Gaetano Previati

Bottegantica Gallery, Milan. A rediscovered masterpiece

I rarely happen to be completely enraptured by a work of art at first sight, but this happened to me with "The Kiss", an extraordinary masterpiece by Gaetano Previati dated 1889-1892.

At our "first meeting" the painting was erroneously hanging horizontally, perhaps because its custodians had been misled by the then difficult to discern image, hidden beneath decades of dust and layers of varnish.

Despite the paintings condition, I was immediately captivated by the fascinating figures portrayed and their graceful pose, the extraordinary painting technique and the unmistakable light of the great master of Ferrara. Even the back of the painting was incredible; rich in stamps and labels that told of its exhibition history, from a 1902 show in Milan at Alberto Grubicy's gallery to an exhibit in Paris in 1907 where it was displayed under the title "Juliet and Romeo". In 1928 it was exhibited at the Biennale of Venice and in 1937 at the Italian art exhibition in Berlin. I could tell that the painting was covered with years of dirt and had suffered some clumsy cleaning work, but I imagined what it must have looked like when it was created.

I thought to myself: This is a masterpiece, and it must be brought back to Italy without delay.

We hope you will agree that we have succeeded with our intent: to give back to our country a milestone of Italian art of the XIX century, while at the same time giving back care and attention to the painting itself, through a careful and scrupulous conservation efforts, the work now glows with its original splendour.

I thank Bottegantica for the inexhaustible research work, the tireless and precise Valerio Mazzetti Rossi and Tommaso Carletti, for the precise and precious diagnostics, Fabio Frezzato and Gianluca Poldi, and finally Arianna Splendore and Francesca Lorusso for having brought the painting back to an aspect the as close as possible to the original colors and lights created by Gaetano Previati.