Zandomeneghi and Dagas face to face in Palazzo Roverella – Rovigo – Arte.it

Rovigo – Degas called him with loving sarcasm “le vénetien”, referring to the pride with which Federico Zandomeneghi defended his Italian identity within the Impressionist environment.
While for “Zandò” (Zandomeneghi) his French colleague was a teacher and mentor.
One of the protagonists of nineteenth-century Italian art and one of the most compelling names on the European stage, two giants with difficult characters, but united by a deep mutual respect, tell their story in an exhibition expected in Rovigo, at Palazzo Roverella, from February 27 to June 28.
Exploring the intense, sometimes angular, but always fruitful relationship – which united the two artists during a long Parisian friendship – is a journey curated by art historian Francesca Dini. The story begins in Florence, the city where the two artists, although at different times, developed part of their training. In the Tuscan city, where he arrived in 1858, Degas deepened his studies of Renaissance painting and refined his own language thanks to contact with colleagues associated with the poetics of “macchia”, such as Vincenzo Cabianca.
The Florentine stay has left traces in a painting that is sensitive to contemporary life. In this context his youthful masterpiece took shape, The Bellelli familyon loan from the Ordrupgaard Museum in Copenhagen and exhibited for the first time in Italy. In addition to works by Degas, such as the portraits of Thérèse de Gas and Hilaire de Gas, on loan from the Musée d’Orsay, previously unpublished comparisons will be on display with some of Macchiaioli’s masterpieces, including Red shirt embroiderers by Odoardo Borrani, the Portrait of Augusta Cecchi Siccoli by Giovanni Fattori, e From the attic by Giovanni Boldini.
Edgar Degas, Ballet Lesson, ca. 1880, private collection. Photo credit: Dominic Büttner

As Zandomeneghi’s conversion to Impressionism, which took place after his move to Paris, is told in the exhibition through works such as In bed from the Uffizi Gallery – Palazzo Pitti and from The Galette Mill (courtesy of Fondazione Enrico Piceni), the 1980s, which mark a season of full maturity for the Venetian artist, emerge from works such as Mother and daughter, The doctor, The mothers, Visit to the locker room, Al caffè New Athens which testify to a convinced participation in the impressionist path, while being in constant dialogue with personal research.

In the exhibition these works enter into dialogue with Dance lesson and with the famous image of Little fourteen year old dancer by Degas, from the Albertinum Staatliche Kunstsammlungen in Dresden, an exceptional loan that will be accompanied by an essay in the catalog (Silvana Editoriale) about the recent restoration the work underwent.

The exhibition ends in 1886, the year of the turning point, which marks the last collective exhibition of the Impressionist group. While remaining close to his seasonal peers, Zandomeneghi evolves towards a more autonomous synthesis, characterized by a certain softness of form, classical calm and a new narrative balance, visible in works such as On the couch, The red jacket, The conversation.
In addition to informing the public about an artistic relationship of extraordinary vitality, the exhibition will also provide an account of the complexity of an era when, in Florence and Paris, tradition and avant-garde, the stain and the impression, were in close dialogue with each other.