The juxtaposition of old and new informs collecting trends and taste which are less guided by narrow readings of periods and styles over the coming years. Such sequential narratives are not easy to develop in private collections given the never-ending nuances of taste and personal preferences.

Le ore by Luigi Ontani

The challenge gets to a whole new level when two national museums come together to present a dialogue built around a well-curated selection of works.

This was Eco e Narciso, one of the major exhibitions that recently came to an end in Rome, which was jointly curated by the directors of Gallerie Nazionali Barberini-Corsini and the museum for 21st century art also known as Maxxi.

The exhibition presented a meaningful and seamless narrative mainly at Palazzo Barberini’s new halls, recently added to the permanent display galleries, and an extension at Maxxi’s Gallery I. 

The narratives proposed and the settings which held them together have been aptly described by the Flaminia Gennari Sartori and Bartolomeo Pietromarchi, the two exhibition curators, as an experiment in search for an equilibrium between space and contents. Indeed it is. 

A historic context was reviewed in search for intended dialogues between works of art spanning centuries and which were also in dialogue with the historic architecture and baroque spatial relationships of the building itself.

Fornarina by Raffaello Sanzio

The exhibition showcased over 37  works by 25 artists, handpicked from the collections of both museums. Intended dialogues between early modern, particularly seicento art, and contemporary works of art sought to discuss a broad range of themes.

These included power and eroticism, intimacy and the esoteric, temporality and spirituality, conceptual and the grotesque.

Portraiture and self-portraiture, which is also the backbone of the national collection at Palazzo Barberini, took centre stage.

The portrait thus became a metaphor for endless circumventing narratives. The focus was humanity itself caught in the trappings of time albeit holding the same ambitions, aspirations and motivations irrespective of its time capsule or context.

The linchpin piece, which also informed the choice of exhibition title, was an intended juxtaposition between Caravaggio’s Naricissus and Giulio Paolini’s Eco nel vuoto inspired by Ovid’s Metamorphoses.

Maddalena by Piero Di Cosimo

Narcissus, the mythological figure who falls in love with his own reflection to eventually die of his passion, rejects Echo’s love who eventually becomes a mere stone and a voice.

Paolini scripted and extended the narrative of Caravaggio’s painting with a plexi glass rendition of Echo and her shattering transformation into stone.

This dialogue between baroque and contemporary could have had no better setting than the oval hall [Salone ovale], originally built for the purpose of intellectual conversations entertained by the Barberini magnates.

The Barberinis were known for their extravagance in public projects and required spending. Their moment of splendour, registered during the Papacy of Barberini Pope Urban VIII, was manifest in this palace which was later to become the seat of Italy’s national gallery during the post-war period.

The focus was humanity itself caught in the trappings of time

Indeed, the history of the site was overpoweringly dominant, hence the need for an articulated dialogue between historic setting, display and the history of the Barberini family which this exhibition also sought to present.

Power and image concerned two large scale portraits by Yan Pei-King depicting John Paul II and Chinese Communist leader Mao Tse Tung. 

These dominant statements in totalitarian style were hanging next to a comparatively much smaller portrait of Urban VIII by Gian Lorenzo Bernini.

This comment was taken to its logical conclusion in the Salone of Pietro da Cortona, where the works of Italian contemporary artist Luigi Ontani stood in dialogue with the majestic ceiling celebrating Barberini power.

Vestale Tuccia (la Velata) by Antonio Corradini

Luigi Ontani was oftentimes described as a narcissist par excellence and his series of self-portraits entitled the hours [le ore] presented a series of tableaux vivants depicting self-representations.

These were showcased in a circular setting right underneath the baroque ceiling. The majestic ceiling was thus caught in a contemporary time capsule where power becomes relative and its narcissistic expression, as expressed by Pietro da Cortona, transposed into the contemporary displayed right underneath.

Barberini powered and projected it into the contemporary. These meaningful juxtapositions went a long way in making a case for the fact that art historical narratives are oftentimes universal as much as the topics they choose and the subject matter they subconsciously relate to.

The exhibition continued to develop on the international cultural programming that Gallerie Nazionali ushered in January 2017 with a selection of sei cento works from the Muża collection, juxtaposed with masterpieces from their collections.

Since then Gallerie Nazionali have come a long way in creating meaningful dialogues and collaborations with international institutions worldwide in a bid to open up a museum institution bridging two historic sites to the community and to the world.    

Sandro Debono is senior curator at Muża.

Narciso by Caravaggio. Right: Pope by Yan-Pei-Ming.

Ritratto Di EnricoVIII by Hans Holbein il giovane. Right: Beatrice Cencin by Guido Reni.