“It’s the most valuable painting ever shown at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery,” says Leo Schofield AM, Hobart Baroque’s Artist Director, “a canvas by the great French artist Eugène Delacroix, a Romantic painter who had a profound influence on the Impressionists.
“The subject of Angelica comforting the wounded Medoro is taken from the great 16th century epic poem
Orlando Furioso by the Renaissance poet, Ludovico Ariosto,” says Mr Schofield.
“It is the very same work that also inspired Handel to write his opera Orlando, so it has a very special
reference to the centrepiece of this year’s Hobart Baroque.”
The painting is in the collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, which has kindly agreed to lend it as a
special attraction during Hobart Baroque 2014.
But getting it to Hobart has presented challenges. Because of its value it has to travel in a specially constructed
crate and with a special courier.
The size of the crate means it will not fit on a passenger plane to Hobart, so a direct flight from Sydney is not an
option. It can fly to Melbourne on a passenger flight, but it then has to go on the freight plane to Hobart. This plane
leaves at 4am, so not only is there an increase in tarmac supervision costs for an additional airport, but the transfer
will be after hours.
The painting will be unveiled jointly by the Governor of Tasmania, The Honourable Peter Underwood AC and the
Governor of New South Wales, Her Excellency Professor The Honourable Marie Bashir AC CVO, and will be on display
at the Opening Night party at TMAG after the first performance of Orlando on Friday 28 March – Saturday 5 April 2014.
Hobart Baroque’s production of Orlando comes from the Glimmerglass Festival in New York and has also been
staged at the Lincoln Centre in New York in NYC to rave reviews. Hobart Baroque will stage four performances
of Orlando at the Theatre Royal between 28 March and 4 April.
Also in Hobart Baroque, as part of a series of free public talks, Dr Franceso Borghesi, an internationally renowned
scholar and Senior Lecturer at Sydney University will speak on the huge impact Ariosto’s poem had on artists in all
fields of music, painting and literature. This will take place at noon on Wednesday 2 April, also at the Theatre Royal.
To view more details about the painting by Delacroix, head to:
www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/443.1996/
Hobart Baroque
