the museum
The Pinacoteca is the oldest museum in Faenza and one of the oldest in Emilia-Romagna.
The Pinacoteca is the oldest museum in Faenza and one of the oldest in Emilia-Romagna. In fact, it was established as early as 1797, when the municipality of Faenza acquired Giuseppe Zauli’s art collection and it received the paintings that adorned the suppressed convents, monastery and churches under the Napoleonic laws.
The gallery was regularly opened to the public in 1879 inside the former Jesuit monastery, today known as Palazzo degli Studi. Over time, its artistic holdings increased considerably thanks to the work done by the first director Federico Argnani (1822-1905) who convinced the Congregazione di carità to entrust its collection to the art gallery and carried out a systematic acquisition campaign.
The Municipal Pinacoteca of Faenza gathers the most important art collection ranging from the Middle Ages until the 20th century in Romagna.
Through the exhibition, one can understand how the city and its territory have always kept up with artistic innovations and how vehemently figurative culture was endorsed and guarded through centuries.
The exhibition
from the Middle Ages until the 20th century
The exhibition begins with a big and moving Art Nouveau sculpture by Ercole Drei, depicting Cassandra, which leads to a series of Byzantine and Romanesque sculptures and epigraphs coming from churches of Ravenna and Faenza’s territories.
In the rooms, the exhibition follows a chronological order and presents a wide selection of paintings and sculptures ranging from the Middle Ages until the 20th century, illustrating both the Italian and Faenza’s culture over the centuries.
The works from 13th and 14th century include Madonna with Child, two angels and Saints Francis, Michael the Archangel, Augustine, Catherine and Clare by Giovanni da Rimini, one of Giotto’s most important disciples, and a magnificent and rare Crucifix shaped by the so-called Master of Franciscan Crucifixes.
The Renaissance
The delightful Renaissance season is documented by works of absolute importance which portray how Faenza was up to date with innovations of the time.
At the very centre of the main hall is displayed the wooden sculpture of Saint Jerome attributed to Donatello.
On the walls are displayed paintings by Biagio d’Antonio, Florentine painter active in Faenza and in the Sistine Chapel in Rome; by the Master of the Bertoni Altar Piece, strongly inspired by Ferrara’s painting of the time; by Marco Palmezzano from Forlì, whom monumental Pala delle Micheline is an extraordinary example of perspective know-how; by Giovanni Battista Bertucci il Vecchio. The city’s 15th century’s art, during Manfredi’s authority, is also depicted in a room on the first floor, where one can find the sculpture of Saint John the Baptist as a child by Benedetto da Maiano and two rare nuptial chests by Jacopo da Faenza, active in Venice as a carver.
The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
In the large hall on the first floor, the monumental altarpieces of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, coming from the major churches of Faenza, bear witness to the lively figurative culture in the city between Mannerism and Baroque, with the only known work by Giovanni Battista Armenini, scholar and internationally renowned treatise writer, also active for Philip II of Spain, as well as paintings by Ferraù Fenzoni.
The artworks by Domenico Baccarini and the members of Baccarini’s cenacle bear witness to the intense artistic innovation in Faenza in the early 20th century and are fit right into the international art scene between Art Nouveau and Expressionism.
The modern section
The modern section opens with paintings by Felice Giani, an artist who left a profound and indelible mark on Faenza at the end of the 18th century: in the city he decorated the main aristocratic homes with a happy inventive streak, including Palazzo Milzetti (now the Museum of neoclassical age in Romagna in Faenza), making it one of the capitals of neoclassical taste.
The artworks by Domenico Baccarini and the members of Baccarini’s cenacle bear witness to the intense artistic innovation in Faenza in the early 20th century and are fit right into the international art scene between Art Nouveau and Expressionism.
The gallery houses the Bianchedi Bettoli Vallunga collection as well, which offers a coherent and complete collection of Italian art in the 20th century. The collection contains paintings by, among others, Giorgio De Chirico, Alberto Savinio, Gino Severini, Carlo Carrà, Mario Sironi, Giorgio Morandi, Massimo Campigli, Filippo De Pisis and Felice Casorati.
