The Villa Bassi Rathbeg Museum presents an exhibition entitled "Leonor Fini and the Bassi Rathbeg Graphic Collection. Signs and Inventions from the Renaissance to the Twentieth Century."
The exhibition, curated by Giovanni Bianchi, Raffaele Campion, Barbara Maria Savy, and Federica Stevanin, will open at the Villa Bassi Rathbeg Museum from November 22 to March 15, 2026, offering a journey through approximately five centuries, from the Renaissance to the second half of the 20th century. The exhibition includes, on the one hand, 55 graphic works from the Museum's collection, donated by Roberto Bassi Rathbeg's widow, Isabella Hübsch, and, on the other, a corpus of works recently donated by Ambassador Ugo Gabriele De Mohr, one of the most important donations to the Museum, including 24 graphic works by Leonor Fini, 14 paintings and drawings by Cesare Tallone and his son Guido.
The first part of the tour, in the evocative rooms of the hypogeum, is divided into seven thematic sections. Among the most valuable drawings are the "Study for the Little Sleeping Cupid," recently attributed to Bernardino Campi, master of Sofonisba Anguissola; the sheet with five greyhounds, signed by Giandomenico Tiepolo; two macabre skeleton capriccios by Paolo Vincenzo Bonomini; and two projects from the Russian period by Giacomo Quarenghi, a leading exponent of architectural drawing and an interpreter of Neoclassicism between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The tour continues with a scene from "The Brave" by Francesco Hayez, a leading exponent of Romanticism, based on the historical novel by James Fenimore Cooper; several landscapes by Giovanni Migliara and contemporary artists from the Lombardy area, much loved by Roberto Bassi Rathberg; and a section dedicated to the rich collection of etchings by the Dutch artist Adriaen van Ostade, a painter of vibrant genre scenes. And again, etchings based on drawings and paintings by Titian, Jacopo Bassano, Guercino, Giuseppe Zais, and Pietro Longhi; linked to the theme of water, so important to a place like Abano Terme, is Andrea Andreani's The Bath of the Nymphs, based on a woodcut by Ugo da Carpi based on an original drawing by Parmigianino.
The second part of the exhibition, set in the frescoed rooms on the main floor, is entirely dedicated to Leonor Fini and her 20th-century graphic works, 24 works on paper, including photolithographs and engravings. The artist, though close to the Surrealists, always remained independent of the dominant movements, drawing inspiration from Italian Mannerism, the Flemish Art, and German Romanticism.
Thanks to the collaboration with the Historical Archives of Contemporary Arts of the Venice Biennale, the exhibition also includes the original stage design for Orfeo, created by the artist for Roberto Lupi's one-act play presented in 1951 at the International Festival of Contemporary Music of the Biennale. A selection of photographs from the Biennale's own archives documents Leonor Fini's work as costume designer for the show.
