Media

The Consulate General of Italy in Hong Kong and Macau, the Italian Cultural Institute and the University Museum and Art Gallery (UMAG) of the University of Hong Kong are honoured to present to the public one of Italy’s “national treasures” - Venus (ca. 1482) by Florentine Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli (1445–1510).

Sandro Botticelli, patronized by noble families including the Medici, was a master in the Italian High Renaissance, a period of rebirth of Antiquity, when artistic works were characterised by technical mastery, heroic composition and humanistic content.

Among Botticelli’s masterpieces is a collection of unique Venus paintings one of which, a treasure from the celebrated Galleria Sabauda in Turin, will be on view in Hong Kong for the first time.  The exhibition will be held at UMAG from October 18th through December 15th, 2013.

An iconic image of the high artistic achievement of the Renaissance (14th–16th centuries), Botticelli’s Venus was a carefully executed tempera painting on wood that exemplifies the sophisticated stylistic and humanist values which Renaissance is celebrated for.  Depicted in the nude by Botticelli, the goddess Venus, a symbol of love, beauty, fertility and prosperity in Greco-Roman mythology, embodies the ideal art form in illuminating the verisimilitude and beauty of the human condition.

A comprehensive public outreach programme is being designed by UMAG to welcome this true sensation to Hong Kong to enchant and to educate interested members of our community, collectors and scholars, and students from local and international schools.  Lectures, workshops and seminars will be organised at the museum for the public; and classes, in collaboration with two Italian scholars in HKU’s Fine Arts department, will be held for other schools’ students to learn, teach and exchange art-historical and cultural knowledge.

Deeply inspired by the art of her country and committed to raise the cultural profile of Italy in Hong Kong, Ms. Alessandra Schiavo, Consul General of Italy in Hong Kong and Macau, who proposed this initiative, says:  “…[this] magnificent exhibition… allows the general public to get acquainted with and appreciate first-hand Italy’s rich cultural roots. Not only is Botticelli’s Venus a timeless and beautiful gift to humankind, but also the culmination of Italian Renaissance ideals from which stemmed the cultural and economic rebirth of a whole European continent.”

Eager to present more international art in Hong Kong, Dr. Florian Knothe, Director of UMAG, cherishes this opportunity to work with the Italian Consulate in Hong Kong and shows gratitude for Ms Pansy Ho’s generous support: “Our fruitful collaboration allows us to present this unique masterpiece to local students and museum visitors and to communicate the cultural values and philanthropic and artistic achievements of the Renaissance”

Passionate about art, culture and history, Ms. Pansy Ho is the Patron of the “Sandro Botticelli’s Venus” exhibition and the driving force behind the project. “This exhibition will undoubtedly give the Hong Kong audience a glimpse of the High Renaissance style in painting, yet another opportunity to appreciate the magnificent Italian artistic culture.  It will also cement Hong Kong as a venue where globally-influential European art is appreciated, interpreted and studied,” says Ms. Ho.

To mark the special occasion, an opening ceremony and a cocktail reception will be held prior to the exhibition. Details of public lectures and seminars as well as the outreach programmes to schools will also be announced soon.