GRANDE DECORAZIONE. Italian Monumental Painting in Graphic Art
Pinakothek der Moderne
Staatliche Graphische Sammlung München
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It was in monumental painting that Italian art reached its apogee.
Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling and ‘Last Judgement’, the frescoes
of Raphael, Pietro da Cortona and Tiepolo are among the most memorable
creations of the human imagination.
One of the earliest exponents of
Italian monumental art was Andrea Mantegna, among whose major works is
the ‘Triumph of Caesar’, made up of ten, large-scale panels which were
originally mounted on one wall.
Around 1500, Mantegna, ever the
innovator, also produced a version of this work as a copper engraving
(fig.).
Andrea Mantegna,
Triumphzug Cäsars, Senators
From then on, wall and ceiling paintings of all sorts were
reproduced as prints. Out of an old art form a new one was born, one
whose aim was to translate large and complex works into a format which
was easy to comprehend and to handle. The printed sheets could be
admired anywhere and they conveyed the concept of the artworks they
represented in a way which was easier to grasp than the originals
themselves. The exhibition presents around 120 works which are
astonishing for their size and for their extraordinarily striking appeal
as fully developed works of art.
