Italian painting returns to Bucks County Museum after world tour

Melanie Czapski, Bucks County Museum Curator of Art, with 'A Scene from the Risorgimento’ by Italian artist Gerolamo Induno.

The fabulous painting ‘ A Scene from the Risorgimento’ by Italian artist Gerolamo Induno in 1865 has been returned to Bucks County Museum after over three years of worldwide travel where it was seen by thousands of visitors.

The painting was borrowed in 2017 by the Victoria & Albert Museum in London for their ‘Opera: Passion, Power and Politics’ exhibition.

This exhibition then went on tour to Muscat in Oman and Madrid and Barcelona in Spain. Sadly the final two venues in Venice, Italy and Moscow, Russia were cancelled due to Covid-19.

The exhibition presented a vivid story of opera from its origins in late-Renaissance Italy to the present day.

It was an immersive experience, looking at seven opera premieres in seven European cities, and showing how the creation of a new opera reflected social, political, artistic and economic themes.

The Induno painting illustrated the political scene in Milan at the time of the opening of Verdi’s Nabucco in 1842. The vivid narrative depicts a moment of suspense as three women sitting sewing an Italian tricolore are interrupted by a sound at the door.

Bucks County Museum was delighted to be involved with this prestigious exhibition tour.