Ringling Exhibition Explores Intriguing Italian Baroque Portrait
The Ringling’s newest exhibition explores the art world in seventeenth-century Bologna through this portrait by renowned Italian Baroque painter Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri). The exhibition delves into the fascinating life of the portrait’s subject, Fra Bonaventura Bisi, who was a Franciscan friar, a painter, engraver, and art dealer.
Image: Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri), Italian, 1591 – 1666, Portrait of Fra Bonaventura Bisi, ca. 1658 – 1659, Oil on canvas, SN11531, Museum purchase, 2015, Collection of The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art.
Nearly eight years ago, The Ringling acquired an extraordinary painting by one of the celebrities of Italian Baroque art: the Portrait of Fra Bonaventura Bisi by the artist known as Guercino (1591–1666). Since its arrival at The Ringling, the portrait’s subject, a man dressed in a religious habit and wearing a gold hoop earring, has been a source of intrigue for museum visitors: why is this friar wearing an earring? And why does he point to a stack of drawings? These questions and more are answered in The Ringling’s newest exhibition, Guercino’s Friar with A Gold Earring: Fra Bonaventura Bisi, Painter and Art Dealer, which offers an unprecedented study of the painting by delving into Bisi’s life. The exhibition is on view at The Ringling from October 14, 2023, to January 7, 2024, in the museum’s Searing Wing.
Immortalized to history by Guercino’s portrait, the fascinating Fra Bonaventura Bisi (1601–1659) was a Franciscan Minor Conventual friar from Bologna who was also an artist, art dealer, and connoisseur-adviser. The Ringling’s exhibition sheds light on Fra Bisi’s robust artistic activity through an extensive display of paintings, drawings, prints, and rare books. Many of the objects are on loan from museums, libraries, and private collections in Italy and the United States. The loans are displayed in conjunction with objects from The Ringling’s permanent collection of Baroque art, bringing together a selection of rare and exquisite works from this period of Italian art history.
Nicknamed “Il Pittorino” (“little painter” in Italian), Fra Bisi was celebrated for his miniatures painted in tempera on parchment, in which he often reproduced, at tiny scale, famous compositions by Italian masters such as Parmigianino, Guido Reni, Pordenone, Correggio, and Raphael. Three exceptional miniatures painted by Bisi himself are featured in the exhibition, lent by the Galleria Estense in Modena, Italy.
Image: Fra Bonaventura Bisi, Bolognese, 1601–1659, Angel Appearing to St. Jerome, 1625 – 1659, Tempera on parchment, Galleria Estense, Modena, Italy; inv. R.C.G.E. 1372, Courtesy of the Ministry of Culture - Photographic Archive of the Gallerie Estensi.
Among his other identities, Fra Bisi was celebrated as a painter of miniatures, often reproducing, at tiny scale, famous compositions by Italian masters. Bisi’s fame as a miniature painter during his lifetime was significant. Queen Christina of Sweden visited Bisi and requested one of his works, and the Bolognese writer Luigi Manzini composed a lengthy poem, published in 1654, about Bisi’s technique. Three exceptional miniatures painted by Bisi are featured in the exhibition, on loan from the Galleria Estense in Modena, Italy.
Of even greater consequence for the history of art was Fra Bisi’s work as an art dealer and adviser. He successfully procured sought-after drawings for some of the most important collectors of his day: two successive Dukes of Modena and Prince (later Cardinal) Leopoldo de’ Medici in Florence. Several drawings Bisi acquired for these princely patrons are included in the exhibition, providing visitors a rare chance for in-person study of these fragile works. The exhibition also explores Bisi’s early artistic training, his close relationships with Guercino and other Bolognese artists and intellectuals, his work as a printmaker, and his passionate efforts to promote the appreciation and collecting of drawings as an art form.
More than four years in the making, the exhibition is based on extensive research and is the result of a scholarly collaboration between Dr. David M. Stone, Guest Curator and Professor Emeritus at the University of Delaware, and Dr. Sarah Cartwright, Ulla. R. Searing Curator of Collections at The Ringling. The exhibition is accompanied by a 144-page richly illustrated book presenting their research. Stone’s chapters focus on Guercino’s portrait and Bisi’s career as an artist and agent. Cartwright’s chapters provide an account of the fashion of men wearing earrings during this period and put Bisi’s miniature painting into a broader historical context.
Fra Bisi was successful and influential as an art dealer and adviser. He successfully procured sought-after drawings for some of the most important collectors of his day: two successive Dukes of Modena, Francesco I d’Este and his son, Alfonso IV; and Prince (later Cardinal) Leopoldo de’ Medici in Florence. Bisi’s own passion for drawings motivated him to find the highest quality works for his patrons, contributing to the appreciation of drawings as works of art worthy of being collected at the highest levels. A selection of rare drawings from the period, including this one from The Ringling’s collection, are included in the exhibition.
Image: Luca Cambiaso, Italian, 1527 – 1585, Sebastian with the Madonna and Child, Sts. Mark and John the Baptist, ca. 1560 – 1583, Pen and brown ink with brush and brown wash, SN958, Museum purchase, 1977, Collection of The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art.
More than four years in the making, the exhibition is based on extensive research and is the result of a scholarly collaboration between Dr. David M. Stone, Guest Curator and Professor Emeritus at the University of Delaware, and Dr. Sarah Cartwright, Ulla. R. Searing Curator of Collections at The Ringling. The exhibition is accompanied by a 144-page richly illustrated book presenting their research. Stone’s chapters focus on Guercino’s portrait and Bisi’s career as an artist and agent. Cartwright’s chapters provide an account of the fashion of men wearing earrings during this period and put Bisi’s miniature painting into a broader historical context. Additional information about the exhibition and related public programming, including a lecture by Dr. Stone, is available online at ringling.org.