The Face and Space

The exhibition hosted at the San Martino Museum of Sacred Art by Alzano Lombardo and edited by Angelo Loda, Riccardo Panigada and Emiliano Tironi centres on the extraordinary painting depicting Giovan Battista Caniana and realised by Fra Galgario. The exhibition is further enriched by a refined selection of reproductions of the original drawings from Caniana, held at the Fantoni House Museum from Rovetta, which provide valuable insights into the designs for wooden furniture and the marquetry work of the Sacristies and the solutions devised for the Basilica, allowing visitors to immerse themselves fully in the artist’s creative process.

The painter Vittore Ghislandi, known as Fra Galgario, he developed a vision of the portrait characterised by a keen focus on the real world and a unique ability to capture its moods, making his unpretentious, candid works the centrepiece of his practice and establishing him as one of the leading figures of his era. On the other hand, Giovan Battista Caniana, born in A Roman from Lombardy in a family of marquetry artists, at a very young age he was awarded the prestigious commission to create the furnishings for the sacristies of the Basilica of St Martin, working closely with Andrea Fantoni. Having moved permanently to Alzano, he was extremely active as marquetry artist and subsequently as architect, gaining great fame. The famous portrait represents one of the finest achievements in the production of Fra Galgario, in which Caniana is depicted surrounded by the tools of his trade – such as a set square and drawing paper – as a proud shaper of space.