MAR in inglese

Arturo Raffaldini

pittore

a cura di Elena Stendardi

la Mostra

La Mostra è inserita nelle Giornate Europee del Patrimonio

Con la collaborazione di

Amici di Palazzo Te

e dei Musei Mantovani

Mantova Arte Contemporanea

Con il patrocinio di

Arturo Raffaldini is the protagonist of the exhibition to be held from September 23 to November 24 in Mantua, in the prestigious church of Santa Maria della Vittoria. On the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of his death, the exhibition aims to illustrate the artistic career of the painter and restorer of Mantua and presents some works, mostly unpublished, owned by his heirs or from private collections.
Born in Mantua in 1899, Raffaldini studied at the Brera Academy in Milan, showing an early talent especially as a portraitist. At the age of eighteen he was awarded with the Hayez prize, set up by the Academy of Brera, of which he would eventually become an honorary member in 1921.

Besides his activity as a painter, from 1927 to 1935 he was in charge in the building site in Mantua for the restauration of Palazzo Ducale. He supervised the work on the non-historiated walls of Mantegna's "Camera degli Sposi" and of the "Galleria della Mostra".

As a restorer he continued even during the Second World War with almost incredible performances, such as the rescue, in 1944, of the fresco by Piero della Francesca by detaching it from the walls of the Malatesta Temple in Rimini under the threat of bombing.

In 1947 Raffaldini moved to Florence, restauration had become his main activity and his reputation caused quite a stir also in the international art scene. In this sense, the exhibition is also a valuable opportunity to study, for the first time in a systematic way, his person and career, through the contributions of Daniela Sogliani, who sets out the work of Raffaldini in the Palazzo Ducale in Mantua, and of the curator of the exhibition, Elena Stendardi, who traces his well-organised activities in the rest of Italy, from Trent to Bologna, Ferrara and Naples.

When in Florence, after a short illness, on January 24, 1962 Raffaldini passed away. In 1965, a retrospective was held in Mantua, and necessarily, from then on, his exhibitions became very rare. Thus, in February 1990, some of his works were displayed at the exhibition "Collezionismo mantovano: dall’800 sino ad oggi", which was held in Mantua. In 1992 in Medole, his work "Paesaggio", which is part of the civic collection, was presented at the exhibition "Cento anni di pittura mantovana 1895-1985". Finally, his oil on wood "Borgo di montagna" was exposed at the exhibition "Arte a Mantova 1900-1950", held in Palazzo Te from September 1999 to January 2000.

Thanks to the helpfulness of the "Associazione Amici di Palazzo Te" and of the Mantuan Museums, the exhibition will be a valuable opportunity to have an overall view on Raffaldini as a painter and, at the same time, to offer a new contribution to the articulated interpretation of mantuan painting of the first half of the last century, which is increasingly deepening in recent years, in a process of conscious and fascinating historical and artistic value.