Article translated by Amritee Mahabir

By now it is widely known that the exhibits organised by Marco Goldin manage to achieve a huge capital. We only have to think of the “Gauguin and Van Gogh” show organised in 2006 in Brescia, that had a total economic impact equal to 75,746,760 euros in comparison to an investment of 7-8 million euros.
The current exhibition strategy in Treviso has arrived to the city of Verona, planning exhibits for the next four years with a leading hand that is going from the Louvre to Van Gogh, from Rodin sculptures to the Boston Museum collection. All these events are very interesting if analysed, however, if we work it out properly, they demonstrate some problems regarding the financial coverage that this time only, will send 140 works from the Louvre to the Gran Guardia, which requires an investment of 8.5 and 9 million euros.
Apart from these inconvenient financial facts, Marco Goldin exhibition lovers can be more certain that Il Louvre. Capolavori a Verona. Leonardo, Raffaello, Rembrandt e gli altri. Ritratti e figure will begin on 19th September at the Gran Guardia in the city of Verona. It was announced as an extraordinary exhibition and as the curators - Marco Goldin, Brigitte Gallini and Vincent Pomarède - have previously stated, it will develop the theme of the human figure and of portraiture. The event is sub-divided in five main sections in which paintings, sculptures and sketches from the end of the XV century to the first part of the XIX century form a dialogue. These works are linked room after room not based chronologically, but in a thematic and sensitive way guided by denominations of common “beauty” in the full sense of the word, and in as much as it belongs to the world of tragedy and wonder. It begins from the splendour of formal portraiture, proceeding with the evocation of intimacy, whether secular or sacred. It is a very exterior representation, concentrating on social aspects, it therefore moves onto a world made of silence and reflections to arrive at the fourth section, paintings of the soul. The last part of the exhibition will guide the audience to the quiet paintings of death touching as much on mythology as well as religion.
However, beyond the proposed themes, it is necessary to highlight the exceptional nature of the loans from the Louvre Museum. Before all the others arrived, the absolute masterpiece La Belle Ferronnière by Leonardo da Vinci arrived in Verona and alone, represents an event in itself. The painting leaves the walls of the Louvre for the first time and only its exhibition at the Gran Guardia Palace constitutes a showcasing event; even the celebrated Ritratto d’uomo by Sandro Botticelli was granted on loan for the first time. Besides these two extremely famous Renaissance artists, a number of very extensive masterpieces belonging to the same museum and reunited at the same time in the event of a unique exhibition was insisted upon. Just to mention a few of the artists it’s enough to note Tiziano, Veronese, Raffaello, El Greco, Goya, David, Ingres, Fragonard, Gèricault, Bronzino, Rubens, Poussin, Tiepolo, Velàzquez, Rembrandt and many others.
The exhibit Il Louvre. Capolavori a Verona. Leonardo, Raffaello, Rembrandt e gli altri. Ritratti e figure has already obtained excellent results during these past few days which boast the pre-eminence of being the first in Europe to have such a loan from the Louvre, and that is part of a showcasing project that finishes in 2011. The competing city will host never before seen masterpieces belonging to the most important museum in the world. The pleasure of seeing the Louvre in Verona. Monday 7th April was the first day of entrance for the exhibition’s call centre registering 3 million bookings whether by groups or single persons. 10 million tickets were sold in advance within the first three days of bookings and all that over 5 months before the start of the exhibition and 10 months from its conclusion.

From 19th September to 15th February
IL LOUVRE. CAPOLAVORI A VERONA. LEONARDO, RAFFELLO, REMBRANDT E GLI ALTRI. RITRATTI E FIGURE.
a Palazzo del Gran Guardia di Verona
Bookings and information: tel. 0422 429999
Mail: biglietto@lineadombra.it
Internet: www.lineadombra.it
Times: from Monday to Thursday and Sunday from 9.00 to 19.00;
Friday and Saturday from 9.00 to 21.00
Tickets: Full price: 12 euros; Concessions: 10 euros.