Pinacoteca
JUBILEE 2025 – XVII CENTENARY OF THE COUNCIL OF NICAEA
19/12/2024-19/06/2025
Exhibition
In this painting, a sumptuously elegant drape is lifted to reveal a still life with musical instruments, with many symbolic meanings: on a table covered with a red cloth, the pattern of which is beautifully rendered, there is a spinet, on which an archlute and a musical score have been placed. In the middle ground, we see a violin with its bow and an apple, which creates a particular note of colour, and a mandora can be seen on the right. Scholars have pointed out how the instruments used are those required to perform a sonata for soloist and thorough-bass. It is also worth noting Baschenis’s technical skill in rendering the thin layer of dust on the mandora on the right. Dust shows that the instruments have not been used, suggesting the absence of music. The work thus acquires the significance of a vanitas, a reminder of the transience of life, and the silent instruments allude to the fleeting experience of our senses.
The Adoration of the Magi in the restored work by Andrea Schiavone The Magi in traditional nativity scenes from the collections of the Dalmine Nativity Scene Museum