Interdisciplinary Regional Museum of Messina

The Interdisciplinary Regional Museum of Messina (Italian - Museo regionale interdisciplinare di Messina[1]) is a museum of painting, sculpture and archaeology in the city of Messina. Until 2017 it was housed in the former Barbera-Mellinghoff silk-mill, a late 19th century building chosen for it after the 1908 Messina earthquake. Since 2017 it has been housed in a nearby complex designed in the 1970s.

The main entrance

History

Origins
Antonello da Messina, Madonna of the Rosary

The first nucleus for the museum's collection came with various private collections of conservative taste. First opened in 1806 as the Museo civico peloritano by the Reale Accademia Peloritana "to end the despoliation of art", its formation was the idea of its first director Carmelo La Farina. It housed the Alojsio, Arenaprimo, Ciancialo, Grosso-Cacopardo and Carmisino family collections as well as a collection of 14th to 18th century paintings owned by the city's senate, which also part-funded its running costs.

It was initially based on via Rovere, near the Archivio degli atti notarili, before being moved to former university buildings, then (after its massive expansion from the collections of religious corporations suppressed by the 1866 liquidation laws) in 1884 to a building on via Peculio Frumentario and from 1891 to 1908 to the former monastery of San Gregorio.


Earthquake and recovery

The rebuilding plans were cut short by the 1908 earthquake, in which the museum collapsed and some artworks were lost.

Post-war restoration
Pelican lectern of the Renan school, 16th century

1970s plans

In 1977 responsibility for the museum passed to the Regione Siciliana and it took on its present name. In 1984 it was rearranged chronologically.[2]

Basile-Manganaro plan
Antonello da Messina, Madonna and Child and Pieta

Collections

The museum illustrates the course of figurative art in Messina from the 12th to 18th centuries, including paintings, sculptures and decorative art in chronological sequence. Their artists include Antonello da Messina, Mattia Preti, Caravaggio, Girolamo Alibrandi, Vincenzo Catena, Annibale Carracci and Francesco Laurana.

From the precious cathedral treasury come the 'flowering branch' in gold, enamel, pearls and emeralds from a late 17th century goldsmith in the city, though only the early 14th and 17th century Sicilian jewels from the two crowns of the sacred images are displayed.

Paintings

Caravaggio

Antonello da Messina

Colijn de Coter

  • Deposition

Mattia Preti

  • Madonna of the Letter

Mario Minniti

  • The Widow of Nain
  • Beheading of St John the Baptist
  • Circumcision of Christ
  • Madonna of the Rosary

Antonello de Saliba

  • Madonna with Jasmine
  • St Dominica
  • St Catherine of Alexandria

Girolamo Alibrandi

  • Last Judgement

Alessandro Allori

  • Madonna dell'Itria (Our Lady of the Way)

Letterio Subba

The Goddess Calypso Welcoming Telemachus

Cupid and Psyche

Orion, Founder of Messina The Nymphs Lapizia and Fetusa Receiving the First Hare Killed by Orion

Foundation of the Compagnia dei verdi

L'Addolorata

Mary Magdalene at Christ's Feet

Nativity of the Virgin

Embassy of the citizens of Messina to the Virgin Mary

Matthias Stomer

Mucius Scaevola in the Presence of Lars Porsena

Adoration of the Shepherds

Sculptures

Antonello Gagini

  • Aedicula
  • Madonna and Child
  • Madonna of the Angels

Giovanni Angelo Montorsoli

  • Holy Trinity
  • Fontana del Nettuno (original)

Francesco Laurana

  • Madonna and Child

Goro di Gregorio

  • Madonna degli Storpi (Madonna of the Cripples)

Rinaldo Bonanno

  • Marchesi-Barresi funerary monument

Antonello Freri

  • Balsamo monument

Martino Montanini

Victory or Peace and Bravery

  • Annunciation
  • Madonna and Child, Francesco Laurana
  • Madonna and Child, Antonello Gagini
  • Madonna degli storpi, Goro di Gregorio
  • Faith
  • Hope
  • Stylophorus Lion
  • Pelican lectern, 16th century
  • Marchesi-Barresi funerary monument, Rinaldo Bonanno
  • Sarcophagus of Luca I Archimandrita, 1175
  • Holy Trinity, Montorsoli
  • Balsamo monument
  • Francesca Lanza Cybo funerary monument
  • Praying Virgin

References
  1. "Museo Regionale - Cenni storici". Archived from the original on 2011-11-16.
  2. BBCC Regione Siciliana

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.