Matthias Stom. A Caravaggesque Painter in Lombardy’s Collections

This exhibition, the first ever in Italy devoted to the Flemish painter Matthias Stom and curated by Gianni Papi, presents the works by the seventeenth-century master historically preserved in Lombard collections – a master whose life, despite the quality of his paintings, remains largely shrouded in mystery.

The exhibition in Brescia can count on outstanding loans: four important masterpieces from a private collection in Bergamo (The Incredulity of Saint Thomas; Daedalus fastening the wings onto Icarus; Tobias Curing His Father’s Blindness; Christ among the Doctors); three major works from the Accademia Carrara, including two night-scenes, a genre for which the artist is best known; and a Saint John the Baptist from the parish church of Saints Bartholomew and Stephen.

The display also included the large Flavius Josephus Prophesying to Vespasian, from Santa Maria Assunta in Soncino (CR), and three works from Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo: The Incredulity of Saint Thomas and two previously unseen works, on loaned from a private collection in Brescia.

With the exception of the enormous altarpiece from Chiuduno depicting the Assumption of the Virgin, which is not included in the exhibition but that can be viewed in situ, the show presents the entire body of the artist’s work preserved in Lombardy, testifying to Stom’s remarkable popularity among collectors in this region.

Matthias Stom was probably born around 1600 in a town in southern Flanders, but there is no information about the date and place of his death.

His career can be divided in distinct phases, beginning in Antwerp and Utrecht and then continuing in Rome. Those in Rome were the most important and decisive years during which he developed a strongly realistic style, while remaining faithful to the Caravaggesque principles that he never abandoned. Between 1635 and 1638 he was in Naples and around 1640 in Palermo, where he produced an astonishing number of works of considerable size. In 1643, he was in Venice and is known to be still there in 1645. After that year, no further documentary traces of him are known.

The tour is included either in the purchase of the Biglietto Musei  or in the purchase of the Biglietto Integrato Musei.

Staying in Brescia is worthwhile!

For guests of HB Hotels (Hotel Vittoria, Hotel Regal, Hotel Leonessa, Hotel Master, Hotel Igea), Federalberghi (Hotel Al Poggio Verde, Hotel Ambasciatori) and Areadocks Boutique Hotel the entrance ticket is at a reduced rate upon presentation of the valid voucher issued by the hotel at the cash desk.

Summer opening hours (1 June – 30 September):

• Monday (except public holidays): Closed
• Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday: 10:00 – 19:00
• Last admission: 18:15

Winter opening hours (1 October – 31 May):

• Monday (except public holidays): Closed
• Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday: 10:00 – 18:00
• Last admission: 17:15