Two Socratic scenes

Under the programme PTM Return, the Tosio Martinengo Art Gallery of Brescia presents the exhibition Two Socratic scenes by John Baptist Gigola. This project transforms departures of loaned works into arrivals of new guest works, offering the public the opportunity to rediscover the permanent collection through new perspectives. The exhibition, curated by Fernando Mazzoccais promoted by the Municipality of Brescia, from Brescia Musei Foundation and by Culture Alliancein collaboration with theAteneo di Scienze, Lettere e Arti di Brescia.

The two works on display, usually kept in storage, date back to Gigola's formative period during his stay in Rome in the last years of the 18th century. In this context, the Brescian artist came into contact with the most avant-garde circles and academies, absorbing the stimuli that would influence his future artistic experiments.

The first miniature depicts the Agathon's Convitewith Alcibiades crowning Socratesinspired by a design by Asmus Jacob Carstens. The second represents Socrates scolding Alcibiades caught in the gynaeceuma classical subject widespread in the art of the time. Both works are characterised by saturated colours and glazed tones, enhancing the volumes of the figures. These features reflect Gigola's interest in the ancient technique of encaustic, a subject of debate among artists and scholars in the Roman context of the time.

On the occasion of the exhibition, the two miniatures were restored by Licia Zorzella, Carla Valzelli and Elisabetta Mosconirestoring their original colour brilliance.