Saint Rosalia paintings by Van Dyck reunited for the first time at Dulwich Picture Gallery

Written by Stanley Whitehurst Monday, 19 December 2011 22:21

LONDON.- Dulwich Picture Gallery presents Van Dyck in Sicily: Painting and the Plague (15 February - 27 May 2012), the first ever exhibition to focus on the prolific year and a half that Sir Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641) spent in Sicily between 1624 and 1625. The exhibition reunites for the first time the 16 works, all portraits and paintings of religious subjects, that are documented, or believed to have been painted during that year in Palermo. The most significant group of paintings produced by Van Dyck in Palermo are the images of the city’s patron saint, Rosalia. Not only did Van Dyck create Rosalia’s iconography as we know it today, but he also witnessed the events of that summer that fixed the saint’s role for the city. The saint is still to this day highly venerated by the citizens of Palermo. The exhibition brings together every painting of Rosalia by Van Dyck, not only from America, but also from London, Spain and Puerto Rico, allowing them to be seen in the same room for the first time.

The exhibition will also mark the first time in the UK that Van Dyck’s portrait of Emanuele Filiberto, the Viceroy of Sicily, from the Gallery’s own collection will be seen alongside the spectacular suit of armor worn by the Viceroy in the portrait. Other outstanding works lent by museums in Europe and beyond will contribute to this unique view of the artist.

Soon after Van Dyck’s arrival in Sicily in 1624, plague struck Palermo, killing most of the population. That same year, the bones of Saint Rosalia were discovered in a cave on the Monte Pellegrino where she was said to have died as a hermit in the Middle Ages. Her bones were carried in a procession through the city, after which the plague ceased. Saint Rosalia was immediately proclaimed protector of Palermo, and Van Dyck painted a series of images showing the Saint interceding for the city against the plague.

The exhibition is curated by Dr. Xavier Salomon, Curator of Southern Baroque, Department of European Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and will feature 16 works from the UK (The British Museum, London; Tatton Park; Apsley House; Sackville Collection, Knole;), Spain (Armeria Real, Madrid; Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid); the US (The Menil Collection, Houston; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Houston Baptist University, Texas); the Liechtenstein Collection, Vienna; The Museo de Arte de Ponce, Puerto Rico; Museo Diocesano di Palermo, Palermo; and Galleria Sabauda, Torino.

The exhibition is the second in The Melosi Series: Rediscovering Old Masters and follows Salvator Rosa: Bandits, Wilderness and Magic in 2010. The series has been made possible through the generosity of the American Friends of Dulwich Picture Gallery inc; The Arthur and Holly Magill Foundation; The Friends of Dulwich Picture Gallery, Apollo Magazine as Media Partner and Arturo and Holly Melosi.

Dulwich Picture Gallery is an art gallery in Dulwich, South London. England's first purpose-built public art gallery, it was designed by Regency architect Sir John Soane and opened to the public in 1817. Soane arranged the exhibition spaces as a series of interlinked rooms illuminated naturally through skylights – a concept that had an enduring influence on art gallery design. The gallery houses one of the country’s finest collections of Old Masters, especially rich in French, Italian and Spanish Baroque paintings and in British portraits from Tudor times to the 19th century. The Gallery is a registered charity. Visit : www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk/

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