Leonor Fini
and the Bassi Rathgeb graphic collection

The Villa Bassi Rathgeb Museum presents LEONOR FINI AND THE BASSI RATHGEB GRAPHIC COLLECTION. Signs and inventions from the Renaissance to the Twentieth Century, an exhibition offering the public a journey through 80 works, including drawings and prints, created between the 16th and 20th centuries.

The exhibition, curated by Giovanni Bianchi, Raffaele Campion, Barbara Maria Savy, and Federica Stevanin, brings to the halls of the Villa Bassi Rathgeb Museum a path that spans about five centuries, from the Renaissance to the second half of the twentieth century. On the one hand, it features 55 works from the graphic collection of the Museum itself, and on the other, a corpus of works recently donated by Ambassador Ugo Gabriele de Mohr.

The first part of the exhibition, set in the evocative underground rooms, unfolds in seven thematic sections: among the most valuable drawings are the Study for a Small Sleeping Cupid, recently reattributed to Bernardino Campi, the sheet with Five Greyhounds signed by Giandomenico Tiepolo, two “macabre” Capricci of Skeletons by Paolo Vincenzo Bonomini, and two projects from Giacomo Quarenghi’s Russian period, representative of architectural design and interpreter of Neoclassicism between the 18th and 19th centuries.

The journey continues with a Scene from “Il Bravo” by Francesco Hayez, the foremost exponent of Romanticism, several landscapes by Giovanni Migliara and contemporary Lombard artists, and a section dedicated to the rich nucleus of etchings by the Dutch Adriaen van Ostade, known for his lively genre scenes. Also on display are etchings derived from drawings and paintings by Titian, Jacopo Bassano, Guercino, Giuseppe Zais, and Pietro Longhi. The exhibition concludes with a selection of works by Cesare Tallone and Rinaldo Agazzi, underlining the Museum’s role as a guardian and promoter of Lombard artistic culture, in line with the history of its collection.

The second part of the exhibition, set in the frescoed halls of the “Piano nobile”, is entirely devoted to the corpus of graphic works by Leonor Fini, created during the twentieth century: 24 works on paper, including photolithographs and engravings. Though close to the Surrealists, Fini’s painting drew inspiration from Italian Mannerism, the Flemish masters, and German Romanticism, while always maintaining its independence from dominant movements. The Graphic Compositions on display define the artist’s poetics which, though in dialogue with the major movements and protagonists of her time, has always remained free from external influences and classifications.

To further outline Leonor Fini’s figure across visual arts, music, and theatre, the exhibition – thanks to the collaboration with the Historical Archive of Contemporary Arts of the Venice Biennale – will feature the original stage design sketch for Orfeo, created by the artist for the one-act play by Roberto Lupi, presented in 1951 at the International Festival of Contemporary Music.

Cover: © Leonor Fini, by SIAE 2025