Gaetano Previati

(Ferrara 1852 – Lavagna 1920)

The Assumption (Assumption), c. 1901-03

Oil on canvas, 105 x 87 cm
Museum of the Nineteenth Century, inv. 5

Gaetano Previati’s pictorial research reflects the artistic culture at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, characterized by the tension between faith in scientific progress and an idealist orientation tinged with irrationalist components. Through a peculiar technique of divided brushstrokes that dematerialize the painting, the artist implements a profound reflection on the abstraction of form, light and color, aimed at going beyond simple sensory reception and touching the spirit in the depths. Religious themes are renewed on an iconographic, symbolic and stylistic level: the luminous, iridescent and incorporeal matter that covers them reveals Previati’s aspiration for an art that transcends materiality to express the absolute purity of the ideal sphere. Examples of this are the various versions of the Assumption theme, which differ from each other in their compositional approach. The work in the Ferrara collections has a suspended and contemplative layout, structured on an axial symmetry, with the group of angels supporting the Madonna hovering weightlessly in the center of the celestial vault as if in a mandorla. This dazzling vision, set on a texture of yellow-pink and blue-violet tones, seems to relate back to pre-Renaissance art and the creations of the Pre-Raphaelites.

The canvas, together with Ettore Zaccari’s precious Art Nouveau frame, was purchased by the Municipality of Ferrara in 1927 from Alberto, the artist’s son, following a recommendation from the sculptor Arrigo Minerbi.