(toskanews) – The exhibition opened Ecce Homo by Antonello da Messina in the Senate; the work, recently acquired by the Italian State, was unveiled in a ceremony in the Chapter Room with the President of the Senate, Ignazio La Russa and the Minister of Culture, Alessandro Giuli.
Show Ecce Homo in the Senate: the social value of culture
«This is a truly important opportunity – said La Russa – returning to look at the work of Antonello da Messina with an important eye not only makes the single work more usable, but multiplies its importance, attention and usability. So it becomes an operation not only cultural, but also socialperhaps socioeconomic, because it is not true that culture does not produce wealth. If culture is spent well, if it is spent on things that deserve it, first of all it produces wealth of the spiritbut also material wealth as a side effect.”
Art as a bridge to the divine
The devotional image displayed, he explained, «corresponded to what today is a holy card… Back then it was a little more tiring, you had to bring a small picture, it doesn’t change art’s relationship with usbut above all – concluded La Russa – it does not change the man’s relationship with the divinethis necessity that it has, which represents the spirit, without which our life would be useless.”
Furthermore, addressing Minister Giuli, La Russa said: «I have heard that you are about to make another coup, a Caravaggio: look, we also want that one here in the Senate, we’ll put that one in the Garibaldi room, where no one can escape it…”.
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