“Exhibition “Venice: Canaletto and his rivals” at the National Art Gallery in Washington “

The exhibition " Venice: Canaletto and his rivals" ( 20 February to 30 May 2011) at the National Art Gallery in Washington, one of the most prestigious museums in the United States, is one of the most important events during the celebrations for the 150th anniversary of Italian Unification, and Bracco Foundation decided to support this very important project dedicated to a unique artistic period in the history of Italian painting.The exhibition is structured by subjects: the most significant places in Venice – Piazza San Marco and its basin, the Grand Canal along with the Church of Santa Maria della Salute, the Rialto Bridge, the lagoon – will be shown in interpretations by several artists in order to underline the different and "unique" visions of each of them, with the common aim of portraying reality as they saw it.Alongside historical sites, suggestions of atmosphere and skilful use of the chisel to portray with the knowing hand both the animated and frenetic life and the monumental architectural beauties of the city, the exhibition is a meeting point and superimposition of art and science that uncovers a close relationship between the pictorial art of the “Vedutisti” and the use of the camera oscura.The Italian Embassy scheduled a program of events celebrating Italy during the three months of the exhibition, in collaboration with the National Art Gallery, including a series of Venetian baroque music concerts and a film festival presenting italian neorealism and films related to the Risorgimento.The exhibition represents the second stage of collaboration between Bracco Group and the prestigious National Art Gallery of Washington, after the 2006 exhibition "Bellini, Giorgione, Tiziano and the Renaissance of Venetian Painting".