Viewers recording the Mona Lisa on their mobile phones on April 26, 2019 (Photographed by Long Fan)

CHONGQING (CQNEWS) -- Michelangelo's sculpture Knife Grinder of Lanfrench and Raphael's oil painting Assumption of Mary… “Mona Lisa's Smile & Three Renaissance Masters - Collections of the Bellini Family”, the largest exhibition of Renaissance treasures in Chongqing, opened at the Chongqing Art Museum on April 26, 2019. More than 100 influential works of art created during the period of Italian Renaissance have come to the doorsteps of citizens.

This special exhibition is divided into three parts: Immortal works: Genealogy of Renaissance Masters; Family Inheritance: History of Collections of Bellini Family; Art and Culture: Humanistic Spirit of the Renaissance. The art treasures on display are inherited from the collections of 21 generations of the Bellini Family of Italy through 600 years.

The 500-year-old Mona Lisa is most popular.

“Italy and China are two fascinating ancient civilizations, and this special exhibition is a wonderful meet between them,” said Luigi Bellini, director of the Bellini Museum in Italy and the 21st generation of the Bellini family, "I brought my family's treasures from Florence to Chongqing and put them on display in the Chongqing Art Museum for the public to appreciate. The museum has become my home in Chongqing, and it’s a warm place for me.”

The oil painting Mona Lisa, widely believed to be the work of Bernardino Louis (Leonardo Da Vinci’s student) and not the one in the Louvre, is displayed at the entrance of the exhibition hall.

As one of the most famous figure paintings in the history of Western Art, Mona Lisa has attracted worldwide attention and affection, said Shen Qibin, director of the Shanghai Himalayas Museum. According to the Radiocarbon Dating method, the Mona Lisa and the authentic one in Louvre, both date from the 16th century and are about 500 years old. The two works are extremely valuable since they are almost identical in style and technique.

Works of Michelangelo and his teacher are on display at the same time.

In December 2018, a bronze replica of Michelangelo's David sculpture arrived from Italy and stayed at the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute. And now, the public can enjoy his origin sculpture work in the special exhibition.

Michelangelo's Knife Grinder of Lanfrench, of 111 centimeters tall, is displayed on a stand nearly 1 meter high. The toes and face of the work have been mutilated, but the strong muscle lines of the Knife Sharpener and the beauty of vitality filled in the human body are still impressive.

According to Shen Qibin, the Knife Grinder of Lanfrench is believed to be Michelangelo's copy of an ancient Roman sculpture, originally created in the first century BC. The Knife Sharpener is a slave image. The ordinary sandstone material is closer to the character image and more humanized.”

Diagonally opposite, there is arched oil painting of Domenico Killandayo, the teacher of Michelangelo, Assumption of Mary. The 230cm high and 160cm wide oil painting is first exhibited in China after a two-year restoration before being exhibited in Chongqing.

The Assumption of Mary created in 1494, is regarded as the treasure of the Bellini Museum. Why is it so precise? That’s because you can see signs composed of M, 4 C, 1 L, 4 X, 1 I (ancient Greek Numbers) in the lower part of the original works. "They respectively represent the Arabic numerals 1000, 100, 50, 10, 1, and they add up to exactly 1494." Shen said.

To feel the serene beauty of Raphael's work

Both Raphael and Michelangelo are among the "three maters of the Renaissance". Different from Michelangelo who is keen on expressing the sense of power, Raphael pursues the beauty of tranquility. This can be felt in Raphael’s Assumption of Mar” displayed on the exhibition.

The Assumption of Mary is 41 centimeters high and 31.5 centimeters wide, with simple pictures and soft colors. In the painting, Mary is holding the son, with solemn expression and elegant temperament. Her child is looking at the audience with deep eyes. It is known that Raphael painted as many as 50 Madonna images in his short life. The image of the Virgin Mary under his hands was a synonym for beauty in the Renaissance period and became a portrait in the Renaissance era.

Some scholars pointed out that Raphael reduced the color, composition and clothing to the extreme, making people feel the "noble simplicity and quiet greatness". (Translated by Luo Juan, Fathom Language Limited)