Gonzalo Sanchez
Naples (Italy) (EFE).- At the beginning of the 16th century, Naples lost its independence to join the Crown of Spain. However, after the war, it became a prosperous agora to which many Hispanic artists made a pilgrimage to soak up the Renaissance and masterpieces such as Raphael’s “The Virgin of the Fish”, which today returns to the walls of the Capodimonte Museum, four hundred years old. after.
“This is a great identity operation that exalts our historical roots”, celebrated the Italian Minister of Culture, Gennaro Sangiuliano, at the presentation of the exhibition “The Spaniards in Naples-The Southern Renaissance”, before the Spanish Ambassador to Italy, Miguel Ángel Fernández-Palacio, and the director of El Prado in Madrid, Miguel Falomir Faus, among other authorities.
a common past
The words “bond” or “roots” were constantly repeated on the spot as Naples is the “most Spanish” city in Italy after a dominance that lasted for more than two centuries (a legacy that Neapolitans actually still boast about). .
Precisely the exhibition of the Museo y Real Bosco de Capodimonte, in collaboration with the Madrid institution, extols that link with Italy of the great Spanish painters and sculptors who traveled to this Mediterranean city in search of inspiration.
And among these, the Spanish “Renaissance Eagles” stand out: Pedro Machuca, Alonso Berruguete, Diego de Siloe and Bartolomé Ordóñez, who perfected their techniques passionate about the advances of great geniuses such as Leonardo Da Vinci, Miguel Ángel or Rafael.
drums of war
In this consecration of the Italian Renaissance, Naples, an ancient town nestled between the Mediterranean and a volcano, played an important role as it belonged to Spain, due to its past in the Crown of Aragon.
However, for this to happen, a long struggle between the Catholic Monarchs and the France of Charles VIII, who were fighting over this important port, had to be resolved first.
After years of war, the Spanish troops, led by the Great Captain, Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, conquered the square and allowed Fernando El Católico to parade his triumph in 1506.
The Spanish presence would last until the 18th century, but it immediately gave birth to a period of three decades of great artistic and creative effervescence, as a bridge between both Mediterranean shores.
As a prelude to this peculiarity, the work that receives the visitor is the “Adoration of the Magi” that the painter Marco Cardisio made around 1520 and in which the Catholic monarch and his grandson and future emperor Carlos can be seen in Bethlehem.
The Virgin of the fish
At that time, one of the most beloved works in the city was “La Virgen del pez” (1512), the only canvas that Raphael painted for a Neapolitan parish and that indelibly marked the creative and technical dimension of the Parthenopean artists.
On the canvas, the Virgin holds the Child on her lap accompanied by a Saint Jerome who reads the Bible that he translated into Latin and by the archangel Gabriel and Tobias, who has in his hand a fish that -with the permission of the Scriptures- evokes this place of fishermen.
The master Rafael made it for the chapel of Santa Rosalía of the Monastery of San Doménico in Naples, and preparatory sketches are preserved in the Uffizi in Florence, but in 1645 it was bought by Felipe IV and sent to the Spanish El Escorial, to finally end up in custody, to this day, in the Prado Museum.
Now the painting returns to Naples to exhibit the color and beauty of its strokes. “It is a unique masterpiece that Neapolitans will admire again in the next three months”, celebrated the Spanish ambassador at the opening of the exhibition last Monday, open until June 25.
Domination or integration?
At the ceremony, the governor of the Campania region, Vincenzo De Luca, stressed that this collection “confirms the deep bond between Naples, Italy and Spain” delving into those years of Hispanic “domination”.
“Naples has known many periods of foreign domination but in all seasons of its history, even when it was dominated, it produced art and culture,” said the regional president.
Subsequently, the minister took the floor to qualify these words, without explicitly referring to De Luca.
“I do not use the term domination but integration because those who studied the legal institutions of that time know the weight of Naples in the Spanish monarchy. More than domination, it was an integration, almost a monarchy with a double head, in Madrid and Naples ”, he pointed out.
In any case, the relationship between Italian and Spanish artists was forever entwined.
A phrase by Michelangelo attests to this: “I affirm that no nation or people, except one or two Spaniards, can perfectly adopt and imitate the Italian way of painting, which is that of ancient Greece.”