On the occasion of celebrations for the 400th anniversary of the death of Ludovico Carracci, Palazzo Fava. Palazzo delle Esposizioni of Bologna opens to the public the doors of the Piano Nobile frescoed by Ludovico, Annibale and Agostino, great masters of Bolognese art, who gave life to their first major choral work.

The Carracci’s frieze will be in dialogue with 31 works of modern and contemporary art, coming from the collection of the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio in Bologna, many of which have never been exhibited, for a transversal comparison between ages and styles, in search of thematic affinities or formal among the works.

“The frieze of the Carraccis – Works in comparison” is based on a research work in caveaux, conducted by Benedetta Basevi and Mirko Nottoli, art’s historians of Genus Bononiae, to identify works that presented thematic connections. Thus “The Mad Dictator” by Galileo Chini – exhibited for the first time – painted on the occasion of the celebrations for Hitler’s arrival in Florence in 1938, refers in his ferocious monstrosity to the threatening Polyphemus encountered by Aeneas and his companions in Sicily; while the nudes of Nicola Samorì, one of the most appreciated contemporary artists, recall the aesthetics of the seventeenth century, highlighting the action of time and the relationship with the past. And again the tumult of the “Battle” by Giuseppe Maria Crespi, which refers to that of the battles of Jason, or the “Salomé” by Mimmo Palladino, a tragic heroine on a par with the Didone of the Aeneid. Among the exhibited works also the “Pietre Alpestri” by Fortunato Depero and the “Scultura Luminosa” by Marco Lodola, which in their bright colors and in the joyfulness of the composition recall the theme of the game of friezes of the Sala Cesi, between bow competitions , races and tournaments taken from the sixth book of the Aeneid.