Conceived around the main work, namely the precious Standard, recto and verso in tempera and oil on canvas, it is an opportunity to remember and rediscover the personality of Foppa, a Brescian artist, mentor, and “protagonist” of the Lombard Renaissance.

The work is owned by the Parish of Santa Maria Assunta in Orzinuovi (Brescia) and is on deposit at the Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo in Brescia. After 113 years it returns to its original place. The work was commissioned in 1514 from Vincenzo Foppa (1427/1430 – 1515/1516) to eradicate and exorcise a severe plague that broke out after the Sack of Brescia, between 1512 and 1513, which had decimated a considerable number of inhabitants of Orzinuovi.

The exhibition itinerary is divided into five sections: The power of the image; The energy of matter; The strength of the soul; Desire for memory. Oblivion to be reborn; The enchantment of Grace.

A corpus of 33 works including other works by Foppa, a Crucifixion, a Madonna and Child between Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist, a Reading Cicero (in lightbox), and a John the Baptist, as well as a drawing by Andrea Mantegna, the Burial of Christ (in lightbox). The itinerary is completed by several drawings by Giovan Battista Cavalcaselle, some sestertii from the imperial era, paintings, Renaissance artifacts, a rare fragment of a Holbein-pattern carpet, as well as wooden sculptures by Andrea and Maffeo Olivieri.

The Standard consists of a recto representing the Madonna and Child between Saints Catherine of Alexandria and Bernardino of Siena, and a verso with Saint Sebastian between Saints George and Roch.

As the curator Roberto Consolandi says: "The commemoration of a plague and a war still underway are obvious, but with this exhibition we want to affirm the 'perspectival mastery' and the invention of architectural spatiality of the greatest artist of the Brescian Renaissance, and not only the value of realism in his silver-grey painting".

As a testament to Foppa's deep culture and knowledge concerning fashion, which inspires many elements of the garments covering the protagonist figures of his works, the exhibition is integrated by a display of precious garments created by the Fondazione Arte della Seta Lisio in Florence, which faithfully reproduce 16th-century models, and a silk and cotton panel hand-woven on an ancient loom, which reproduces the pattern of the fabric in the background of the Madonna.

The exhibition is accompanied by a short film dedicated to Vincenzo Foppa, directed by Rosamaria Montalbano with the concept and direction by Roberto Consolandi.

Orzinuovi, Rocca San Giorgio

September 30, 2022 – March 31, 2023

Catalogue edited by Roberto Consolandi: Compagnia della Stampa Massetti Rodella Editori (euro 25)

Hours: Wednesday to Friday 10:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. / 3:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. | Saturday and Sunday 10:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Admission: Euro 5 full; free 0 – 6 years; euro 3 students 7 – 18 years

Contacts: Orzinuovi Culture Office Staff T. 030 9942215