Il non finito: fra poetica e tecnica esecutiva

The Picture Gallery of the Capitoline Museums presents the exhibition The Unfinished: Between Poetics and Technique, a journey dedicated to the creative process and the aesthetic value of incompletion. The exhibition invites visitors to step “behind the scenes” of the work of art, where the artist’s gesture is interrupted, transformed or rethought. Through non-invasive diagnostic investigations, pentimenti, alterations and technical choices that usually remain invisible are brought to light.

The works on display have undergone a programme of scientific analysis – including infrared reflectography, radiography, multispectral imaging and spectroscopy – enabling the reconstruction of the different stages of execution. Among the most significant case studies are Christ and the Adulteress by Jacopo Palma il Vecchio and The Blessed Soul by Guido Reni, both marked by profound compositional revisions.

The exhibition is curated by Costanza Barbieri and Claudio Seccaroni and developed as part of the European project EAR – Enacting Artistic Research. The project offers a fresh interpretation of selected unfinished paintings from the Capitoline Pinacoteca, conveying the sense of works still in progress, as if the artist were about to resume work at any moment.

The exhibition route opens with multimedia installations introducing the investigative methodologies adopted by the research team, with the aim of “showing the artwork as it happens.”

In Room II, the theme of the unfinished is explored through a comparison between a painting by Garofalo and a related work from the Galleria Cantore in Modena, supported by interactive digital tools that allow visitors to follow the progress of the work.

In Room III, Christ and the Adulteress by Palma il Vecchio represents a complex case study, as the painting was left unfinished at the artist’s death and later partially repainted. Diagnostic images reveal the changes made over time and the areas deliberately left unresolved.

The core of the exhibition is Room VI, entirely dedicated to Guido Reni, which houses the largest group of unfinished works in the Pinacoteca. Here, visitors can trace the working phases of paintings such as Silvio, Dorinda and Linco and The Blessed Soul, for which the preparatory oil sketch is exceptionally preserved. A comparison with a preparatory drawing for a Crucifix suggests a possible shared origin of the figures, while a 3D reconstruction of The Blessed Soul ensures accessibility for visitors with visual impairments.

The exhibition concludes with a selection of macro photographs highlighting the energy of Guido Reni’s brushwork, rapid and richly textured. The Unfinished: Between Poetics and Technique thus offers a rare opportunity to understand the artistic process through tools usually reserved for conservation, recognising the unfinished as a central concept in the history of art and in the active relationship between artwork and viewer.

Cover image: Guido Reni, Silvio, Dorinda and Linco (Allegory of Rejected Love)