The "Giotto, l'Italia" exhibition will end the six-month Expo in Milan and draw the attention of cosmopolitan Expo visitors to the seminal artist of the Italian figurative culture. Giotto was Dante Alighieri's alter ego in the visual arts. This project features a number of absolute masterpieces, none previously exhibited in Milan and never seen all together in one exhibition.
The works on show most notably include the Stefaneschi triptych, which served as an altarpiece for the main altar of St Peter’s in the Vatican, a polyptych from Bologna, conserved in the city’s picture gallery, and the Baroncelli polyptych, from Santa Croce In Florence, for the occasion reunited with a section that originally belonged to it and is now conserved in San Diego, California. The exhibition is in Palazzo Reale, Milan, which is where Giotto created his last work, now lost. The paintings in the exhibition are accompanied by a reconstruction of the Peruzzi Chapel in the Basilica of Santa Croce, Florence, based on UV photographic records produced by the Opificio delle Pietre Dure. A virtual reconstruction was commissioned to Studio Azzurro, which also supplemented the exhibition route with virtual and technological effects.
Part one of the catalogue in two languages (Italian/English) presents a number of theme essays, a “narration” of the works in the exhibition, edited by leading Giotto experts and illustrated with fine specially produced details.
Part two explores the master’s techniques (painting on panel, mural) and places in Milan linked to the artist in an essay highlighting new discoveries after the recently terminated restoration of the Crucifixion in the church of San Gottardo.