The spirit and the body. 1550-1650.

A whole range of human society - nobles and aristocrats, illuminated members of the bourgeoisie, merchants introduced into high society, intellectuals, artists, men of culture and representatives of the academic world "€“ all these are the protagonists of this exhibition. Their portraits have been selected from about 70 paintings and etchings, some housed in the City Museums and others in private collections. They reveal the social framework of a particularly important age and a taste in artistic works, evoking encounters, relationships, meetings, friendships, and links between artists and their models. There are also some new attributions, and some paintings which have never been displayed to the public before.

Titian, Tintoretto, the Bassano family, Campagnola, Apollodoro, Montemezzano, Padovanino, Damini, Chiara Varotari and Tiberio Tinelli are only some of the painters whose works are represented here. They were all greatly interested in developing portrait painting - that expressive form which reached its apex in the great tradition of the Veneto in the hundred years between the mid-XVI and mid-XVII centuries.
This exhibition focuses on paintings of famous and important persons in Padua or on works by artists who flourished in the city in the hundred years covered. It shows a fascinating array of different approaches and the various techniques required by portrait painting.

Musei Civici agli Eremitani
Piazza Eremitani 8
February 28 "€“ July 15 2009





Information:
City Museums, Piazza Eremitani 8
tel. +39 049 8204551
fax +39 049 8204585
Open all year: 09:00 - 19:00
Closed: Mondays (unless public holidays), January 1, May 1, December 25 and 26.
The Scrovegni Chapel is open, even on Mondays.
Tickets: full price for all Museums, Scrovegni Chapel, Multimedial Room and Palazzo Zuckermann: 12.00 euro; Museums, Multimedial Room and Palazzo Zuckermann: 10.00 euro; reduced price: 8.00 euro; special reduced price: 5.00 euro; children up to the age of 6 and disabled persons: free of charge.
N.B. Advance bookings are required to visit the Scrovegni Chapel: book on Telerete Nordest +39 049 2010020, Mon-Fri 09:00-19:00, Sat 09:00-18:00, or on-line: http:www.cappelladegliscrovegni.it.

To reach Palazzo Zuckermann, City Museums and Scrovegni Chapel:
from train station: buses 3, 10, 12; Sundays and holidays: buses 32, 42.
by car and coach: motorway exit Padova Est, parking at Fiera (Fair): shuttle bus service from Via Tommaseo to centre of city; or motorway exits Padova Sud and Padova Ovest, parking in Prato della Valle, with shuttle bus service to centre of town, Via Valeri (off Via Trieste), Piazza Insurrezione.

Cumulative tickets - PadovaCard, PadovaMusei Carta Famiglia (for families) and PadovaMusei Tutto l'Anno - are also available, enabling visitors to see several other monuments in Padova at special prices. Tel: +39 049 8767911.