The theft in 1902 of the panels of the Custody of Saint Eustace deprived Abruzzo art of an important piece in the reconstruction of 14th-century Central Italian painting, as well as the largest narrative cycle dedicated to the figure of the saint. After the theft, the work was cut into its component scenes and sold as “tablets” on the antiques market.
In 2022, thanks to the Ministry of Culture’s purchase of four tables on the antiques market, the National Museum of Abruzzo now has eight of the sixteen scenes telling the story of Saint Eustace in its collections.
This important acquisition inspired the idea for an exhibition curated by Federica Zalabra and Cristiana Pasqualetti. Thanks in part to a generous loan from a private collection, the exhibition displays, for the first time since their dispersion, the thirteen tablets traced so far and, thanks to collaboration with the Diocese of Sulmona, the statue of the saint once preserved in the Custody. This is a crucial opportunity to study the still-anonymous Master of Campo di Giove and appreciate the original appearance of the Custody thanks to a virtual reconstruction based on existing documents.
The exhibition is accompanied by a virtual reconstruction of the Custody, an animated video telling children the story of Eustachio, an app for scientifically investigating the works through multispectral imaging, and three tactile panels for the blind, digitally modeled by Simone Rasetti, thanks to a collaboration with the Academy of Fine Arts of L’Aquila.
To enhance the visitor experience and facilitate access to the exhibition, educational panels and extensive captions in Italian and English have been installed. These are also available online in audio format, accessible via the QR code.
To accompany the exhibition, the National Museum of Abruzzo is publishing “The Master of Campo di Giove. Recomposing a Masterpiece,” the first volume in the “Notes from MuNDA” series, which collects the studies and research conducted on the exhibited works, as well as two essays by the curators. A wide selection of images invites further exploration of the exhibition’s theme.
Catalog
The Master of Campo di Giove. Recomposing a Masterpiece
by Federica Zalabra and Cristiana Pasqualetti
Publisher: “L’Erma” di Bretschneider
2023, 124 pp.
Paperback, 20 x 24 cm
ISBN: 9788891328427
Available from May 22nd in bookstores and online
