THE EXHIBITION IN SPELLO

The Church of Santa Maria Maggiore is the location of an extraordinary cappella , decorated entirely with frescoes painted by Pintoricchio between the summer of 1500 and the spring of 1501. The Capella Bella was commissioned by Troilo Baglioni, Prior of the Collegiate Church and exponent of the illustrious Perugian family that, following a decade of fighting and fratricidal conflict, managed to impose its supremacy on the Umbrian city, definitively defeating the younger branch of the family. This work represents Pintoricchio’s extraordinary commitment, and is considered a masterpiece of Renaissance Italy that can be interpreted as an explicit riposte to the decoration of the Collegio del Cambio that Perugino had completed a few months previously in Perugia. A concurrent game between the two great Perugian painters: if Vannucci was painted in a square painting in tromp-l’oeil in a frontal pose with the frown of a bossy capobottega, Pintoricchio responded at Spello using the same expedient illusionism, presenting the subject with his face turned 45°, with chiselled features, as if he were suffering for the terrible years that tormented him, but with a slightly fleeting questioning, expression and an air of pride in his work. In the Capella Bella the illustrations narrate the story of Maria. On the wall on the left is the l'Annunciazione, including wonderful episodes from daily life, further behind is the Adorazione dei pastori with the Cavalcata dei Magi further along. On the right, the Disputa di Gesù con i dottori. On the vaulted ceilings there are frescoes of Sibille Tiburtina, Eritrea, Europea, Samia. The rigorous planning of the designs, that was carried out using the latest rules of perspective from the XV century, did not inhibit Pintoricchio in expressing the finest detail and including anecdotes alongside the main images, extra stories that capture attention with the richness of their painting, their descriptive skill and the variation in the painted plants and flowers: all of which were executed using bright and precious colours. It is precisely due to this chromatic vivacity combined with the fresh narrative style, the rigour of the spatial design and the reflections from the tiled floor, that this place became universally known as the ‘Capella Bella’. For the celebration of the 550th anniversary of Pintoricchio, a new illumination system and a temporary display will be installed in order to maximise the fruition of the frescoes and to protect the flooring (Deruta Majolica from 1516). In the nearby Pinacoteca, an exhibition has been prepared - “Pintoricchio e le arti minori”, with textiles, manuscripts, wooden carvings, gold work and ceramics that document the vivacious production of the period and its stylistic debt to the painter. Finally, the Pinacoteca Civica will also exhibit the Madonna col Bambino from Spello, attributed to Pintoricchio and only recently rediscovered.

THE EXHIBITION LOCATIONS
  

Information about cultural events that will be taking place during the period of the Pintoricchio exhibition, can be found on the website:
www.comune.spello.pg.it