NGA curator sheds light on Venetian exhibit 'This is a show about personalities as much as it is a show about art.' David Alan Brown Curator of Italian Paintings at The National Gallery of Art in Washington

July 27, 2006 1:30 am

By MEGAN PARRY

For THE FREE LANCE-STAR

With thanks to the director of the Fredericksburg Athenaeum, Paul Lewis, and two patrons of that organization, dealers in fine art Joel Fletcher and John Copenhaver, this art history graduate had the opportunity to sit down with David Alan Brown, curator of the National Gallery of Art's permanent Italian painting collection. The discussion revolved around what he, as the curator of the current NGA exhibit "Bellini, Giorgione, Titian, and the Renaissance of Venetian Painting," found most gratifying, important and challenging about this recent endeavor.

Parry: What do you hope the public will take from seeing the show?

Brown: While it is obvious that above all else, I want people to be able to appreciate and understand the intrinsic beauty of the works on their own, I also want the works as one collective whole to tell a story of how a group of artists, in their own slice of time, were influenced, envied and challenged by one another.

Parry: Why did you decide to group the works together by theme rather than by artist?

Brown: I have always tried to be innovative when I put a show together and [with] these artists, who often worked closely with one another and who were constantly trying to outdo one another, grouping the works by artist would have greatly diminished the impact of these issues that we were trying to emphasize. This is a show about personalities as much as it is a show about art.

Parry: As a curator, which part of the exhibit are you most exited about?

Brown: I think the climax of the show is the pairing side by side of Bellini's "Feast of the Gods" and Titian's "Bacchanal." The two are often compared to one another and this is a rare opportunity for people to see these two great works in person rather than in a book.

Signed catalogs of the "Bellini, Giorgione, Titian, and the Renaissance of Venetian Painting" exhibit are available at the The Wounded Bookshop, 109 Amelia St., Fredericksburg.