The origins of the Art Gallery date back to 1838, when the works remaining with the Municipality after the first Napoleonic suppression, those acquired by the Municipality through the initiative of Count Pietro Guarini, city gonfalonier, the paintings and frescoes detached from the Municipal Residence and the Cathedral, were consolidated in the Palazzo della Missione, seat of the Civic Library. Subsequent additions followed due to purchases promoted by the municipal administration. In 1845 the first two rooms were opened, the Gallery of Prints and the Cabinet of Drawings; the following year saw the opening of the Tapestries and Palmezzano rooms. Considerable additions came from donations by Guarini himself and Melchiorre Missirini, friend and biographer of Canova. Transferred in 1922 to the Old Hospital, built in the 18th century by Giuseppe Merenda’s design, it was divided into the rooms of Ebe, the famous sculpture by Canova recently moved to the San Domenico complex, the Monuments, Forlivesi, Portraits, Pestapepe and the Primitives. In 1935 the art gallery expanded with new spaces: the Paolucci room, featuring sculptures by Wildt, and the ceramics corridor. In 1938 the exhibition on Melozzo and 15th-century Romagnol painting prompted a rearrangement of the exhibition route. That same year saw the arrival of the Piancastelli donation, which included a large library and a substantial collection of Romagnol school paintings from the 15th and 16th centuries, with works by Innocenzo da Imola, Palmezzano, Luca Longhi, Bagnacavallo, and Bertucci. In 1961, the entry of the Pedriali collection added a core of twenty-eight paintings, featuring a painting by the French artist Jacques Sablet, a fine flower still life by Rachel Ruysch, canvases by G.B. Tiepolo, A. Magnasco, G.B. Ruoppolo, and Fattori. The following year (1962) saw the donation of the Verzocchi collection consisting of around 70 works by contemporary Italian artists inspired by the theme of work; among these are works by Moreni, Morlotti, Afro, Santomaso, Birolli, Capogrossi, Turcato, Carrà, Casorati, de Chirico, Depero, Sironi, Rosai, Soffici, and de Pisis. Other additions came with the etchings and oils by Morandi from the Righini bequest (1964); the modern section mainly consists of Romagnol works from the 19th century and contemporary works, including Lega, Wildt, Drei, Savorana, Vinzio, Ugonia, Angeloni, Giacomelli, Capogrossi, Servolini, Vedova, Magnavacca, Campi, and Vinea. Regarding exhibitions related to the contemporary world, notable are the works by the Undostudio group (Andrea Francia, Andrea Mandalari, Roberto Fabbri), Maurizio Battaglia and Tommaso Zavatti for “Gemine Muse” 2003 and more recently the exhibitions “Balla and Surroundings. Futurist Traces in the Forlì Art Gallery” (2011) and “En plein air. Pictorial Impressions in the Forlì Art Gallery” (2011), both part of the exhibition project “Twentieth Century Revealed”.
Information on Melozzo degli Ambrogi Civic Art Gallery
Corso della Repubblica, 72,
47121 Forlì (Forlì-Cesena)
0543712606
servizio.pinacoteca.musei@comune.forli.fo.it
https://www.cultura.comune.forli.fo.it
Source: MIBACT
