Museum of Fine Arts, Houston to showcase Pompeo Batoni

Written by Matthew Killebrew Wednesday, 24 November 2010 18:50

HOUSTON, TX - Approximately 60 paintings gathered from museums housing the finest collections of European art will be assembled to showcase Pompeo Batoni, one of the greatest painters in the history of Italian painting and who, in his lifetime, was known as “the best painter in Italy.”  The exhibition will be the first comprehensive presentation of his work in 40 years, and will include works from the Barberini Palace in Rome; the Hermitage Museum; the National Gallery, London; the National Gallery of Scotland; the Prado Museum; the Uffizi; the Vatican; and numerous other museums and private collections.

The exhibition will be on view October 21, 2007 – January 27, 2008 at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

Born in Lucca, Italy in 1708 to a goldsmith, Pompeo Batoni’s earliest artistic accomplishments were in his father’s studio. In 1727, however, he went to Rome to study painting, and by the 1740s was a highly regarded history painter before adding portraits of visitors making the Grand Tour to his artistic production.  He was patronized by almost every major European court of the time and painted the great figures of his day—royals, popes, and cardinals. His very lifelike, beautifully painted canvases are compelling in their ability to capture a likeness, a quality that was highly prized in that day.  In accordance with the renewed interest in ancient Roman culture, he often placed his sitters against the monuments and vistas of classical Rome.  He also painted deeply moving and convincing sacred, allegorical, and mythological pictures.

 The exhibition is organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and the National Gallery, London. The exhibition has been developed by Batoni scholar Edgar Peters Bowron, the Audrey Jones Beck Curator of European Art at the MFAH.  In London, Italian painting specialist Dawson Carr is overseeing the exhibition.

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, is the largest art museum in America south of Chicago, west of Washington, D.C., and east of Los Angeles. There are two major museum buildings, the Caroline Wiess Law Building and the Audrey Jones Beck Building; two facilities for the Glassell School of Art, the Studio School for Adults and the Glassell Junior School; two house museums that exhibit decorative arts, Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens and Rienzi; the Lillie and Hugh Roy Cullen Sculpture Garden; and 18 acres of public gardens.  A total of 300,000 square feet of space is dedicated to the display of art.