Genoa
Visual arts

Genoese painters active in the 14th century include Barnaba da Modena and his local followers Nicolò da Voltri and at the same time, the sculptor Giovanni Pisano reached Genoa to make the monument for Margaret of Brabant, whose remains are today housed in the Museum of Sant'Agostino.

In the 16th century along with the flourishing trade between the Republic of Genoa and Flanders also grew the cultural exchanges. The painters Lucas and Cornelis de Wael lived in Genoa for a long time, where they played the role of a magnet for many Flemish painters like Jaan Roos, Giacomo Legi, Jan Matsys, Andries van Eertvelt and Vincent Malo.

This creative environment also attracted the two most important Flemish painters, Rubens and Van Dyck, who along with Bernardo Strozzi. gave life to the Genoese Painting School of the 17th century.

Much of the city's art is found in its churches and palaces, where there are numerous Renaissance, Baroque and Rococo frescos. They are rich in works of art the Cathedral, the Chiesa del Gesù e dei Santi Ambrogio e Andrea where The Circumcision and the " Miracles of St. Ignatius " by Rubens, the Assunzione della Vergine by Guido Reni. The Church of San Donato contains works of Barnaba da Modena, Nicolò da Voltri and Joos van Cleve, the Church of Santo Stefano The Stoning of St. Stephen by Giulio Romano and the Church of Santa Maria Assunta the sculptures by Filippo Parodi and Pierre Puget, very interesting is the Santa Maria di Castello. But most of the works are kept in the Palaces like Palazzo Bianco where " Ecce Homo " by Caravaggio, " Susannah and the Elders " by Veronese, and the Garden Party in Albaro by Magnasco are kept, Palazzo Rosso with the Portrait of Anton Giulio Brignole-Sale by van Dyck, Cleopatra morente by Guercino and works of Dürer, Bernardo Strozzi, Mattia Preti, Veronese; Palazzo Spinola di Pellicceria where the " Portrait of Giovanni Carlo Doria on Horseback " by Rubens and Ecce Homo by Antonello da Messina (see also the series of Ecce Homo by Antonello da Messina) are kept, Palazzo Tursi with the Penitent Magdalene by Canova, and Palazzo Reale which contains works of Strozzi, Gaulli, Tintoretto, van Dyck, Simon Vouet, Guercino.

The most important Genoese painters are: Luca Cambiaso, Bernardo and Valerio Castello, Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione, Domenico and Paolo Gerolamo Piola, Gregorio De Ferrari, Bernardo Strozzi, Giovanni Battista Gaulli and Alessandro Magnasco. Sculptors include Filippo Parodi, the wood sculptor Anton Maria Maragliano, Francesco Maria Schiaffino and Agostino Carlini who was member of the Royal Academy.

The famous humanist author, architect, poet and philosopher Leon Battista Alberti was born in Genoa on 14 February 1404. Simonetta Vespucci, considered the most beautiful woman of her time, was also born in Genoa. She is portrayed in The Birth of Venus and Primavera by Sandro Botticelli and in Portrait of Simonetta Vespucci by Piero di Cosimo.

Genoa is also famous for its numerous tapestries, which decorated the city's many salons. Whilst the patrician palaces and villas in the city were and still are austere and majestic, the interiors tended to be luxurious and elaborate, often full of tapestries, many of which were Flemish. Famous is the Genoese lace called with its name of Turkish origin macramè. Very used in Genoa is the cobblestone called Risseu and a kind of azulejo called laggioni.

Genoa has been likened by many to a Mediterranean New York, perhaps for its high houses that in the Middle Ages were the equivalent of today's skyscrapers, perhaps for the sea route Genoa-New York which in past centuries has been travelled by millions of emigrants. The architect Renzo Picasso in his visionary designs reinforces this strange affinity between the two cities.

In the Monumental Cemetery of Staglieno, you can admire some magnificent sculpture of the 19th century and early 20th century like Monteverde Angel by Giulio Monteverde, or works by artists such as Augusto Rivalta, Leonardo Bistolfi, Edoardo Alfieri, Santo Varni.

Amongst the most notable Genoese painters of the 19th century and of the first half of the 20th century are Tammar Luxoro, Ernesto Rayper, Rubaldo Merello, and Antonio Giuseppe Santagata. The sculptor Francesco Messina also grew up in Genoa.

In 1967 the Genoese historian, critic and curator Germano Celant coined the term Arte Povera. Enrico Accatino was another important art theorist and Emanuele Luzzati was the production designer and illustrator like Lorenzo Mongiardino, also a production designer and architect. Two other important artists are Emilio Scanavino and Vanessa Beecroft.

The yearly International Cartoonists Exhibition was founded in 1972 in Rapallo, near Genoa. A notable figure is the illustrator and comics artist Giovan Battista Carpi.
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