Guercino. L’era Ludovisi a Roma
English version of the exhibition panels by Scriptum
‘Guercino. The Ludovisi Era in Rome’, to be held from 31 October 2024 to 26 January 2025, is set up between the Scuderie del Quirinale and the Casino dell’Aurora at Villa Ludovisi. The exhibition explores the brief but significant bond between the painter Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, known as Guercino (1591-1666), and the Ludovisi family. The project was initiated in 2009, when curator Raffaella Morselli started the first diagnostic analyses on the Aurora fresco, thus laying the foundations for this exhibition realised together with Caterina Volpi.
With 122 works from prestigious institutions, the exhibition focuses on Guercino’s activity between 1616 and 1625, with particular emphasis on the Roman period (1621-1623), during the pontificate of Gregory XV, Alessandro Ludovisi.
Guercino, self-taught, developed a powerful and theatrical style inspired by Carracci, the Po Valley naturalism of Dosso Dossi and, in Rome, ancient art. He worked for the Ludovisi without any official assignment, but with great passion and versatility.