Milano – Sala Alessi of Palazzo Marino, houses a great work of the Italian and European Renaissance: The Madonna with the child and the saints Simon and Judas”also known as “The Madonna of San Simone” by Federico Barocci. The event, which is part of the traditional appointment with the great Christmas exhibition brings to the public’s attention the monumental altarpiece created between 1556 and 1567, a masterpiece from the collection of the National Gallery of the Marche in Urbino.
The canvas, which once dominated the altar of the seventh chapel of the Urbino church of San Francesco, represents San Giuda Taddeo, identified with the halberd of his martyrdom, to the right of the Madonna; San Simone, recognizable thanks to the saw used by his tormentors to kill him; and to the left of the main group the Virgin and Child.
Barocci’s ability to evoke human tenderness, learned from Correggio, is extraordinary, especially in the figure of the Virgin teaching her son to read.
In addition to the sacred subjects, the portraits of the clients, donors of the work to the Church, also appear at the bottom right, expressing a great vivid participation in the sacred scene, a symbol of personal and collective devotion.
The curators of the exhibition at Palazzo Marino, Luigi Gallo and Anna Maria Ambrosini Massari state that: “the work on display in Milan is a pinnacle of Federico’s early maturity, at the center of the construction of his very personal style, full of an entirely emotional internal dynamism, modulated with sensitive colors, to sing, in a Franciscan way, a canticle to the harmony of created: men, plants, animals. (…). A work that speaks to the heart, that touches the emotional chords, that involves us with its impetuous sweetness, its loving kindness.”
Federico Fiori known as Barocci (Urbino, 1533 – 1612) is a direct heir to the classicism of Raphael (Urbino, 1483 – Rome, 1520) and his work ideally closes the great Renaissance season. The artistic path of the great painter from Urbino is defined, through almost six decades of activity, by his altarpieces which in particular define his work. Barocci actually also executed frescoes, religious works, some splendid portraits and a single profane painting.
The exhibition is enriched by a precious autograph drawing by Barocci, coming from the Cabinet of Drawings of the Sforzesco Castle, preparatory for a figure of a devotee in the altarpiece of the “Madonna del Popolo,” a painting now preserved in the Uffizi. Made between 1575 and 1579, the sheet offers the possibility of immersing oneself in Barocci’s creative process, discovering the techniques and secrets behind the creation of one of his most admired masterpieces.
The exhibition, scheduled until January 12th, it is accompanied by the catalog with reproductions of the curators’ works and texts. Hours: every day from 9.30am to 8pm. On 24 and 31 December from 9.30am to 6pm; December 25th from 2.30pm to 6.30pm; 26 December, 1 January, 6 January 9.30am-8pm; December 25th from 2.30pm to 6.30pm.
