its display of over 90 masterpieces testifying how the representation of women was a major theme in the history of Italian art, from the early Renaissance to the Belle Époque. Elegant ladies, sweet mothers, mythological heroes, seductive models, and hardworking commoners are back in the rooms of Palazzo Martinengo in Brescia until 12 June 2022.

The exhibition “Donne nell’Arte. Da Tiziano a Boldini” is divided in eight sections: Saints and Bible Heroes; Mythology and Antiquity; Portraits of Women; Still Life by Women; Maternity; Work; Daily Life; Nude and Sensuality. Curated by Davide Dotti and organised by Associazione Amici di Palazzo Martinengo, under the patronage of the Province of Brescia, the City of Brescia and Fondazione Provincia di Brescia Eventi, the exhibition presents exceptional masterpieces by artists such as Titian, Guercino, Pitocchetto, Andrea Appiani, Francesco Hayez, Vittorio Matteo Corcos, Federico Zandomeneghi and Giovanni Boldini. Thanks to the collaboration with Fondazione Marcegaglia Onlus, by reading the panels in each room, viewers can hone in on a number of themes of great social and media interest such as gender disparity, women’s occupation, domestic abuse, marginalization, and new forms of poverty. The works of art thus become formidable tools to drive the visitors’ attention to themes of great social and cultural importance.

“That of women” affirms Davide Dotti “is such a fascinating and engaging subject that artists, especially between the 16th and the 19th century, have explored it from every iconographic angle, immortalising the ‘divine creatures’ in masterpieces fatally seducing our gaze. This exhibit provides the occasion to undertake an exciting and surprising journey embellished by recently discovered and never displayed before paintings from prestigious private collections and by encounters with famous women of the past, including Francesca (Fanny) Lechi from Brescia, portrayed in 1803 by the great Andrea Appiani in an extraordinary painting that is publicly displayed for the first time after 25 years.”