Guido Reni (1575–1642), Bacchus and Ariadne, ca. 1614-16. Oil on canvas, 96,5 × 86,4 cm,Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Photo: © Museum Associates / LACMA

Frankfurt am Main - With a large-scale exhibition opening to the public on 23 November 2022, the Städel Museum is rediscovering the former star painter of the Italian Baroque: Guido Reni (1575–1642). In his day, Reni was one of the most successful and celebrated painters in all of Europe, coveted by the most important patrons, including the Borghese Pope Paul V, the Duke of Mantua, and the Queen of England. Hardly appreciated in the nineteenth century due to other aesthetic preferences and later relegated to second place by the one-sided concentration on his temporary rival Caravaggio, he no longer holds the place he deserves in the public consciousness.

For the first time in over thirty years, the Städel Museum, in cooperation with the Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid, is bringing together more than 130 of his fascinating paintings, drawings, and prints and thus offering a new perspective on Guido Reni. The painter was deeply religious and also superstitious, tremendously successful and hopelessly addicted to gambling, as one contemporary biography authoritatively informs us. Even during his lifetime, Reni was given the honourable epithet Il divino (“The Divine”) – this refers to his fame as an artist star who, aware of his skills, occasionally behaved like a diva. However, “The Divine” also refers to his themes: Reni is the painter of the divine par excellence. He had a profound effect on the religious iconography of European art and, like no-one else before or since, gave visual form to the beauty of the divine – be it the Christian kingdom of heaven or the world of the ancient gods. The enormous impact of his art is reflected in the countless variations of his depictions of the heads of Christ and Mary, with their upturned faces and heavenward gaze, reproductions of which still circulate widely today as picture pull-outs in Roman Catholic prayer books. Indeed, this unparalleled imitative reception history only served to tarnish Reni’s image, obscuring the actual qualities and other fascinating aspects of his art.

In addition to major works from the Städel Museum’s collection, such as the pivotal early copper panel Assumption of the Virgin (c. 1598/99) and the recently restored Christ at the Column (c. 1604), the exhibition features spectacular works from over 60 international museums and private collections, including the Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid, the Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna, the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, LACMA and the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Louvre in Paris. Added to this comes a string of newly discovered and never-before-exhibited works by the artist. Interspersed throughout this survey of Guido’s art are select images by the role models and contemporaries who influenced his practice (Raphael, Parmigianino, and Annibale Carracci, for instance) as well as rare historical documents, such as Reni’s revealing account book for the years 1609–1612.

CURATOR: Dr Bastian Eclercy (Head of Italian, French and Spanish Paintings before 1800, Städel Museum)

23 November 2022 to 5 March 2023

Guido Reni (1575–1642), Assumption of the Virgin, ca. 1598/99. Oil on copper, 58 x 44,4 cm, Frankfurt, Städel Museum. Photo: Städel Museum.

Guido Reni (1575–1642), Christ at the Column, ca. 1604. Oil on canvas, 192,7 x 109 cm (without additions), Frankfurt, Städel Museum. Photo: Städel Museum.

Guido Reni (1575–1642), Hippomenes and Atalanta, ca. 1615–18 Oil on canvas, 193 × 272 cm (later extended state 206 × 279 cm), Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado. Photo: Archivo Fotográfico Museo Nacional del Prado (José Baztán y Alberto Otero)

Guido Reni (1575–1642), David with the Head of Goliath, ca. 1605/06. Oil on canvas, 228 x 163 cm, Orléans, Musée des Beaux-Arts. Photo: © Orléans, Musée des Beaux-Arts.

Guido Reni (1575–1642), Conversion of Saul, ca. 1616–19. Oil on canvas, 222 x 160 cm, Real Monasterio San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Patrimonio Nacional. Photo Patrimonio Nacional, Real Monasterio San Lorenzo de El Escorial, 10033839

Guido Reni (1575–1642), Immaculate Conception, 1627, ol on canvas, 268 x 185,4 cm. New York, The Metroolitan Museum of Art. Photo The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

Guido Reni (1575–1642), Penitent Magdalene, ca. 1635, oil on canvas, 90 x 74,3 cm. Baltimore, The Walters Art Gallery. Photo The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore.

Guido Reni (1575–1642), Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife, ca. 1630, oil on canvas, 126.4 × 169.5 cm. Los Angeles, The J. Paul Getty Museum. Photo The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles.

Guido Reni (1575–1642), Head Study for Christ, 1620. Red chalk on paper, 34,4 × 26,7 cm, Windsor, Windsor Castle, Royal Collection Trust © His Majesty King Charles III 2022

Guido Reni (1575–1642), Study for Apollo in the Aurora Fresco, 1612-14. Red chalk on paper, 26.0 x 23.4 cm, Windsor, Windsor Castle, Royal Collection Trust © His Majesty King Charles III 2022