Stunning show of Barocci's work closes 19 May

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If you are in London over the next couple of weeks, 'Barocci' at the National Gallery is a must-see show.The colours are vibrant and the figures beautiful - in the 16th century people queued for days to see a single one of Barocci's works. Larry Silver reviewed the show for Cassone:

'Inexplicably, sometimes after decades of neglect, finally the ship comes in for a major artist.  When I was a student, Titian was a curious lacuna for scholars, but then his explosion was triggered by the three-volume catalogue of Harold Wethey and by the Wrightsman Lectures of Erwin Panofsky. Federico Barocci (c.1533/35–1612) would never be confused with Titian as a star in the art-historical firmament, but he is the star of this major one-man exhibition that opened at London’s National Gallery at the end of February (27 Feb – 19 May). 

'Neglect of Barocci is perhaps understandable owing to his in-between position, both geographically and historically.  He was active principally in Urbino in the last third of the 16th century and exported his large altarpieces not only to Rome and Genoa but also to nearby Perugia and Arezzo.  While he certainly participated in the major movements in Rome and Florence (as well as Venice, to a more limited extent) during the later 16th century, that period also marked a period of transition, defined today more by the eclectic ‘proto-Baroque’ of the Carracci brothers in Bologna (and later of Annibale Carracci in Rome) rather than by the dominant artistic movements of either Mannerism or Baroque (redefinitions of both are proceeding apace, however)...'

Read the rest of  Larry Silver's review and, if you can, try to catch the show before it closes on 19 May. For details of opening hours see the National Gallery's website