A Must-See Old Masters Show

“Of Heaven and Earth: 500 Years of Italian Painting from Glasgow Museums,” at the Milwaukee Art Museum through January 4,  gives visitors a rare opportunity to see the work of some truly masterful “old masters.”

Even without a background in Art History, (you can use the audio guide or the text panels for more info) the show is a delight to wander through and see the incredible transformation of painting in the 500 years of 14th to 19th century Italian art.

It also helps the viewer understand the power of the patronage of the Catholic Church and how the message of the paintings, while used repeatedly (lots of Madonnas here), becomes ever more sophisticated and then eventually morphs into the late 18th century and a style influenced by French Academic art, as the economic and cultural power of Italy and the Church declines.

The show lets you walk through textbook examples of Late Gothic, Early Renaissance, High Renaissance, Mannerist, Baroque , Rococo, and Romantic paintings all the way up to the Realism of “The Sulky Boy” by Antonio Mancini.

Viewers get a window into the history of Italy, the competition between its once-booming city states and their artists and the technical and compositional innovations along the way. The styles and subjects represented are still the foundation of much of the art being produced today. Yes, the work may be considered “conventional” by today’s standards, but was innovative for its day and continues to be popular and often beloved.

The technical skill represented is worth a visit alone. Artists such as Sandro Botticelli, Giovanni Bellini, and Titian, the big guns of Italian painting in the 15th and 16th centuries, are represented, along with somewhat less familiar but still outstanding artists, including Carlo Dolci, Salvator Rosa and Francesco Guardi.

There are other educational elements which are informative and fun, such as a short video on the restoration of a painting with the newly spiffed-up, finished painting as part of the exhibit. There is also an excellent Family Guide for parents to use with smaller children.

This is an exhibit that invites the viewer to linger and really look. There are 40 paintings in the show, but the variety is such that repeat visits will yield a different experience and a deeper appreciation of the works.

A few of my personal favorites are the 2 monumental landscapes by 17th century Baroque artist Salvator Rosa: Dramatic, wild, with tumultuous clouds and craggy, treacherous cliffs. He became the darling of the British Romantic painters including J.M.W. Turner.

Another favorite: Baroque artist Carlo Dolci’s “Salome” showing the familiar dancing vixen in the garb of a proper aristocratic lady, demurely averting her gaze, holding the severed head of John the Baptist, halo still aglow on a silver platter with blood splatters “as dainty as strawberries,” as a critic once described it.

Also entrancing: the Bougereau-like sensuality of the Rococo-era painted Antonio Balestra allegory “Justice and Peace Embracing” — all creamy skin and rosy cheeks. And the best angel award goes to early Rococo artist Francesco Trevisani’s “Agony  in the Garden,” with its the gentle, carrot-topped comforter of the tormented Christ.

The exhibit is neatly arranged in chronological order and is here from the Glasgow Museum in Scotland. There is an interesting parallel with Milwaukee in that the primary collector of these Italian pictures was a coach-builder from Glasgow, Archibald McClellan and the beginnings of the Milwaukee Art Museum arose from the collection of the Scottish-American meat-packer Frederick Layton. Those Scots.

The works are from “probably the finest and most comprehensive collection of Italian paintings of any civic museums service in Britain,” according to Peter Humfrey, curator and author of the catalog. This exhibit has been to several other American and Canadian cities but Milwaukee is the only venue in the Midwest. In short, it’s an opportunity you may never get again to see these paintings.

“Of Heaven and Earth: 500 Years of Italian Painting from Glasgow Museums”

“Of Heaven and Earth: 500 Years of Italian Painting from Glasgow Museums”
Milwaukee Art Museum
Through January 4, 2015