Galleria Nazionale di Parma. Il Settecento

Like the previous three volumes of the collection, the fourth opens with an introductory essay by curator Lucia Fornari Schianchi that offers readers a key to understanding 18th century Parma artistic production, represented by artists such as Ilario Spolverini, Sebastiano Galeotti, Clemente Ruta, Giovan Battista Tagliasacchi and Giuseppe Baldrighi. This was indeed a historically intense century for the Duchy of Parma, which, with the extinction of the Farnese dynasty in the male line, passed to the House of Bourbon. This epochal turning point did not only have effects on a political level, but also on an artistic one, because the new ruling family brought with it French taste, which was later reinterpreted by local craftsmen. The city of Parma thus saw great innovations from an architectural point of view and, at the same time, the art of painting underwent a significant stylistic evolution. The pages of this catalogue, through entries by experts and scholars and images, offer readers insights into these complex historical-artistic dynamics.