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The "Pictures and Scents of Caravaggio"
Project From 3 to 20 November an exhibition and aromatic installation devoted to Caravaggio in the Hermitage is open in the Italian Cabinets. One of the world's largest museums, this absolute masterpiece in the fine art world combines with the nine olfactory gradations, which are like a scale of notes, in an unbreakable alliance. The components to this unique event are the museum, the artist and a promoter of the senses. The Hermitage is an extremely creative and dynamic museum. Caravaggio's painting The Lute-Player is the very essence of flowers and light. And Laura Tonatto has for many years been resolutely fighting to compel us to take in the aromas of the world around us. One may say that the exhibition is an important event in the eternal struggle of those in favor of innovation against the obstacles advanced by our senses. This event became possible thanks to the patronage and financial support provided by the Region of Piedmont, the General Consulate of Italy in St Petersburg and the St Petersburg Branch of the Italian Institute of Culture. Of all the five senses, smell is the one that forces us to have contact with reality in the closest and innermost manner. What we experience by way of touch and vision is processed by our rational consciousness, whereas the olfactory sense very often remains with us only on a subconscious level. A deafening beauty and secret which inebriates the mind are combined. Meanings and emotions are magnified. The organizers of this unique, attractive and mysterious exhibition were guided by the desire to give back to the olfactory sense its role of primary importance. The selection of the given painting for that purpose was not an arbitrary one. The Hermitage's Lute-Player by Caravaggio picks a tune on his lute, the madrigal You Know That I Love You by Jacoba Arcadelta, and the sounds of the music are accompanied by aromas emanating from the flowers in a pitcher and from a variety of Mediterranean fruit which appear to be very attractive. This multi-sensory masterpiece acts on all five senses: sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell. There is an aroma to the painting. This smell was decoded by Laura Tonatto's "nose" and was described by art historian Alessandra Marini. The aroma took material shape four centuries after the invention of Caravaggio. In order to enable visitors to sense this aroma, museum director Mikhail Piotrovsky permitted the setting up of an olfactory installation near the painting - a first in the history of the Hermitage. In the room where The Lute-Player is displayed, for a period of two weeks one may once again sniff the aromas of flowers and fruits which inspired olfactory sensations in Caravaggio. Opposite the painting a plexiglass console with nine cylindrical vessels has been installed. The vessels contain nine aromatic essences: six are floral (iris, camomile, jasmine, orange leaf, sweetbrier and damask rose) and three are fruits (fig, plum and pear). The tenth scent, which has been placed in the center of a projection of The Lute-Player on the surface of a table, gives the final aroma named "Caravaggio." A brochure in three languages (Italian, Russian and English) contains an essay by Maurizio Marini, one of the great specialists on Caravaggio; an article by S.N. Vsevolozhskaya, senior researcher of the Hermitage and curator of 17th century Italian painting; and an explanation of both the composition of the bouquet and the symbolic meaning of the essences written by the creators of the installation, Laura Tonatto and Alessandra Marini. |
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Copyright © 2011 State Hermitage Museum |
