Exhibition closed
»This is that rarest of achievements: a blockbuster with brains.«
– Waldemar Januszczak, The Sunday Times
»We could call this exhibition a battle of the swaggerers.«
– Michael Glover, Hyperallergic
»Großes Kino.«
– Nina Schedlmayer, profil
The exhibition Caravaggio & Bernini brings special masterpieces together in Vienna
Paintings by Caravaggio, sculptures by Bernini and other works of central importance to the early Roman Baroque are on view together for the first time ever at Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna.
Between 1600 and 1650, Rome was a centre of the arts that attracted many talented artists. It was where new ideas were developed – instigated by Caravaggio (1571–1610) and continued by Bernini (1598–1680) – that went on to influence all of Europe.
Caravaggio and Bernini created images of persons that were true to life. They depicted bodies in motion to follow what moved them on the inside, the figures‘ feelings. This connection between reality and emotion was new. It became characteristic of the Baroque era.
This exhibition therefore opens a dialogue between sculpture and painting. It reveals how Caravaggio and Bernini were understood by their contemporaries.
The depiction of human emotions was innovative in Baroque art. Caravaggio & Bernini addresses these emotions at hand of about seventy loans from across the globe as well as works from the museum‘s own collection. The paintings and sculptures in the show tell the tales of Wonderment & Astonishment, Horror & the Terrifying, Love, Vision, Suffering & Compassion, Liveliness, Motion & Action and Jest.
Let this website give you an impression of what awaits you at the exhibition. Enjoy your journey into the world of emotions; we are looking forward to your visit!
Paintings by Caravaggio, sculptures by Bernini and other major works of the Roman Early Baroque are on view together for the first time ever at the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna.
About seventy works on loan from throughout the world are joining masterpieces from the Kunsthistorisches Museum collections in Vienna. Never before has a show outside of Italy presented such an extensive collection of exceptional works of art from this period. Paintings by Caravaggio, sculptures by Bernini and other major works of the Roman Early Baroque are on view together for the first time ever at the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna. This visual spectacle of the Baroque would not have been possible without international co-operations with lenders. The exhibition also includes works from private collections.
See a list of all works on show in the exhibition here:
Alessandro Algardi
Eros and Anteros
1630
Vaduz–Vienna, LIECHTENSTEIN. The Princenly Collections
Alessandro Algardi
Young Satyr with Theatrical Mask of Silenus
1628
Privatsammlung; als Leihgabe im Art Institute of Chicago
Dirck van Baburen
St Francis in Meditation
c. 1618
Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum
Giovanni Baglione
Sacred and Profane Love
c. 1602
Berlin, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Picture Gallery
Giovanni Baglione
St Francis in Ecstasy
c. 1602/03
Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Gian Lorenzo Bernini
Medusa,
1638–1640
Rome, Musei Capitolini, Palazzo dei Conservatori
Gian Lorenzo Bernini
The Ecstasy of St Teresa
1647
St. Petersburg, Staatliches Museum Eremitage
Gian Lorenzo Bernini
St Sebastian
1617
Private collection; on loan to Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
Gian Lorenzo Bernini
David
1623
St. Petersburg, Staatliches Museum Eremitage
Gian Lorenzo Bernini
Triton
1653
Privatsammlung
Gian Lorenzo Bernini
Elephant and Obelisk
c. 1632 or c. 1658
Florenz, Privatsammlung
Gian Lorenzo Bernini
Self-portrait
c. 1638/40
Florenz, Gallerie degli Uffizi
Gian Lorenzo Bernini
Thomas Baker
1637–1638
London, Victoria and Albert Museum
Gian Lorenzo Bernini
Cardinal Armand-Jean du Plessis (1585–1642), Duc de Richelieu
1640/41
Paris, Musée du Louvre
Gian Lorenzo Bernini
A Putto Bitten by a Dolphin
c. 1618
Berlin, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Skulpturensammlung und Museum für Byzantinische Kunst
Gian Lorenzo Bernini
Four Grotesque Heads of Men
1650–1655
Rome, Privatsammlung
Pietro Bernini
Satyr and Panther
Ende 1595–1597
Berlin, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Skulpturensammlung und Museum für Byzantinische Kunst
Pietro Bernini und Gian Lorenzo Bernini
Boy with a Dragon
c. 1616/17
Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum
Trophîme Bigot
Screaming Man
c. 1615/20
Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum
Valentin de Boulogne
David Decapitating Goliath
c. 1615/16
Madrid, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza
Valentin de Boulogne
The Five Senses
or Cheerful Company with Fortune Teller
1631
Vaduz – Vienna, LIECHTENSTEIN. Die fürstlichen Sammlungen
Hendrick ter Brugghen
Junge Frau, die Laute stimmend,
c. 1627
Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio
Narcissus
c. 1600
Rome, Gallerie Nazionali d’Arte Antica, Palazzo Barberini
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio
Boy Bitten by a Lizard
c. 1597/98
Florenz, Fondazione di Studi di Storia dell’Arte Roberto Longhi
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio
David with the Head of Goliath
c. 1600/01
Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio
St John the Baptist
c. 1602
Rome, Musei Capitolini, Pinacoteca Capitolina
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio
St Francis in Ecstasy
1595
Hartford, CT, Wadsworth AtheneC. Museum of Art, Sammlung Ella Gallup SC.ner und Mary Catlin SC.ner
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio
St Francis in Meditation
c. 1605/06
Cremona, Museo Civico Ala Ponzone
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio
Madonna of the Rosary
c. 1601/03
Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio
The Crowning with Thorns
c. 1603
Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio
Maffeo Barberini
1596/97
Florenz, Privatsammlung
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio
Fra Antonio Martelli Wearing the CostC.e of a Knight Hospitaller of the Order of Saint John of Malta
1607/08
Florenz, Galleria Palatina
Angelo Caroselli
‘Singing’ Man
c. 1615/1625
Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum
Annibale Carracci
Pietà
c. 1603
Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum
Annibale Carracci
The Dead Christ Mourned (‘The Three Maries’)
c. 1604
London, The National Gallery
Annibale Carracci und Werkstatt
Venus and Adonis,
17. Jh.
Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum
Ludovico Carracci
St Sebastian Thrown Into the Cloaca Maxima
1612
Los Angeles, The J. Paul Getty Museum
Pietro Berrettini, genannt Pietro da Cortona
Venus as Huntress Appears to Aeneas
c. 1630/35
Paris, Musée du Louvre
Domenico Zampieri gen. Domenichino (zugeschrieben)
Giovanni Battista Agucchi
c. 1604 oder c. 1615 (?)
York, York Art Gallery
Giuliano Finelli
Cardinal Scipione Borghese
1632
New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Louis Finson
Mary Magdalen in Ecstasy
1613
Privatsammlung
Artemisia Gentileschi
Mary Magdalen in Ecstasy
c. 1620/25
Privatsammlung
Orazio Gentileschi
The Sacrifice of Isaac
c. 1612
Genua, Galleria Nazionale della Liguria a Palazzo Spinola
Giovanni Francesco Barbieri gen. Guercino
The Parable of the Prodigal Son
1619
Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum
Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, called Guercino
Mary Magdalen with Two Angels
1622
Città del Vaticano, Musei Vaticani
Bartolomeo Manfredi
Cain Slaying Abel
c. 1615
Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum
Francesco Mochi
St Veronica
1630/31 (Modell) und 1630/31–1654 (Ausführung)
England, Private collection
Francesco Mochi
Horse at an Extended Trot
1616/17
Rome, Principessa Maria Camilla Pallavicini –
Galleria Pallavicini
Francesco Mochi
Youth (St John the Baptist or the Archangel Gabriel?)
c. 1605/10
Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago
Nicolas Poussin
Rinaldo and Armida
c. 1628
Dulwich, Dulwich Picture Gallery
Nicolas Poussin
The Destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by Titus
1635
Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum
Nicolas Poussin
A Bacchanalian Revel Before a Term
1632/33
London, The National Gallery
Mattia Preti
The Incredulity of Thomas
c. 1656/1660
Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum
Mattia Preti
The Calling of Matthew
c. 1635
Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum
François du Quesnoy
The Duc de Créquy’s Dwarf
c. 1633/34
Rome, Gallerie Nazionali d´Arte Antica, Palazzo Barberini
François du Quesnoy
Bacchanal of Eight Putti with a Goat
c. 1626−1630
Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum
François du Quesnoy
Sleeping Silenus with Putti
c. 1636 (modell) and before 1665
(execution)
Antwerp, Rubens House
François du Quesnoy, zugeschrieben
Two Putti on Eagles
c. 1626–1630
London, Daniel Katz Gallery
Nicolas Régnier
Portrait of a Man (Self-portrait?),
c. 1620/26
Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum
Guido Reni
Massacre of the Innocents
1611
Bologna, Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna
Guido Reni
Sacred and Profane Love
1622/23
Genua, Galleria Nazionale della Liguria a Palazzo Spinola
Andrea Sacchi
Daedalus and Icarus
1645
Genua, Musei di Strada Nuova, Gallerie di Palazzo Rosso
Carlo Saraceni
Judith with the Head of Holofernes
c. 1610
Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum
Carlo Saraceni
The Martyrdom of St Cecilia
c. 1610
Los Angeles, The Los Angeles County Museum
Giovanni Antonio Galli, genannt Lo Spadarino
Christ Displaying His Wounds
c. 1625/35
Perth Museum and Art Gallery, Perth and Kinross Council
Antonio d’Enrico, genannt Tanzio da Varallo
David with the Head of Goliath
c. 1620
Varallo, Palazzo dei Musei – Pinacoteca
Simon Vouet
Self-portrait
1626/27
Lyon, Musée des Beaux-Arts
Photography without a flash and tripod is permitted throughout most of the exhibition. Exceptions are indicated by signs and ‘No Photo’ inscriptions, please take note of these.
Here’s a little something for your Instagram and Facebook stories: #barockstars Giphy
We are looking forward to seeing your impressions and stories!