First testimonies
Among Liguria's earliest artistic manifestations, the rock engravings and female statuettes in the Balzi Rossi caves dating back to the Palaeolithic period provide a particularly fine example of primitive sculpture. The Bronze Age was also a flourishing period, as witnessed by the anthropomorphic stelae found in the La Spezia region.
Byzantine heritage
Throughout its history, the Ligurian pictorial tradition has incorporated strong foreign influences. First and foremost, Genoa was part of Byzantine Italy until the 10th century. One of the region's earliest pictorial testimonies can be found in the Chiesa di Santa Maria Assunta in Sarzana, on the Tuscan border. The Crucifix of the Mastro Guglielmo or Crucifix of Sarzana is dated 1138. Painted in gold tempera on wood, it is clearly influenced by the Primitives. The golden tones, the flat tints, the rigidity of the figures shown from the front characterize the meeting of primitive and Byzantine art.
The eight centuries of Genoese domination were marked by a succession of foreign influences. As a maritime republic, Genoa was at the heart of trade between the Middle East, North Africa and Greece. As early as 1358, its influence earned it the nickname of the Superba. This title established Genoa as a major rival to Venice.
The first golden age of Ligurian sculpture came in the 14th century. Genoa called on foreign artists to build, decorate and furnish its cities. The sculptors Giovanni Pisano, Barnaba da Modena and Andrea Sansovino were all active in the city. The Monument funèbre à Marguerite de Brabant by Giovanni Pisano (1313), kept at the Museo di Sant'Agostino in Genoa, is a masterpiece of great modernity and one of the artist's most fascinating creations.
The Genoese School
It wasn't until the 15th and 16th centuries, the Golden Age, that a homogeneous style emerged.
In the 15th century, frescoes and stuccowork were used in interiors and on building facades. An explosion of colors, characters and trompe-l'oeil images transformed the urban landscape into a fantastic stage. The painters of the Genoese School, Luca Cambiaso, Lazzaro Tavarone and Bernardo Castello, were among the creators of this spectacle. Today, their many works can be found in major museums and religious buildings.
Luca Cambiaso (1527-1585), known as Lucchetto da Genova, began painting alongside his father Giovanni, copying the masters of the Italian Renaissance. Influenced by Mannerism and Caravaggio, he adapted these exalted characteristics to his own style. His Madonna and Child with Little Saint John and Madonna and Child and Magdalene (1548) can be admired at the Palazzo Bianco in Genoa, and his Resurrection (1563) in the church of San Giovanni Battista in Montalto Ligure. His pupil was Lazzaro Tavarone (1556-1641), another Mannerist painter of the Genoese School. Both were commissioned in Spain to decorate the Escurial in the Madrid region. Returning to Genoa in 1594, he pursued an acclaimed career as a historical painter and portraitist. In Genoa's San Lorenzo Cathedral, don't miss his Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence.
Bernardo Castello (1557-1629) was also apprenticed to Luca Cambiaso. He came from a family of artists including the famous miniaturist Giovanni Battista Castello, known as Il Genovese (1547-1637).
Baroque glory
During Genoa's heyday, a number of Flemish painters were called upon to exercise their talents on behalf of powerful local families. Among them were Pierre Paul Rubens and Antoine Van Dyck, authors of altarpieces, still lifes and portraitists of the aristocracy. Incredible collections of their paintings are preserved in Genoa's museums (particularly those in Strada Nuova) and churches. Rubens' Circumcision in the Chiesa del Gesù (1605) is considered by art critics to be the first Baroque painting in history. Inspired by the examples of previous centuries, 17th-century painting is characterized by a varied and original touch in depictions of both sacred and secular subjects. These include the painters Bernardo Strozzi (see Le Paradis in the Santi Domenico church), Domenico Fiasella (see his frescoes in the Santa Annunziata del Vastato basilica) and Valerio Castello, whose fresco La Fama dei Balbi is exhibited among a rich anthology of Genoese art at the Museo di Palazzo Reale. This splendid palace houses 200 master paintings, furniture and sculptures, including those by the Baroque artist Filippo Parodi. His work shows a strong influence from Bernini and classical Roman sculpture.
In the 17th century, Baroque sculpture enjoyed its heyday. The Frenchman Pierre Puget, active in Genoa between 1661 and 1668, encouraged the spread of Baroque sculpture in Genoa. He left behind major sculptures such as the Saint Sebastian in the Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta. In the religious sphere, woodcarvings created in the 17th and 18th centuries are still carried in processions today.
Modern and contemporary
Founded in 1905 in a 19th-century park overlooking the majestic Piazza Corvetto, the Museum of Oriental Art was the first place devoted to Japanese art to open in Europe. The collection, built up in the 19th century by local artist Eduardo Chiossone, includes Buddhist statues, masks and archaeological finds. An exotic interlude to discover!
Contemporary Italian art from 1930 to the present day is brought together in a 19th-century mansion, the Villa Croce Museum of Contemporary Art. One of the pioneers of Arte Povera, Piero Manzoni, is to be found here.
A breath of fresh air is blowing through the Cinque Terre, as evidenced by CAMEC, La Spezia's Center for Modern and Contemporary Art. Housed in a historic building, the center offers innovative temporary exhibitions. Its permanent collections include the Cozzani Collection and the Battolini Collection, bequeathed by local families. The third section, the Civile Collection, showcases several decades of prize-winning works from the Gulf of La Spezia's painting competitions, and gives visitors an insight into the talents of the region!
