Le 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 on the initiative of Count Pietro Guarini, standard-bearer of the city, the paintings and frescoes detached from the Municipal Residence and the Cathedral were combined in the Palazzo della Missione, seat of the Civic Library, with subsequent additions due to purchases promoted by the municipal administration. In 1845 the first two rooms were opened, the Print Gallery and the Drawing Room; the following year it was the turn of the Tapestries and Palmezzano rooms. Considerable increases were determined by the donations of Guarini himself and Melchiorre Missirini, friend and biographer of Canova. Transferred in 1922 to the Old Hospital, built in the 18th century to a design by Giuseppe Merenda, it was divided into the Ebe rooms, the famous sculpture by Canova recently transferred to the San Domenico complex, the Monuments, Forlivesi, Portraits, Pestapepe and Primitives rooms. In 1935 the art gallery expanded with new environments: the Paolucci room, with sculptures by Wildt and the ceramics corridor. In 1938 the exhibition on Melozzo and 15th century Romagna painting prompted a rearrangement of the exhibition route. In the same year the Piancastelli donation arrived, including a large library, a substantial collection of Romagna school paintings from the 15th and 16th centuries, with works by Innocenzo da Imola, Palmezzano, Luca Longhi, Bagnacavallo and Bertucci. In 1961, the entrance of the Pedriali picture gallery brought the art gallery a core of twenty-eight paintings, among which stand out a painting by the French 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) was the time of the donation of the Verzocchi collection consisting of about 70 works by contemporary Italian artists inspired by the theme of work; among these, works by Moreni, Morlotti, Afro, Santomaso, Birolli, Capogrossi, Turcato, Carrà, Casorati, de Chirico, Depero, Sironi, Rosai, Soffici and de Pisis stand out. Further additions were made with the engravings and oils by Morandi from the Righini bequest (1964); the modern section is mainly composed of Romagna works from the 19th century and contemporary, including Lega, Wildt, Drei, Savorana, Vinzio, Ugonia, Angeloni, Giacomelli, Capogrossi Servolini, Vedova, Magnavacca, Campi, Vinea. As regards exhibitions related to the contemporary world, the works of the Undostudio group (Andrea Francia, Andrea Mandalari, Roberto Fabbri), Maurizio Battaglia and Tommaso Zavatti for “Gemine Muse” 2003 are remembered, 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 “Twentieth Century Revealed” exhibition project.
Information about the Civic Art Gallery “Melozzo degli Ambrogi”
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
