Giovanni Boldini, born in Ferrara in 1842, after completing a stay in Tuscany which allowed him to get to know the Macchiaioli group, decided to settle in 1871 in the most cosmopolitan city of his era: Paris. A virtuous and ambitious painter, he experienced admirable success in the metropolis, making himself appreciated by a wealthy and famous clientele. Beloved for his "à la mode" portraits, Boldini depicted characters of his era belonging to the upper middle class and aristocracy, indulging in analysis of poses and clothes, a fact which allows the corpus of his works to be read not only in a purely artistic, but also in a social and psychological perspective.

The large format portraits, mostly dedicated to the celebration of women, reveal an attention to modernity and fashion that makes him a point of reference for the female public of his era and for anyone dedicated to the study of evolution of the customs and emancipation of women, which he captures in casual and sensual poses.

The exhibition scheduled at the Frugone Collections Museum in autumn/winter 2023-2024 aims to compare the large canvas dedicated to "Miss Bell" in the collection, with one of the oils - of the same dimensions - preserved at the "Giovanni" museum Boldini” of Ferrara, the "Portrait of the Countess de Leusse standing", so as to compare two examples of femininity characterized by equally sensual attitudes, but with a different degree of disinhibition, as attested by the poses assumed by the two women.

The initiative is outlined as the start of a plan to establish a stable relationship with the Ferrara Museum, custodian of works by an author of whom the small Frugone collection preserves three examples, and who therefore represents the spearhead of the exhibition path of the Genoese collection A stable and mutual comparison with the works of Ferrara is the objective to be pursued in the long term, to allow the public to focus their attention on specific cases and deepen the studies conducted on them.

The nature of the Frugone collection and its current location within a bourgeois villa in the Nervi Parks, dating back to the 18th century, go well with the planning of exhibitions characterized by a small number of works, selected on the basis of their qualitative value or exemplary, deliberately opting for the analysis of some aspects of artistic production, without any anthological ambition.

The loaned work will be placed in the new room specifically designed to accommodate only Boldini's canvases, in an intimate and welcoming environment that is well suited to evoking the idea of "dialogue" - to which the title of the exhibition refers - among the two great “divines”.