The Renaissance masterpiece, recently acquired by the Ministry of Culture, becomes a permanent collection of the National Museum of Abruzzo in L’Aquila.
The official presentation and inauguration were attended by Minister Alessandro Giuli, President of the Abruzzo Region Marco Marsilio, and Mayor of L’Aquila Pierluigi Biondi.
The initiative was attended by Alfonsina Russo, Head of the Cultural Heritage Development Department, Massimo Osanna, Director General of Museums, Federica Zalabra, Director of MuNDA, and Luigi Oliva, Director of the ICR.
In the year in which L’Aquila celebrates its title as Italian Capital of Culture, the National Museum of Abruzzo (MuNDA) welcomes Antonello da Messina’s Ecce Homo into its collections. This extraordinary fifteenth-century masterpiece, recently acquired by the Ministry of Culture, finds its permanent home in the sixteenth-century castle, which was recently restored to public use as the home of the Museum.
The opisthograph panel, featuring a vivid Antonellian interpretation of the Ecce Homo on the recto and a penitent Saint Jerome in a Northern European landscape on the verso, finds its permanent home at MuNDA, inaugurating a strategic journey that confirms the centrality of Abruzzo’s heritage within the National Museum System.
The work’s arrival was celebrated this afternoon with an official ceremony attended by the Minister of Culture, Alessandro Giuli. Also in attendance were the Mayor of L’Aquila, Pierluigi Biondi, the President of the Abruzzo Region, Marco Marsilio, the Director of the Museum, Federica Zalabra, the Director of the ICR, Luigi Oliva, and Minister Giuli. The unveiling of the work was preceded by a press preview attended by Mayor Biondi, the Head of the Department for the Promotion of Cultural Heritage, Alfonsina Russo, the Director General of Museums, Massimo Osanna, the Director of the Museum, Zalabra, and the Director of the ICR, Oliva.
To conclude the day, the National Museum of Abruzzo will open its doors to the public from 8:00 PM to midnight, with last admission at 11:00 PM, offering visitors the opportunity to admire Antonello da Messina’s Ecce Homo in its new home.
The painting arrives in L’Aquila after its first exhibition at the Senate of the Republic last March and following a campaign of conservation investigations and assessments conducted by the ICR.
