“Bernini and the painting of the 17th century. Paintings from the Koelliker Collection” opens from December 7, 2024 to May 18, 2025 at Palazzo Chigi, Ariccia. 

In the exhibition are numerous paintings attributed to Bernini, including portraits and figure studies, which are part of the Koelliker Collection, one of the most important private art collections in Italy and the world.

According to historical sources and archival documents, the great artist executed numerous paintings, not only portraits, but also allegorical subject paintings with one or more figures, many of which are now lost.

From sculpture, for which he is best known, to architecture, from decorative arts to ephemeral decorations, including painting, Giovan Lorenzo Bernini (Naples 1598 - Rome 1680) managed to leave his mark in all expressions of the figurative arts of the time, both in Europe and especially for the Roman school of which he was an absolute protagonist.

The exhibition, curated by Francesco Petrucci, Curator of Palazzo Chigi and one of the leading experts on Roman Baroque, aims to pay tribute to the many paintings by Bernini, including some rare autographs, such as the Self-Portrait while Drawing, the Portrait of the Poet Virginio Cesarini, a splendid Levantine Lying Down, probably a porter from the Port of Civitavecchia, and a Christ at the Column with Tizianesque characteristics. 

Also on display is a wide selection of works from the Roman Baroque period, including numerous masterpieces by Italian and foreign artists who worked in Rome in the 17th century.

In the halls of Palazzo Chigi will be hosted works such as Samson Slaying the Lion by Giovanni Lanfranco, the Baptism of Christ by Pietro da Cortona, a sensual Venus with the Golden Apple by Andrea Sacchi from the Chigi collection, and a monumental Heraclitus and Democritus by Giovanni Domenico Cerrini, never before exhibited to the public, from the Medici collections.