Call for paper – Symposium “Barocco in chiaroscuro” – Palazzo Barberini 12nd/13th June 2019

Call for paper – Symposium “Barocco in chiaroscuro” – Palazzo Barberini 12nd/13th June 2019

05 March 2019 - 10 April 2019

Baroque in chiaroscuro.
Endurance and reworkings of Caravaggism
in seventeenth-century art. Rome, Naples, Venice 1630-1670.

Symposium details: 12nd and 13th June 2019
Rome – Gallerie Nazioni di Arte Antica, Palazzo Barberini
Deadline call for papers: 10th March 2019

Curated by Alessandro Cosma and Yuri Primarosa

At the close of the exhibition ‘The Triumph of the senses. New light on Mattia and Gregorio Preti’ (Palazzo Barberini, 22nd February – 16th June 2019), the Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica will host an international symposium that will return to reflect on an important crux in the research of seventeenth-century painting: the sequence, or overlapping, of variations of caravaggesque naturalism, and the different instances of classicism and the baroque, in the middle decades of the century.

History of art textbooks often recount that the fashion generated by Caravaggio’s works had already ended by around 1630, or with the completion of the series of canvasses commissioned by Asdrubale Mattei and the tragic disappearance of Valentin de Boulogne (1632). But is this really correct? Was this really the end of the influence of Caravaggism? In the thirties, forties and fifties, was there a section of the market that continued to seek naturalistic works characterised by strong chiaroscuro contrasts?

In order to try and respond to these questions, three different cultural and geographic contexts will be examined: Rome, Naples and Venice, each firmly characterised by individual painting traditions. It is no coincidence that these three centres are those where Mattia Preti worked in the course of his long career. In this regard, the experience of the Calabrian painter is particularly interesting: the works he created from the thirties to the sixties of the sixteenth century keep the great naturalistic tradition, that had reached its heights in the papal and viceregal capitals, alive. Moreover, while Andrea Sacchi and Pietro da Cortona astounded the world with the ceilings of Palazzo Barberini, numerous other artists of varying fame – including Ribera, Spadarino, Stomer and the young Luca Giordano – continued to paint in the wake of Caravaggio. Despite the differences owing to the place-specific nature of artistic production in these three cities, were these marginal and belated episodes of Caravaggism, or is there evidence of a trend that was still alive and fruitful?

Despite the wide-ranging bibliography relating to this topic, the phenomenon deserves further in-depth study. This symposium proposes to address the numerous aspects of this delicate and problematic issue, and provide an opportunity to carry out an important comparison of socially and culturally diverse eras and contexts. The emergence of differences and analogies in the complex panorama of Italy will allow us to note the decisions taken by artists and the tendencies of the art market.
Those attending may address instances that have already been documented and analyse them with an innovative approach, or they may present unpublished work, which will be useful for expanding our knowledge on the topic.

The proposals must be sent in the form of an abstract (max 2000 characters), together with a short CV, by the 10th April 2019 to the following addresses:
alessandro.cosma@beniculturali.it and yuri.primarosa@beniculturali.it

The submissions may be presented in Italian, English and French.
We plan to contribute to travel and/or accommodation expenses. We plan to publish the papers.