Archive note: this exhibition has ended. It was held at Pitti Palace from 20 February to 5 May 2019.
The ephemeral splendour of Baroque carnivals
The Golden Chariot of Johann Paul Schor explored masquerades, court festivities and ephemeral Baroque spectacle through an important recent acquisition by the Uffizi Galleries.
At the centre of the exhibition was Schor’s painting of the procession of Prince Giovan Battista Borghese for the Roman Carnival of 1664. Johann Paul Schor, born in Innsbruck and active in Rome, was one of Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s most imaginative collaborators and worked across festival design, ceremonial display, decorative arts and painting.
The painting was shown alongside the celebrated Giostra dei Caroselli at Palazzo Barberini, exceptionally lent by the Museo di Roma, as well as prints by Jacques Callot and Stefano della Bella, paintings of popular carnivals and a restored carnival scene by Bartolomeo Bianchini.
The exhibition, curated by Alessandra Griffo and Maria Matilde Simari, also presented important acquisitions destined for the collections of Pitti Palace.
