Knowledge and growth intertwine infinitely in the passage of time, an incessant circular motion in which the phases of the life of every human being alternate. This is the invisible suggestion that runs through the exhibition event Three masterpieces in Vicenza , curated by Guido Beltramini and Francesca Cappelleti, wanted by the mayor Giacomo Possamai as a tribute to the townspeople and citizens of the city, but not only.

In the splendid setting of the Palladian Basilica, the public will be able to admire three masterpieces, each an expression of a profound message: Saint Jerome by Caravaggio, The Ages of Man by Antoon Van Dyck and an unpublished work by the contemporary artist from Vicenza Arcangelo Sassolino. No Memory Without Loss is the title of the work created specifically for the event. Between past and present the relentless flow of time, fixed by the brushstrokes of the Masters, begins to flow again in the changing forms of contemporary art.

The exhibition event will give everyone the opportunity to admire works of extraordinary beauty up close and to participate in the numerous collateral activities on the calendar, from Christmas and New Year concerts to meetings with leading personalities from the world of philosophy, art and science .

After hosting famous paintings from the main national and international museums, for the first time in the Palladian Basilica one of the most important paintings in the world will be exhibited, the Saint Jerome by Michelangelo Merisi known as Caravaggio, created in 1606 and kept in the famous Borghese Gallery in Rome . In the painting Saint Jerome is depicted as a man of studies dedicated to knowledge. The cold and warm tones of the canvas evoke the chase of opposites, life and death, the past and the future and, in general, the inexorable flow of time.

The cyclical motion of time also returns in one of the most important works of the Civic Museums of Vicenza, The Ages of Man by Antoon Van Dyck which recounts the seasons of existence: childhood, maturity and old age. The dialogue between the two masters is enriched by the presence of the contemporary Arcangelo Sassolino, already present at the 2022 Art Biennale for the Malta Pavilion with a work referring precisely to Caravaggio, The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist . In that case the dialogue between Sassolino and Caravaggio was remote. Here, however, the artist physically measures himself with the materiality of the painting present in the Basilica. The three masterpieces capture us in the mysterious and dreamlike dimension of time.