The International Art Gallery was initiated in 2011 and its current location in Venosa, Basilicata, was opened in February 2015. As a private museum experience, the Gallery is situated in the heart of the old centre of the small town ‒ behind the square named after the renowned Latin poet Quinto Oratio Flacco, halfway between the stately Pirro del Balzo Castle and the elegant Sant’Andrea’s Cathedral.
Occupying the two piani nobili of the seventeenth-century Palazzo Rapolla, the expository space consists of two sections: on the first floor, the Sacred Art section features a permanent exhibition of the Ertico Collection including etchings, lithographies, Byzantine icons, rare serigraphs, ancient manuscripts, relics and artefacts expressing popular piety. In particular, the collection comprises the valuable Byzantine icons of the Cretan school, painted in the monastery of Lepanto and added to the collection as a world exclusive, together with those made by the argentine Master Gustavo Luis Costanzo. Pieces of art dating back to the end of the XIX century enrich the collection: ivories from Equatorial Africa, ebony artefacts as examples of the sub-Saharan animistic and propitiatory art, lost-wax casted bronzes from Continental Africa.
The section on the second floor is dedicated to Contemporary art. Every three months, it houses solo and collective painting and sculpture exhibitions of important national and international artists. Furthermore, great attention is given to the most gifted emerging artists.
Over time, Porta Coeli International Art Gallery has specialized in artistic curatorship services. A broad-skilled staff supports the artists from training to artistic research, from layout to communication, from event planning to the publication of catalogues.
The “Genesis” project, featuring ten artists at the XI edition of Florence Biennale 2017, stems from the experience gained in seven years and the constant passion supporting Porta Coeli’s activity.
Occupying the two piani nobili of the seventeenth-century Palazzo Rapolla, the expository space consists of two sections: on the first floor, the Sacred Art section features a permanent exhibition of the Ertico Collection including etchings, lithographies, Byzantine icons, rare serigraphs, ancient manuscripts, relics and artefacts expressing popular piety. In particular, the collection comprises the valuable Byzantine icons of the Cretan school, painted in the monastery of Lepanto and added to the collection as a world exclusive, together with those made by the argentine Master Gustavo Luis Costanzo. Pieces of art dating back to the end of the XIX century enrich the collection: ivories from Equatorial Africa, ebony artefacts as examples of the sub-Saharan animistic and propitiatory art, lost-wax casted bronzes from Continental Africa.
The section on the second floor is dedicated to Contemporary art. Every three months, it houses solo and collective painting and sculpture exhibitions of important national and international artists. Furthermore, great attention is given to the most gifted emerging artists.
Over time, Porta Coeli International Art Gallery has specialized in artistic curatorship services. A broad-skilled staff supports the artists from training to artistic research, from layout to communication, from event planning to the publication of catalogues.
The “Genesis” project, featuring ten artists at the XI edition of Florence Biennale 2017, stems from the experience gained in seven years and the constant passion supporting Porta Coeli’s activity.
