Don Giovanni nel deserto, 1990
GPO-0664
Don Giovanni in the Desert
Collage in gilt frame, brass telescope
Frame 50 x 50 cm
Present whereabouts unknown
A gilded frame features two glass sheets enclosing a colour reproduction of Domenico Veneziano's Saint John the Baptist in the Desert (1445-48). The frame is propped up against a brass telescope – where the two objects come in contact the image is pierced – so as to suggest a portrait frame. In the part of the image that shows the cloth that the saint lays down with his left hand Paolini inserted a circular fragment cut out of a sky chart where the planet Venus, the symbol of beauty, is visible, thus alluding to the exchange of identities between Saint John and Don Giovanni indicated in the title.
The same theme was also developed in two later versions, made in 1992 (GPO-0697, GPO-0699).
Domenico Veneziano, San Giovanni Battista nel deserto, 1445-50, oil on wood, 28.4 × 31.8 cm, National Gallery of Art, Washington.
| 1990 | Bari, Galleria Marilena Bonomo, Giulio Paolini, from 18 April. |
| • | Giulio Paolini. Il “Teatro” dell’opera, exhibition catalogue, Pesaro, Galleria Franca Mancini (Ravenna: Agenzia Editoriale Essegi, 1991), col. repr. p. 51 (exhibition view Bari 1990). |
| • | Italia 2000. Arte e sistema dell’Arte, edited by A. Bonito Oliva (Madrid-Milan: ARCO Madrid and Giampaolo Prearo Editore, 2000), col. repr. p. 36 (exhibition view Bari 1990). |
| • | Giulio Paolini. Premio Internazionale Koinè 2000 alla carriera, exhibition catalogue, Verona, Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea Palazzo Forti (Milan: Electa, 2001), repr. p. 58 (exhibition view Bari 1990). |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 2 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 664 p. 679, col. repr. |
| • | … but, where is Bari? Percorso nell'arte contemporanea. La Galleria Bonomo dal 1971 / A Journey in contemporary art. The Bonomo Gallery since 1971 (Turin: Umberto Allemandi & C., 2010), col. repr. p. 100 (exhibition view Bari 1990). |
