Visual arts | The Sinebrychoff Art Museum receives rare loans from top museums in Paris and Italy for its exhibition

Is rare, that important works of art from the Renaissance can be borrowed from the most famous Italian museums such as the Uffizi Gallery in Florence or the Galleria dell'Accademia in Venice. The Sinebrychoff Art Museum has succeeded in this, and Jacopo Bassano (c. 1515– 1592) exhibition opens on Boulevard in September.

The exhibition produced by the Finnish Museum is the first exhibition presenting Bassano's work outside of Italy in Europe. Loans are received from more than ten international museums, including the Louvre in Paris, Galleria Borghese in Rome and the National Gallery in Prague.

“Rare the exhibition is a significant investment for our museum”, director of the Sinebrychoff Art Museum Kirsi Eskelinen said on Tuesday. Loans are possible because the exhibition also has a research point of departure – and because the National Gallery can offer counter-loans, for example sought-after Impressionist works, Eskelinen states.

Eskelinen, who specializes in Bassano as a researcher, is visibly enthusiastic about the exhibition.

“Several works will be displayed that have not been displayed in previous Bassano exhibitions”, he rejoices.

According to Eskelinen, Bassano's finest works can be found in Helsinki, such as Saint Jerome (1563) from the Galleria dell'Accademia in Venice, Bowing of kings (ca. 1555) from the Vienna Museum of Art History and Sleeping Shepherd (c. 1568) From the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest.

The Sinebrychoff Art Museum itself has two works by Bassano, of which Virgin Mary, baby Jesus, John the Baptist and St. Anthony the Abbot belongs Esther and Noble Sihtola to the art foundation's donation collection. A more recent acquisition is Johannes the Baptist collects flowers for his parents (ca. 1559–1560). The work was not sold at an auction in Rome in 2019.

Jacopo Bassano's painting Johannes the Baptist gathers flowers for his parents (c. 1559–1560) was acquired for the Sinebrychoff collections a few years ago. Picture: The National Gallery

“It was lucky that we were able to acquire it,” states Eskelinen. According to him, the subject is rare, and reproductions are hardly known.

John the Baptist -we know from the work that time has left its mark on it. The sky, which now looks brownish, and Elisabeth's mother's clothing were originally blue. The artist has used enamel pigment, which has changed color over the centuries. The edge of the precious lapis lazuli is different. According to Eskelinen, its blue splendor can be admired, for example, in the one borrowed from Vienna In the bow of kingsVirgin Mary in a garment.

Jacopo Bassano counts among the great names of the Venetian Renaissance Titian's, Jacopo Tintoretto and Paolo Veronese alongside. Unlike them, he worked in the countryside, Bassano del Grappa, his father of Francesco il Vecchio in the workroom he established. Since then, Jacopo Bassano's four sons also worked there.

Bassano's name is not as well-known as the aforementioned artists, but he was highly regarded by critics during his lifetime and his works were in high demand, Eskelinen says.

It is difficult to estimate the exact total number of Bassano's works, but according to Eskelinen, in connection with an exhibition held in the 1990s, the number was estimated to be around two thousand.

“As a starting point the exhibition presents works that made Bassano particularly popular”, Eskelinen says. Along with the use of light and colors, you can highlight animal motifs.

A work depicting two hunting dogs can be borrowed from the Louvre in Paris and a work depicting two rabbits made with colored pencils from the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. According to Eskelinen, Bassano was one of the few artists of his era who used crayons.

Show Jacopo Bassano – Venetian Renaissance Master opens at the Sinebrychoff Art Museum on September 12.