Regional Museum of Messina

Last updated
Regional Museum of Messina
Museo regionale di messina, 00 ingresso.JPG
Regional Museum of Messina
LocationViale della Libertà 465
Messina 98121, Sicily, Italy
Coordinates 38°13′00″N15°33′50″E / 38.216693°N 15.563947°E / 38.216693; 15.563947
DirectorCaterina Di Giacomo
Public transit access Messina tramway: Museo

The Museo Interdisciplinare Regionale (MuMe). or Regional Museum of Messina (Italian - Museo regionale interdisciplinare di Messina [1] ), is an art museum located on the northern coast of the city of Messina, Sicily, Italy. MuMe illustrates the development of art and culture in Messina from the 12th to the 18th centuries, with outstanding figures such as the renowned artists Andrea della Robbia, Antonello da Messina, Girolamo Alibrandi, Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi), and Polidoro da Caravaggio.

Contents

Until 2017 it was housed in the former Barbera-Mellinghoff silk-mill, a late 19th century building chosen for it after the 1908 Messina earthquake. Since 2017 it has been housed in a nearby complex designed in the 1970s.

Building

The building housing the museum was originally the Barbera-Mellinghoff spinning-mill, a late 19th-century construction chosen after the great earthquake of 1908 to be the site of the future museum, which was refurbished and finally opened in 1922. Over the years the building has been considerably restructured in order to guarantee the exhibits the best possible conditions for their preservation; the last major work was carried out in the 1980s. A new large complex of buildings near the present site was completed in 2010s.

Collections

The original collections came from the Museo Civico. After the earthquake in 1908 these were expanded by the addition of paintings, sculptures and precious decorative works from damaged or destroyed buildings, thus creating a collection of paintings and sculptures by internationally known and local artists, together with a variety of other objets d'art.

Exhibition

The museum was organized on historicistic principles: each area contains the most important works of the same period, regardless of their typological class. [2]

History

Origins

Antonello da Messina, Madonna of the Rosary Antonello da Messina Madonna del Rosario.jpg
Antonello da Messina, Madonna of the Rosary

The first nucleus for the museum's collection came with various private collections of conservative taste. First opened in 1806 as the Museo civico peloritano by the Reale Accademia Peloritana "to end the despoliation of art", its formation was the idea of its first director Carmelo La Farina. It housed the Alojsio, Arenaprimo, Ciancialo, Grosso-Cacopardo and Carmisino family collections as well as a collection of 14th to 18th century paintings owned by the city's senate, which also part-funded its running costs.

It was initially based on via Rovere, near the Archivio degli atti notarili, before being moved to former university buildings, then (after its massive expansion from the collections of religious corporations suppressed by the 1866 liquidation laws) in 1884 to a building on via Peculio Frumentario and from 1891 to 1908 to the former monastery of San Gregorio.

Earthquake and recovery

The rebuilding plans were cut short by the 1908 earthquake, in which the museum collapsed and some artworks were lost.

Post-war restoration

Pelican lectern of the Renan school, 16th century Museo regionale di messina, leggio a forma di pellicano, di scuola renana, xvi sec. 03.JPG
Pelican lectern of the Renan school, 16th century

In 1977 responsibility for the museum passed to the Regione Siciliana and it took on its present name. In 1984 it was rearranged chronologically. [4]

Antonello da Messina, Madonna and Child and Pieta Museo regionale di messina, antonello da messina, madonna col bambino e cristo in pieta 01.JPG
Antonello da Messina, Madonna and Child and Pieta

Collections

The museum illustrates the course of figurative art in Messina from the 12th to 18th centuries, including paintings, sculptures and decorative art in chronological sequence. Their artists include Antonello da Messina, Mattia Preti, Caravaggio, Girolamo Alibrandi, Vincenzo Catena, Annibale Carracci and Francesco Laurana.

From the precious cathedral treasury come the 'flowering branch' in gold, enamel, pearls and emeralds from a late 17th century goldsmith in the city, though only the early 14th and 17th century Sicilian jewels from the two crowns of the sacred images are displayed.

Marble work

Paintings

Caravaggio

Antonello da Messina

Colijn de Coter

Mattia Preti

Mario Minniti

Antonello de Saliba

Girolamo Alibrandi

Alessandro Allori

Letterio Subba

The Goddess Calypso Welcoming Telemachus

Cupid and Psyche

Orion, Founder of Messina The Nymphs Lapizia and Fetusa Receiving the First Hare Killed by Orion

Foundation of the Compagnia dei verdi

L'Addolorata

Mary Magdalene at Christ's Feet

Nativity of the Virgin

Embassy of the citizens of Messina to the Virgin Mary

Matthias Stomer

Mucius Scaevola in the Presence of Lars Porsena

Adoration of the Shepherds

Sculptures

Antonello Gagini

Giovanni Angelo Montorsoli

Francesco Laurana

Goro di Gregorio

Rinaldo Bonanno

Antonello Freri

Martino Montanini

Victory or Peace and Bravery

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uffizi</span> Art museum in Florence, Italy

The Uffizi Gallery is a prominent art museum located adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria in the Historic Centre of Florence in the region of Tuscany, Italy. One of the most important Italian museums and the most visited, it is also one of the largest and best-known in the world and holds a collection of priceless works, particularly from the period of the Italian Renaissance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Messina</span> Comune in Sicily, Italy

Messina is a harbour city and the capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of more than 218,000 inhabitants in the city proper and about 650,000 in the Metropolitan City. It is located near the northeast corner of Sicily, at the Strait of Messina and it is an important access terminal to Calabria region, Villa San Giovanni, Reggio Calabria on the mainland. According to Eurostat the FUA of the metropolitan area of Messina has, in 2014, 277,584 inhabitants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antonello da Messina</span> Italian painter (died 1479)

Antonello da Messina, properly Antonello di Giovanni di Antonio, but also called Antonello degli Antoni and Anglicized as Anthony of Messina, was an Italian painter from Messina, active during the Italian Early Renaissance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Galleria Borghese</span> Art gallery in Rome, Italy

The Galleria Borghese is an art gallery in Rome, Italy, housed in the former Villa Borghese Pinciana. At the outset, the gallery building was integrated with its gardens, but nowadays the Villa Borghese gardens are considered a separate tourist attraction. The Galleria Borghese houses a substantial part of the Borghese Collection of paintings, sculpture and antiquities, begun by Cardinal Scipione Borghese, the nephew of Pope Paul V. The building was constructed by the architect Flaminio Ponzio, developing sketches by Scipione Borghese himself, who used it as a villa suburbana, a country villa at the edge of Rome.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polidoro da Caravaggio</span> Italian painter

Polidoro Caldara, usually known as Polidoro da Caravaggio was an Italian painter of the Mannerist period, "arguably the most gifted and certainly the least conventional of Raphael's pupils", who was best known for his now-vanished paintings on the facades of Roman houses. He was unrelated to the later painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, usually known just as Caravaggio, but both came from the town of Caravaggio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kunsthistorisches Museum</span> Art museum in Vienna, Austria

The Kunsthistorisches Museum is an art museum in Vienna, Austria. Housed in its festive palatial building on the Vienna Ring Road, it is crowned with an octagonal dome. The term Kunsthistorisches Museum applies to both the institution and the main building. It is the largest art museum in the country and one of the most important museums worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint John's Co-Cathedral</span> Church in Valletta, Malta

St John's Co-Cathedral is a Roman Catholic co-cathedral in Valletta, Malta, dedicated to Saint John the Baptist. It was built by the Order of St. John between 1573 and 1578, having been commissioned by Grand Master Jean de la Cassière as the Conventual Church of Saint John.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Castello Ursino</span> Thirteenth century Castle built on the will of King Federico II, Catania

Castello Ursino, also known as Castello Svevo di Catania, is a castle in Catania, Sicily, southern Italy. It was built in the 13th century as a royal castle of the Kingdom of Sicily, and is mostly known for its role in the Sicilian Vespers, when it became the seat of the Sicilian Parliament. The castle is in good condition today, and it is open to the public as a museum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mattia Preti</span> Italian painter (1613–1699)

Mattia Preti was an Italian Baroque artist who worked in Italy and Malta. He was appointed a Member of the Order of Saint John.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Borghese Collection</span> Art collection owned by the Roman Borghese family

The Borghese Collection is a collection of Roman sculptures, old masters and modern art collected by the Roman Borghese family, especially Cardinal Scipione Borghese, from the 17th century on. It includes major collections of Caravaggio, Raphael, and Titian, and of ancient Roman art. Cardinal Scipione Borghese also bought widely from leading painters and sculptors of his time, and Scipione Borghese's commissions include two portrait busts by Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Most of the collection remains intact and on display at the Galleria Borghese, although a significant sale of classical sculpture was made under duress to the Louvre in 1807.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio</span> Italian painter (1467–1516)

Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio was an Italian painter of the High Renaissance from Lombardy, who worked in the studio of Leonardo da Vinci. Boltraffio and Bernardino Luini are the strongest artistic personalities to emerge from Leonardo's studio. According to Giorgio Vasari, he was of an aristocratic family and was born in Milan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palazzo Bianco</span> Palace in Genoa, Italy

Palazzo Bianco is one of the main buildings of the center of Genoa, Italy. It is situated at 11, via Garibaldi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Museo Civico d'Arte Antica</span> Art museum in Turin, Italy

The Museo Civico d'Arte Antica is an art museum located in the Palazzo Madama in Turin, Italy. It has a renowned collection of paintings from the medieval, Renaissance and Baroque periods. It reopened in 2006 after several years of restorations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palazzo Abatellis</span>

Palazzo Abatellis is a palazzo in Palermo, Sicily, southern Italy, located in the Kalsa quarter. It is home to the Galleria Regionale della Sicilia, the Gallery of Art for the Sicilian region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Girolamo Alibrandi</span> Italian painter

Girolamo Alibrandi (1470-1524), was an Italian painter, born and active in Sicily, called the Raphael of Messina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Galleria Spada</span> Museum in Rome, Italy

The Galleria Spada is a museum in Rome, which is housed in the Palazzo Spada on Piazza Capo di Ferro. The palazzo is also famous for its façade and for the forced perspective gallery by Francesco Borromini.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bellomo Palace Regional Gallery</span>

Bellomo Palace Regional Gallery is an art museum in Syracuse, Sicily.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Museo regionale Agostino Pepoli</span>

The Museo regionale Agostino Pepoli is an art, archaeology and local history museum in Trapani. It is one of the most important museums in Sicily.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Letterio Subba</span> Italian painter and sculptor (1787–1868)

Letterio Subba was an Italian Romantic painter. He was born and died in Messina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sicilian Renaissance</span> The Renaissance movement in Sicily

The Sicilian Renaissance forms part of the wider currents of scholarly and artistic development known as the Italian Renaissance. Spreading from the movement's main centres in Florence, Rome and Naples, when Renaissance Classicism reached Sicily it fused with influences from local late medieval and International Gothic art and Flemish painting to form a distinctive hybrid. The 1460s is usually identified as the start of the development of this distinctive Renaissance on the island, marked by the presence of Antonello da Messina, Francesco Laurana and Domenico Gagini, all three of whom influenced each other, sometimes basing their studios in the same city at the same time.

References

  1. "Museo Regionale - Cenni storici". Archived from the original on 2011-11-16.
  2. "A Messina, nel museo buono per farci un supermercato aleggia il fantasma di Scarpa | Giornale dell'Architettura | Periodico in edizione multimediale". ilgiornaledellarchitettura.com (in Italian). Retrieved 2017-07-20.
  3. "The Regional Museum of Messina, Sicily, Italy". www.enchantingitaly.com.
  4. BBCC Regione Siciliana