Images of the spirit

In a splendid and significant gesture to honour
its centenary, Banco Ambrosiano Veneto is exhibiting its collection of
13th- to 19th-century Russian icons – the only one of its kind – at the
Giorgio Cini Foundation. This decision is important for two reasons:
first, for the collection’s sheer wealth, quality and variety (attested
by the experts who selected the icons for the exhibition and
catalogue), and second, because it is the first time the collection is
being made public in Venice, a city that has always been the meeting
place for Eastern and Western European art and civilisation and which
hosts an extraordinary collection of Byzantine and Greek icons at the
Hellenic Institute. The choice of venue is also significant in that,
ever since its creation over forty years ago in the midst of the Cold
War, the Giorgio Cini Foundation has been an assiduous promoter of
cultural and religious exchange between the Latin and the Slavic
worlds. International gatherings at San Giorgio have addressed issues
such as the history of the ‘Lamentation’, the fraternal humanism of
Tolstoy, and the spiritual – as well as pictorial – icon of the
Athanasian redeemer of Eastern monasticism.

It is thus no wonder that Banco Ambrosiano Veneto has chosen to mount
Image of the spirit. Icons from Russia at the Giorgio Cini Foundation
on the Island of San Giorgio (the tradition of which dates back to the
Central European evangelist Gerard of almost a millennium ago). And it
is with enthusiastic and whole-hearted involvement, as well as with
deep gratitude for the vital support it has received for years from the
bank, that the Foundation welcomes the opportunity to include this
exhibition within its programme of annual figurative exhibitions of
international acclaim. The interest of visitors, of whom we hope there
will be many, in the artistic, iconographic, social, ethnographic and
historical aspects of the ‘Lamentation’ will be further quenched by the
international conference on ‘The world of and beyond the icon’ held in
conjunction with the exhibition. In keeping with the tradition
established by previous exhibitions, the vision of Russian iconographic
masterpieces will be thoroughly explored through interdisciplinary
analyses and studies. Special thanks to Banco Ambrosiano Veneto, in
particular to its president, Giovanni Bazoli, as well as to the experts
and organisers who have helped achieve this ‘Image of the spirit’.

Venice, Island of San Giorgio Maggiore
1 September – 15 December 1996

Information:
Institute of Art History
tel. +39 041 2710230
fax +39 041 5205842
e-mail: arte@cini.it