Giovanni Battista Moroni

The MORONI exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts, London is accompanied by a fully illustrated and scholarly catalogue with contributions from Simone Facchinetti and Arturo Galansino. Arturo Galansino is curator at the Royal Academy of Arts. Simone Facchinetti is curator at the Museo Diocesano in Bergamo.

This handsome catalogue encompasses Giovan Battista Moroni's entire career. It includes Moroni’s portraits of all formats and styles, demonstrating not just his brilliance at capturing the elegance of his sitters and the fashions of the time, but also showing the artists realistic representation of Bergamos society, which later became a model for Caravaggio. In addition to his portraits, the volume includes many of Moronis religious paintings, themselves often incorporating highly accomplished likenesses of their patrons, once again showing the striking psychological insight for which Moroni is acclaimed.

Acclaimed as one of the best portraitists of all time, Giovan Battista Moroni (15221579) is renowned for his penetrating images of the aristocracy of Bergamo, in which the sitters often gaze at the spectator with an unflinching directness. Widely admired in Italy from the sixteenth century onwards, when Titian is said to have praised his portraits, Moroni did not achieve an international reputation until the nineteenth century, and remains relatively little known. This handsome catalogue encompasses Moronis entire career. It includes Moronis portraits of all formats and styles, demonstrating not just his brilliance at capturing the elegance of his sitters and the fashions of the time, but also showing the artists realistic representation of Bergamos society, which later became a model for Caravaggio. In addition to his portraits, the volume includes many of Moronis religious paintings, themselves often incorporating highly accomplished likenesses of their patrons, once again showing the striking psychological insight for which Moroni is acclaimed.