PRE-RAPHAELITES

The new exhibition hold by the Fondazione Cassa dei Risparmi di Forlì at the San Domenico Museum is dedicated to a fascinating artistic movement: the Pre-Raphaelites Brotherhood.
In Victorian England, during the mid-nineteenth century, some young rebellious artists created the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood with the aim of renewing English painting which they considered to be in decline due to the excessively formal and severe rules imposed by the Royal Academy.
John Everett Millais, William Holman Hunt and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, founders of the Brotherhood, rejected the conventions of the great Italian Renaissance art, primarily Raphael, promoting a return to the purity of medieval art. Although the Pre-Raphaelites drew on a wide range of historical influences and elements the movement was not just a reactionary return to the styles of the past, but a visionary project that transformed the works of these artists into something decidedly modern.
The exhibition Pre-Raphaelite. A Modern Renaissance will trace the profound impact of historical Italian art on the British Pre-Raphaelite movement between the 1840s and the 1920s. This is a topic that has not yet been explored in Italy, which will be investigated by placing a significant representation of Italian models alongside British works: a challenge that this project intends to overcome thanks to the generous loans granted by all the most important italian museums. Furthermore, the exhibition will also intrigue the English public by showing, for the first time, works by Italian artists of the late nineteenth century who were inspired by their British precursors.
In addition to the founding artists, other important exponents of the movement such as Edward Burne-Jones, Ford Madox Brown and Frederic Leighton will be explored in depth, while other talents will be represented by a selection of works that highlight specific points of connection.
From 24 February to 30 June 2024 the rooms of the San Domenico Museum will host over 300 works belonging to various artistic expressions, including paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, photographs, furniture, ceramics, glass and metal works, fabrics, medals, illustrated books, manuscripts and jewels.
Organized by the Fondazione Cassa dei Risparmi di Forlì in partnership with the Municipality of Forlì, the exhibition is curated by Cristina Acidini, Francesco Parisi, Liz Prettejohn and Peter Trippi.
Now at its 19th project, the history of great exhibitions curated by the Fondazione Cassa dei Risparmi di Forlì at the Musei San Domenico was recently the object of international recognition obtained for the Ulysses. Art and myth (2020) exhibition on the occasion of the seventh edition of the Global Fine Art Awards in the competitive and coveted Best Ancient category. This recognition comes after the award already obtained for The Eternal and Time between Michelangelo and Caravaggio exhibition (2018), which won the best award in the Best Renaissance, Baroque, Old Masters, Dynasties – Group or Theme category.