The partnership between Maddalena and Illegio continues

April 23rd, 2021

MADDALENA SPA, GREAT AMBASSADOR OF ILLEGIO ALSO FOR 2021, TELLS OF ITS PARTICIPATION IN THE  RESTORATION OPERATIONS OF THE CARAVAGGIO’S “BUONA VENTURA”

On the promotion of the 17th Illegio art exhibition of which, as is now traditional, Maddalena S.p.A. is a Great Ambassador, we are pleased to make known the restoration work financed by our company for an important painting by Caravaggio exhibited in a previous exhibition.

Art lovers and perhaps even just the curious, will remember that in 2019 a new “Buona Ventura” was exhibited in the Mostra ‘Maestri’ by Illegio, a work discovered by Don Alessio Geretti and born from Caravaggio and his entourage.

An intriguing oil painting on canvas, from a private Sienese collection, depicting a bewitching gypsy who, while practicing chiromancy and seducing with a delicate smile, tries to parade a precious ring from the finger of a naive and elegant young knight, dressed according to the Spanish great fashion in vogue in Rome between the end of the sixteenth and early seventeenth century.

The painting is proving to be a very interesting new case study in the context of the debate and research on Caravaggio’s complex artistic story. It represents another version, with minimal variations and slightly smaller dimensions, of the ‘Buona Ventura’ exhibited at the Capitoline Museums in Rome, already in the collection of Cardinal Francesco Maria Del Monte and probably made when Caravaggio worked there, between 1596 and 1597.

The restoration operations, carried out by Valeria Merlini and Daniela Storti, experienced Roman restorers, and financed by Maddalena Spa with the aim of enhancing this painting, have allowed to deepen the study project placing the work under careful “observation” by eminent scholars and experts such as Vittorio Sgarbi, Adriano Amendola, Michele Maccherini, Rossella Vodret, Claudio Strinati, Claudio Falcucci… that will bring to light the truth about the painting.

The 2021 Illegio exhibition's poster

The 2021 edition

Not everything changes in life, but in life things happen that change everything” this is the spirit with which the leading company in the production of water meters and thermal energy and a hundred years of experience, approaches the market, innovation, and culture, supporting and promoting it, and also the leit motive of the next exhibition that will take place from 16 May to 17 October 2021 in the enchanting setting of the Friulian alpine village. An exciting meditation on the experience that characterizes one of the most important human skills: that of change, hence the title of the exhibition. “Change” to find ourselves involving the mind and heart in contact with thirty masterpieces of international origin and that stage half a millennium of beauty, from the sixteenth to the twentieth century.


This project helps Maddalena S.p.A.
contribute to the 2030 Agenda Goals

Goal 17 Agenda 2030 Partnership for the goals
Sustainable Development Goals

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