A debate has erupted over the Uffizi’s decision to exhibit an iconic Caravaggio painting at one of the world’s biggest wine fairs.
of Caravaggio Bacchus (circa 1598) will be presented at the Vinitaly fair in Verona this spring as part of the government’s efforts to promote the country’s huge wine industry. Art and heritage campaign group Mi Riconosci called the plans “absurd” and “unacceptable”, arguing that government rules prohibit the painting from leaving the museum.
In an agreement between the Offices and the Italian Ministries of Culture and Agriculture, the Bacchuswhich shows a reclining boy with vines in his hair, will be exhibited in an as yet undetermined location at the Vinitaly wine fair alongside Guido Reni Bacchus boy (circa 1630-1640), another work belonging to the Florence Museum. Running from April 2-5 and expected to attract around 4,000 wine producers, the show is a flagship of the Italian wine industry which generated 7.4 billion euros in exports in 2022, making wine the biggest export from Italy last year. The Uffizi Gallery is paid for both loans.
However, Mi Riconosci argues in an article published on his website that the loan does not comply with Ministry of Culture guidelines published in 2008 outlining the circumstances in which loans from state museums can take place, adding that the work appears in a “List of real estate works”. published by the Offices in September 2022.
Last month, the National Archaeological Museum of Naples loaned two first-century bronzes to fashion house Bottega Veneta for a fashion show in Milan, notes Mi Riconosci. “We are once again faced with an embarrassing episode in which priceless pieces of our fragile heritage are instrumentalized,” the band says.
Fabrizio Morettli, a member of the Uffizi scientific committee, expressed bewilderment that the work was on loan for a “commercial” rather than an “intellectual” cause, while University of Bari archaeologist Giulio Volpe , said he was “absolutely not against such operations, even if they may seem commercial”, Fatto Quotidiano reports. The Offices website, meanwhile, says that while “immovable” works cannot be exported overseas, it does not rule out domestic loans. The museum was contacted by The arts journal and declined to comment.
The government introduced the wine fair as part of its objection to the European Commission’s decision in January to give Ireland the green light to display health warning labels on containers of alcoholic beverages, including wine bottles. Unveiling Vinitaly’s plans last week, said Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida Wine news the Uffizi paintings would help combat “counter-information” as part of Italy’s “wine defence”. “We want […] show how wine has been an integral part of our culture for centuries,” he said.
