On Saturday (February 24), the Art Gallery of Western Australia will welcome masterworks from the private art collection of the Italian noble family, the Corsinis, to WA.
In its only Australian showing, the exhibition, A Window on Italy – The Corsini Collection: Masterpieces from Florence will open with a day of celebration featuring Italian music, food and drink, traditional dance, puppet theatre, and an insight into the exhibition.
Drawn from the private art collection of the eminent Corsini family, the exhibition features paintings from Italian artists such as Botticelli, Pontormo, Tintoretto and Caravaggio.
Decorative objects, furniture, costumes, works on paper, along with a lavish dining room set for six, will portray the life of the Corsini family and bring the ambience of Palazzo Corsini to Perth.
Over the centuries, these works of art have survived the devastation of war and escaped the forces of nature including the flood of Florence in 1966. This is the first time that the Collection has travelled outside of Italy, making its way exclusively to Perth after a showing at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki.
This personal collection includes portraits, landscapes, mythological and religious paintings, plus fascinating decorative objects and furniture from the Palazzo Corsini.
AGWA Director, Stefano Carboni says it’s a privilege to share these Italian works with WA and introduce the Corsini family to Western Australian audiences.
Corsini family members will attend the official opening on Thursday, February 22 and the ticketed exhibition opens to the public on February 24. Tickets are on sale at http://www.artgallery.wa.gov.au