Il Museo Civico d’Arte was established in 1962 from the division of the Civic Museum – founded in 1871 – into two sectors: archaeological-ethnological and historical-artistic. Founded after the Unification of Italy, the institute draws its primary vocation from being a place intended for the preservation of “homeland memories” and the affirmation of civic identity, and it is with this perspective that the rich complex of collections characterizing it acquires full meaning. It is a vast and heterogeneous heritage including: paintings, sculptures, ceramics, glass, musical instruments, scientific instruments, decorated papers, textiles, etc., largely related to figurative culture and local craftsmanship. Many testimonies come from the donation of important private collections or sporadic gifts to which, over time, acquisitions and recoveries have been added that significantly contribute to documenting the history and culture of the territory. The exhibition route unfolds in a series of rooms that have maintained the layout received at the beginning of the twentieth century and characterized by large wall display cases. Among the most significant nuclei emerge the textile collection, donated by Count Luigi Alberto Gandini, consisting of over two thousand fragments of fabrics, lace, ribbons, and embroideries dating between the 12th and 19th centuries, and the Campori Gallery, donated to the Municipality of Modena in 1929, which includes paintings by Lana, Ferrari, Ceruti, Joli, Manfredi, Regnier, Crespi, Stringa, and Cerano. The sacred art room houses the great Madonna di Piazza by Begarelli, fresco fragments from the 13th-14th centuries torn from the Cathedral, sculptures and liturgical furnishings from the 12th-15th centuries, and various paintings by Modenese authors from the 16th-18th centuries, including Stringa, Caula, Consetti, and Zoboli, originating from the territory. Also noteworthy are the collection of scientific instruments, ceded by the Physics Cabinet of the University and rich in devices built in the university workshop, the collection of musical instruments donated by Luigi Francesco Valdrighi – featuring the harpsichord by Pietro Termanini (1741) and the brass instruments by Antonio Apparuti (first half of the 19th century) – and the weapons collection, the result of a donation by Paolo Coccapani Imperiali. Other collections are dedicated to casts, ceramics with Emilian graffiti and examples of Sassuolo production from the 13th-19th centuries, glass, decorated papers documenting various techniques, embossed and gilded leathers, architectural terracottas recovered from the territory, Modenese weights and measures, seals, stamps, etc. Modenese figurative culture from the nineteenth century to the first half of the twentieth century is represented by works by Malatesta, Muzzioli, Cappelli, Cavazza, Bellei, Valli, and other artists trained at the Academy of Fine Arts, currently exhibited, due to lack of space, in the representative rooms of the Town Hall. The rich Giuseppe Graziosi Collection (Savignano sul Panaro 1879 – Florence 1942) also belongs to the Museum. The artist’s successful career is documented by terracottas, original plasters, bronzes, paintings, and a graphic collection – including drawings, engravings, and lithographs – exhibited in the Gipsoteca located on the ground floor of the Palazzo dei Musei, while the photographic archive donated by heirs between 1975 and 1999 is consultable online on the Museum’s website.
Information about the Modena Civic Art Museum
Viale Vittorio Veneto, 5,
41121 Modena (Modena)
0592033100
museo.arte@comune.modena.it
https://www.comune.modena.it/museoarte
Source: MIBACT
