, through contrast, the jagged edge of the grape leaves, giv-ing the objects, within an area whose edges are invisible, a magnetic – almost hypnotising – quality, as if one could touch them. What stands out the most is the white of the tuberose, a flower rarely depicted in this period. Here as well, the author is a Caravaggesque painter working in Rome in ca. 1620–1630. The artist is difficult to identify because the area between Naples and Rome was a complex hub for still life painting, from Luca Forte to Filippo Napoletano, names this piece has been associated with in the past. It is equally challenging to attribute the three paintings, originally overdoors whose provenance is un-known, thought to have been executed by the same hand: Still Life with a Raised Plate of Citrus, Artichokes, Grapes, Dove and Pheasant (pp. 14), Still Life with Pigeon, Basket of Fruit and Pomegranate and Rabbit, Fruit, Vase of Flowers, Birds and Butterfly. Geo Poletti believed the author to be Simone del Tintore, a painter from Lucca who was a student of Pietro Paolini, present in Roma from 1619 to 1633.

TIMELESS NATURE

CARAVAGGESQUE PAINTERStill Life with Vase of Flowers, Pomegranate, Peaches, Citrus and Wild Strawberries1620 ca., olio on canvas, 62,5 × 77,5 cm, Poletti Collection

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CARAVAGGESQUE PAINTERStill Life with Tuberose 1620 -1630 ca., oil on canvas, 77 × 101,5 cm, Gallerie Nazionali Barberini CorsiniProvenance: purchase of the State 1927

PAINTER WORKING IN ROMEStill Life with a Raised Plate of Citrus, Artichokes, Grapes, Dove and Pheasant 1630-1640 ca., olio on canvas, 71 × 87 cm, Poletti Collection

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In 1960 Giuliano Briganti defined them as three of the most beautiful Caravaggesque still lifes of the mid 17th century in terms of their realism, intense colours and simplified volume, associating them with Paolo Porpora (Naples 1617–Rome 1681), working mainly in Rome. He was, in any case, part of the Roman artistic scene, where the pursuit of naturalism originated. This element could help solve the enigma if one con-siders the many active studios throughout the city, where drawings and models were circulating. There is no question that they are masterfully executed pieces where light and shadow make the subjects appear more dramatic: objects, live and dead animals, fruit and vegetables, that stand out against their dark back-grounds with photographic detail, creating an illusory effect and intensifying the feeling of expectation, unreal and impossible, if it were not for the paintings’ perfect form.

Genovese painter Bernardo Strozzi (Genoa, 1581–Venice, 1644) also returns to composition patterns con-ceived in Rome in the early decades of the century. Pitcher and Pewter Handle with Plums and Figs, Quince, Pomegranate, Watermelon and Vase with Camellias and Sunchoke Flowers may be dated to 1630–1635, during Strozzi’s time in Venice when, because he began intensifying his production of still lifes, it is plausi-ble to think that some of his followers of the workshop may have intervened. Some objects, like the vase of flowers and the pitcher’s decorated handle, are motifs found in many of Strozzi’s works. However, it is the piece’s quality that is an indicator of Strozzi’s careful guidance in his studio. Nevertheless, Basket with Zucchinis, Grapes, Parsley, Cabbage, Vase of Peonies and Fruit (pp. 16) is thought to be one of his own pieces. The quality of this piece, which also may be dated to Strozzi’s period in Venice, is very high: the large cabbage at the centre of the composition is striking, in addition to the vase of peonies. Yet it is the piece’s undefined, abstract atmosphere, created after Caravaggio’s Canestra, that dominates the compo-sition. Equally stunning is Basin with Flowers from 1635–1644. Although it is obviously modelled after the Canestra, it is an element that has come into its own in this new, very fine copper basin containing pink hibiscus flowers painted using extremely light brushstrokes, rendering them almost immaterial.

A different place and time bring us to Kitchen with Meat and Poultry and Kitchen with Vegetables, Fruit, Ba-sin with Fish and a Vase of Carnations (pp. 17). Geo Poletti, who believed the artist was Annibale Carracci (although this idea is not shared), has accurately identified the cultural environment where these pieces were produced: Emilia. These two pieces, depicting an intimate, humble atmosphere, lack the monumen-tal feeling found in Carracci’s paintings. Yet they can certainly be attributed to the Emilian culture of the second half of the 17th century, where the vase of flowers against the background of the Kitchen with Veg-etables, in its moving simplicity, already speaks a language of the 18th century.

This austerity may also be found in Still Life with Head of a Pig, Duck, Fowl, Cabbage and Offal by Giaco-mo Ceruti (Milan 1698–1767), in the small painting Still Life with Plate of Pears, Carob, Dried Fruit, Apples and a Box of Wood from the second half of the 17th century, in Plate of Peaches, a small canvas from the Lombardy area executed with an apparently archaic style also found in Still Life with Robins, Fruit, Walnuts, Chestnuts and a Potato, ca. 1770, attributed to the circle of Luis Meléndez (Naples 1716–Madrid 1780). In these pieces the intimacy of simple objects, neatly arranged on a flat surface, is expressed with scientific exactness, now far from the sumptuous banquets in Baroque style. Because the “Painting of Reality” originated in Lombardy, we believed it fitting to close the still-life section with a masterpiece by Evaristo Baschenis (Bergamo 1617–1677), according to some scholars the utmost Italian still-life painter who Roberto Longhi defined “our Vermeer who sacrificed his talents in a small town.” His youthful Still Life with Basket of Apples and Plate of Plums, Melons and Pears from 1645–1650 (pp. 17), the basket full of fruit that reaches over the edge of the table, another homage to Caravaggio, against an abstract, timeless background, is charged with a very clear vision of reality. A minor painting who however encompasses the mystery of real.

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BERNARDO STROZZI (Genova 1581 – Venezia 1644)Basket with Zucchinis, Grapes, Parsley, Cabbage, Vase of Peonies and Fruit1630-1635 ca., olio on canvas, 65 × 92,5 cm, Poletti Collection

EMILIAN PAINTER Kitchen with Vegetables, Fruit, Basin with Fish and a Vase of Flowers End of 17th century/beginning of 18th century, olio on canvas, 71 × 87 cm, Poletti Collection

EVARISTO BASCHENIS (Bergamo 1617-1677) Still Life with Basket of Apples and Plate of Plums, Melons and Pears1645-1650 ca., oil on canvas, 49 x 70,5 cm, Poletti Collection

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BERNARDO STROZZI (Genova 1581 – Venezia 1644)Copper Basin with Hibiscus Flowers1635-1644 ca., oil on canvas, 58 × 75 cm, Poletti Collection

CARAVAGGESQUE PAINTERStill Life with a Basket of Grapes, Vase of Flowers, Figs and Lilies 1620 ca., oil on canvas, 62,5 × 77,5 cm, Poletti Collection

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By Flavio Tarquini, Orto Botanico, Rome

1 Hibiscus syriacus L.2 Lilium candidum L.The flowers in the copper bowl appear to be Hibiscus syriacus L., commonly known as the Rose of Sharon, belonging to the family of Malvaceae, originally from China. The Rose of Sharon is a deciduous shrub, often grown as a small tree in gardens with three-lobe leaves and pink, white, purple or red flowers that are deeper in colour at the base. It flowers continuously from June to September. At the centre of the corolla a tube of stamens growing around the pistil is clearly visible. It was Linnaeus who named it Hibiscus syriacus in his description of this species in 1753 in his well-known work Species Plantarum, the first book to apply modern, binomial nomenclature. By assigning binomials to plants, Linnaeus attempted, at least in its general epitaph (the first of the two terms in the binomial) to recov-er the terminology used by the ancients, a very arduous task which did not always end in success. ιβίσκος, described by Dioscorides and sung by Virgil in his Eclogues, is in fact another species, Althaea

officinalis L., which belongs to the same family as Hibiscus syriacus. Linnaeus also believed that this plant came from Syria and hence gave it the specific epitaph syriacus. In China this species, called Fuyo, had been grown since ancient times not only as an ornamen-tal plant, but also for its leaves, used as a substitute for tea, and for its edible flowers. The Rose of Sharon was introduced in Europe in the 16th century, perhaps for the first time in England, by botanist John Gerard in 1597. Since 1659 horticultural varieties started to be created with simple, 5-petalled flowers and, subsequently, with double flowers (with more than five petals).On the left in the foreground there is a sprig of Lilium candidum L., commonly known as the Madonna lily, with pear-shaped bulbs, lin-ear leaves and fragrant flowers with six white tepals and six showy, yellow anthers. The Madonna lily is originally from the Mediterrane-an region and has been widely cultivated since ancient times as an ornamental plant and because it was thought to be sacred to Juno. In Christian iconography the Angel of the Annunciation is often de-picted holding a lily.

On the left, the fruits A (Ficus carica L.) and grapes 2 (Vitis vinifera L.) may be seen and at the bottom the flowers 3 Lilium candidum L. (Madonna lily) and 4 Iris×germanica L. (Bearded iris) and, on the right, a vase with many different flowers, including different varieties of 5 Tulipa L. (tulips), 6 Rosa L. (roses), 7 Narcissus L. and the following three species: 8 Sambucus nigra L. (Black elder-berry), 9 Nigella damascena L. (Love-in-a-mist) and J Convallaria majalis L. (Lily of the valley).Iris ×germanica L. is a perennial weed of the Iridaceae family that produces showy flowers in March-April. Convallaria majalis L. is a perennial weed belonging to the Asparagaceae family that in May-June produces sprays with fragrant, drooping, white flowers. It is found in the deciduous forests of northern and central Italy between sea level and 1200 metres. Nigella damascena L. is an annual weed species of the Ranunculaceae family found in the Mediterranean and sub-Mediterranean belt between sea level and 800 metres. Ficus carica L. is a tree species of the Moraceae family, cultivated since ancient times. The figs depicted in the painting are not of the variety most commonly found today. They are pear-shaped figs with

a brownish-purplish and dark green skin. Tulipa L. belongs to the Liliaceae family and includes bulbous species found in areas from Western Europe to Central Asia, known as tulips, deriving from the Turkish “tullband”, so named because of the flowers’ shape, which resembles the headwear of the “Schiavoni” (Slavic populations in-habiting the coastal and inland areas of the Eastern Adriatic). Today this flower is associated with Holland. However, it was in Turkey that it first became widely popular, mainly in the 16th century. In 1554 tulip bulbs were sent to botanist Carolus Clusius in Vienna and, after performing some initial experiments, were named by Swiss natural-ist Conrad Gessner, who was the first to draw them in 1559. When this painting was executed in the early decades of the 17th century, people were beginning to grow them intensely in the Netherlands.

“Tulip fever” quickly spread throughout all of Europe, causing their price to skyrocket. The tulip trade was akin to speculative financial instruments and actually led to a financial crisis that culminated in the 1637 “tulip mania”, marking the end of tulip speculation. The tulip market thrived again in the 18th century in Turkey and to a lesser degree in 19th-century England

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Here three versions of the same composition, not usually exhibited together, are on display: the portrait of a Fishmonger, all of artists working in Naples around the mid 17th century. There is no question that the prototype is the painting from Gallerie Nazionali (pp. 20), also according to the diagnostic analyses (IR reflectography, x-ray fluorescence analysis and x-rays), as emerges from the pentimenti in the underlying drawing. It comes from Villa Ginanni Fantuzzi in Gualdo, Santarcangelo di Romagna, and may have arrived there after being passed down through a noble family. Here it was displayed and attributed to Caravaggio. It was purchased for the museum in Rome in 1914 by art historian Corrado Ricci, at the time Director Gen-eral of Fine Arts, and attributed to painter Guido Cagnacci (1601–1663). In 1922 it was shown under this name at the important Florence exhibition of 17th- and 18th-century Italian painting, until in 1961 Roberto Longhi attributed it to Florentine painter Orazio Fidani (1606–1656). It was presented at the 1964 still-life exhibition in Naples with this attribution. It was only in the eighties that doubts began to arise as to its author, because of its free execution and vigorous naturalism, so far from the more composed style of the Florentine painter. From that time on, it was rightly considered to have come from an Neapolitan painter, dating it to around the mid 17th century, and could possibly be attributed to a young Luca Giordano or Francesco Fracanzano, Salvator Rosa’s brother-in-law since 1632. The Poletti painting, also of very high quality, comes from a Venice collection (pp. 20). It was based on the painting from Gallerie Nazionali, which was confirmed by the diagnostic analyses, although the reds and greens are more intense and the figure has lighter-coloured skin and a clearer outline. The third painting, on exceptional loan from the National Museum in Warsaw, is also a compositional variation on the theme of the painting from Rome, with one curious additional detail in the foreground: some coins (pp. 22). The Polish museum came to possess this piece through an international auction in 1969 and shared with the others its unlikely attribution to Fidani. It must be moved to an artist of the circle of Caravaggesque painters in Naples because of painting’s strong chiaroscuro. What thickens the plot of these three versions is that in various private collections there are even pendant paintings depicting a composition with a Fishmonger with a Red Hat Selling Fish to a Nun.

THE MYSTERY OF THE FISHMONGER

NEAPOLITAN PAINTER Fishmonger Gutting a Monkfish Mid 17th century, oil on canvas, 95 x 135 cm, Gallerie Nazionali Barberini CorsiniPurchase of the State 1914

NEAPOLITAN PAINTER Fishmonger Gutting a Monkfish Mid 17th century, oil on canvas, 103 x 130 cm, Poletti Collection

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NEAPOLITAN PAINTER Fishmonger Gutting a Monkfish Mid 17th century, oil on canvas, 107 x 143 cm, National Museum in Warsaw

Because of its vigorous freedom of expression, as in the prototype from Rome, there is no question that these works stir up a great deal of interest. Even the subject is rather uncommon: a fishmonger with an intense, enigmatic look, his lips parted, a knife in his right hand, swiftly gutting the fish (a monkfish). Next to him a scale, a basket and some more fish. Although the fish and other objects have been executed with ad-mirable naturalness and quick, vibrant strokes, this is not a genre scene. The fisherman is what dominates this painting: a true portrait, with the noble expression of a modern hero. Its iconography would lead us to believe the somewhat (un)reliable Life of Neapolitan Painters, Sculptors and Architects (1742) by Ber-nardo De Dominici, which mentions numerous portraits that Masaniello, the key figure in the 1647 revolt against the Spaniards, is said to have had made of himself but which were destroyed after the insurrection as a consequence of a fierce damnatio memoriae. This hypothesis has yet to be verified; it is just a simple suggestion that adds to the power of the Fishmonger portraits, increasing the legend about the forbidden images of this revolutionary.

Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica di RomaDirector Flaminia Gennari Santori

REAL ENIGMAS Portraits and still lifes of the Poletti Collection and Gallerie Nazionali Barberini CorsiniRome, Galleria Corsini 24 October 2019 – 2 February 2020

CuratorPaola Nicita

Assistant of the Direction of the Gallerie Nazionali di Arte AnticaClaudia Sarpi

Exhibition CoordinationAlessandra Avagliano

Promotion and CommunicationPaola Guarnera

EducationTullia Carratùwith Maria Francesca Castaldo

RegistrarGiuliana Forti

ConservationLaura di Vincenzo Vega Santodonato

AdministrationwRoberta CannoneVanna Coppolawith Claudia Baruzzi

Technical Coordination Dario Aureliwith Renato Guglielmini

Security and Visitors’ Office Collaborators, Galleria CorsiniNatascia BortoloniMaria Francesca CastaldoPaolo Umberto De MartinoLuca GalanoPietro PalutanAnna SantoliquidoCaterina StrappatiAntonio Torre

PhotographsPoletti Collection/Giuseppe and Luciano Malcangiand Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica-Bibliotheca Hertziana, Max Planck Institute for Art History/ Enrico Fontolan

Press OfficeMaria Bonmassar

Digital CommunicationNicolette Mandaranowith Giuseppe Perrino and Paola Villari

Scientific ConsultantsMaria Serena MatarresePietro SpadaforaPoletti Collection Archiveand Illaria ArcangeliDaniele PappalardoScuola di Specializzazione Beni Storico ArtisticiSapienza University of Rome

Botanical ConsultantFlavio TarquiniMuseo Orto Botanico/Sapienza University of Rome

Artwork Analysis and DiagnosticsM.I.D.A. of Claudio Falcucci

Display and Lighting DesignEnrico Quell

Graphic DesignAlberto Berengo Gardin

PhotographyAlberto Novelli

InstallationArtigiana Design Srl

TransportationShipping Team Srl

Handling and TrasportationApice Srl

FramesRosini Srl

InsuranceBIG Broker Insurance Group/CiaccioArte

TranslationByron Tree Srl

LendersThe Poletti Family and Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie/National Museum in Warsaw

with the support of

© Gallerie Nazionali Barberini Corsini

Special thanksThe Poletti family for their kind cooperation and Massimo Ciaccio for the special support to the exhibition