Let’s speak about the Art Gallery of Conversano, which still preserves some pieces of the magnificent heritage collected from the Acquaviva dinasty over the centuries: an artistic treasure that included paintings, sculptures, tapestries, antique furniture, silverware, glassware and especially the famous pictorial cycle “la Gerusalemme liberata“ by Paolo Finoglio, a 17th century Neapolitan artist.
Most of this treasure was taken away by the Acquavivas during the 1800s when they left the Castle of Conversano and came back to their palaces in Naples, so the castle was gradually almost abandoned and sold to private owners.
The same fate befell to the works of Finoglio, which were repurchased from the City of Conversano in the late ’70s, brought back to town and replaced in the ancient Gallery of the Counts in the castle.
The 10 paintings realized by Finoglio are inspired by the poem of Torquato Tasso “la Gerusalemme liberata“ and they tell the heroic and romantic gestures of some characters during the First Crusade in the Holy Land.
The artist tries to emphasize not only the brave acts of the protagonists but also their emotions, and he does it using a play of lights and chiaroscuro effects focusing the attention exactly on the highlight and showing the drama and the intensity of the moment.
A pictorial technique, so dear to the Baroque art, that is able to make an image alive through a contrast of light and shade, in a mix of suggestion and emotional connection.
viaggieitinerari... in Puglia by Valeria Dicarlo 