'Alma-Tadema and the British painters of the 19th century' in Rome

ROME - Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Edward Burne-Jones, John William Godward, Arthur Hughes and Albert Moore set out to blaze their own trail and forge an identity free from the cobwebs of Queen Victoria’s puritanical Great Britain.

The Mexican patron of the arts Juan Antonio Pérez Simón has a collection which is the source of the fifty magnificent works to be seen during a touring exhibition curated by Véronique Gerard-Powell. This exhibition has already enjoyed great success in Paris and will move to Madrid after Rome.

From 16 February to 5 June 2024 visitors will be able to admire again or discover the world created by the fathers of the Aesthetic Movement, cherished themes and highly personal style.

The canvases exhibited are focused upon mythology, like Leighton’s splendid Crenaia, Nymph of the Dargle, medieval times and Shakespeare.

Women are the focal point of every painting by every artist: muses, models, femmes fatales, amorous heroines, witches, enchantresses and princesses, angelical beings that can become diabolical, salvation that can turn into temptation.

Women are indeed the primary subject matter of the Aesthetic Movement. In the works of these artists the female body is no longer captive as in everyday life, but stripped bare, in order to symbolize a form of carnal delight.

As the curator Véronique Gerard-Powell observes: “Few periods have suffered so much from the anathemas of taste”.

The exhibition is a Culturespaces project produced under the patronage of Roma Capitale in collaboration with the Musée Jacquemart-André, the Chiostro del Bramante and the Museo Thyssen Bornemisza, with support from the JAPS Foundation, produced and organized by Dart - Chiostro del Bramante and the Arthemisia Group.

The next stage of the exhibition after Rome will be at the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid from 23 June to 5 October 2014.