A tiny Alpine village is expected to attract thousands of visitors to its latest art exhibition between now and October 3rd and among them will be the President of Italy. The village of Illegio, in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, is 5.25 kilometres from the town of Tolmezzo and has only 410 inhabitants. Yet it is becoming renowned for the scope and quality of its annual art exhibitions such as “Revelation” in 2007, “Genesis” in 2008 and “Apocrypha” in 2009.
The exhibitions are the inspiration of the Comitato di San Floriano, a committee founded in the village in 2000. Its aim is to make a contribution to the inculturation of the Catholic Faith and to help evangelise Catholic culture through art exhibitions which explore fundamental Christian themes and the great questions facing western culture today.
This year Illegio’s Exhibition Hall hosts Angeli: Volti dell’Invisibile [“Angels: Faces of the Invisible”] and seventy paintings, spanning the years from 1300 – 1770, are on display. Some of the works of art have been loaned by Europe’s most prestigious museums, such as the Vatican Museums and the Galleria Borghese in Rome, the Thyssen–Bornemisza Museum and Prado in Madrid and the Gemaldegalerie in Berlin.
Thus visitors can view works by artists such as:
Botticelli .
Ghirlandaio .
Correggio .
Veronese .
Orazio Gentileschi .
Bernini .
Rubens.
Tiepolo.
The exhibition has four sections: the development of iconography, how artists have depicted hierarchies among angels, angels’ duties and archangels.
Vatican Culture Secretary Gianfranco Ravasi has said that angels are necessary figures who act as a bridge between the material and divine worlds. Cabinet Undersecretary Gianni Letta, speaking at the opening of the exhibition on Saturday, said,
“Every one of us has a guardian angel, but there are some tempting demons, too”.
Asked by journalists if he had seen any demons recently, Mr Letta replied that he had seen only angels.
President Napolitano will visit the exhibition during a trip to the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region in the summer.
Angeli: Volti dell’Invisibile is at the Casa delle Esposizioni, Illegio [Tolmezzo, Udine, Friuli- Venezia Giulia] until 3rd October 2010.
Do you believe in angels?
What is your favourite painting of an angel?
