Jacopo Bassano

"Jacopo Bassano e lo stupendo inganno dell'occhio" (the amazing trick of the eye) is an event which begins three years of celebrations to mark the 500th anniversary of the birth of Jacopo Bassano (1510? - 1592). Held in the Civic Museum of Bassano del Grappa, the exhibition includes one drawing and 15 paintings, many of which have never been seen before in Italy and some of which are from public and private international collections. The exhibition itinerary starts with an unpublished, early Adoration of the Magi, recently discovered in Rome, and gradually works up to Bassano's more mature works. As a young artist, his painting was influenced by Naturalism but his style later matured into an exasperated form of Mannerism, when the painter acquired a new, personal language of expression. His unusual use of colour and light is beautifully demonstrated in his work entitled Two Dogs, a masterpiece from the Louvre on loan to Italy for the first time. A small section of the exhibition is devoted to Bassano's portraits: The Portrait of a Cardinal from the Szépmüveszeti Múzeum (Museum of Fine Arts) in Budapest and the Portrait of a Venetian Senator from the Staatliche Museen, Gemäldegalerie (National Art Gallery) in Berlin are two masterpieces that are fundamental to a full understanding of his outstanding introspective qualities. Text in English lItalian. ILLUSTRATIONS 65 colour images *