THE IMAGE OF THE LEADER

The Luogo Pio della Pietà Istituto Bartolomeo Colleoni celebrates the 550th anniversary of its founder's death by commemorating his role as a man of arms, culture, and charity. The exhibition, organized in collaboration with the Accademia Carrara in Bergamo and curated by Nicolò Colleoni, offers an iconographic journey through four thematic cycles, comparing portraits, miniatures, engravings, sculptures, and medals that have handed down the image of Bartolomeo Colleoni over the centuries. At the center of the exhibition is Giovan Battista Moroni's Portrait of Bartolomeo Colleoni, owned by the Luogo Pio and on exceptional loan to the Accademia Carrara, considered the ‘official’ portrait of the famous commander. The painting, restored in 2022 by Delfina Fagnani, is preserved on its original canvas with the original nails and is not normally visible to the public. It is a posthumous portrait, in profile, in the antique style, probably painted by the artist in 1566 on commission from the Pietà Colleoni to celebrate the first centenary of its foundation.

The work is included here in the museum's permanent exhibition in the room dedicated to Moronian portraiture and is displayed alongside illuminated manuscripts, antique printed books, and other Renaissance and posthumous works of art: from the first 15th-century depictions, such as the miniatures by Giovan Pietro Birago and Iacopo da Balsemo and the medal by Marco Guidizani, to the Baroque engravings by Martino Rota and Giacomo Cotta, inspired by Moroni's model. The selected works offer a reflection on the true image of Bartolomeo Colleoni, highlighting how, immediately after his death (1475), a strongly celebratory image had already been established. The face that was handed down is that of a man no longer young, but still in the prime of his virile energy, probably in his seventies, chronologically not far from that fateful February 19, 1466, the day on which the commander, in search of immortality, formalized in the Podestà's palace and in the presence of the Greater Council of Bergamo the donatio inter vivos that gave rise to the Magnifica Pietà Colleoni.

Bartolomeo Colleoni's fame, beyond his military glory and the popularity of his portraits, is closely linked to his role as a patron of the arts and, in particular, to his commissioning of two fundamental monuments: the Colleoni Chapel in Bergamo Alta, one of the finest examples of 15th-century Lombard architecture, and the equestrian statue in Campo San Giovanni e Paolo in Venice, which is perhaps the most important and innovative large-scale artistic fusion of the Italian Renaissance. In memory of the equestrian monument, the exhibition features a small patinated bronze casting on a high broccatello di Verona pedestal from the private collection of the Colleoni family, restored for the occasion by the skilled hands of Franco Blumer. The first reductions of Colleoni on horseback, often cast in Florence or Rome by academic sculptors and founders for a small group of cultured amateurs and Grand Tour travelers, appeared between the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The example on display belongs to these very first and rare reductiones. In particular, its fidelity to the original, the freshness of the modeling, and the type of chiseling suggest that it was made in Venice at the turn of the 18th century.

For conservation reasons, the parchment and paper documents will be displayed in rotation throughout the exhibition, following a schedule divided into four cycles. It will therefore not be possible to view them all at the same time, but this will encourage visitors to visit the Accademia Carrara several times during its 550th anniversary celebrations.

LIST OF WORKS ON DISPLAY