Privredna Banka Zagreb d d : The exhibition Venetian vedute from the Intesa Sanpaolo Art Collection opened at the Museum of Arts and Crafts

Zagreb, 25 September 2017 - The exhibition Venetian vedutefrom the Intesa SanpaoloArt Collection has had its gala opening at the Museum of Arts and Crafts. The paintings of Canaletto, Guardi, Marieschi and van Lint have arrived from the Gallerie d'Italia - Palazzo Leoni Montanari, one of the most beautiful baroque palaces in Vicenza. These four artworks will be exhibited until 29 October 2017 in the permanent exhibition halls of the Museum of Arts and Crafts, intended precisely for baroque, thus extending the Baroque Summer project at the MUO with the first days of autumn.

Thanks to the many years of its partnership with Privredna banka Zagreb, a member of the Intesa Sanpaolo Group, the Museum of Arts and Crafts rounds up the presentation of great names in the painting of the Italian baroque from Caravaggio, Guercino, Tiepolo, Piazzetta, Marco and Sebastiano Ricci to Canaletto and Guardi with this exhibition in a most beautiful way.

The exhibition was opened by Mr. Milan Bandić, Mayor of Zagreb while welcoming addresses were held by: Mr. Miroslav Gašparović, Director of the Museum of Arts and Crafts, Mr. Božo Prka, President of the Management Board of Privredna banka Zagreb, Mr. Gian Maria Gros-Pietro, President of Intesa Sanpaolo and Mr. Ivica Poljičak, State Secretary in the Ministry of Culture.

The exhibition presents achievements in painting by four superb vedute artists, masters of this genre coming from the Gallerie d'Italia - Palazzo Leoni Montanari in Vicenza.

This is a magnificent collection of Venetian baroque paintings, which, besides the paintings presented to the Zagreb audience also keeps the masterworks of Tiepolo, Pietro Longhi and other great names of the time, as well as fascinating collections of vases from ancient Greece and Russian icons. These collections and the baroque Leoni Montanari palace are only a part of Progetto Cultura - a large cultural project of Intesa Sanpaolo, within which, apart from the gallery in Vicenza, there is the gallery in Milan presenting the nineteenth- and twentieth-century Italian works, and that in Naples, where the last Caravaggio's masterpiece The Martyrdom of St. Ursula is exhibited, as well as the artworks from the South of Italy created between seventeenth and twentieth centuries.

Gian Maria Gros-Pietro, President of Intesa Sanpaolo, on the occasion of his first visit to Croatia and the opening of the exhibition, emphasized: 'I am extremely proud to bring four artworks, which are part of the Intesa Sanpaolo's art collections, to the Museum of Arts and Crafts in Zagreb from Palazzo Leoni Montanari in Vicenza. Intesa Sanpaolo operates in countries rich of culture and heritage and believes that cultural activities are a way to foster friendship across communities; investing in culture encourages social progress and supports economic growth'.

Božo Prka, President of the Management Board of PBZ, said: We are proud that Privredna banka Zagreb (PBZ) as a member of the Intesa Sanpaolo Group, together with the Museum of Arts and Crafts, our partner of many years in numerous projects, has participated in the organization of this exhibition that is of special significance for us. It is to be emphasized that the initiative for the exhibition of these artworks from the Intesa Sanpaolo Art Collection came from prof. Gian Maria Gros-Pietro personally, the President of Intesa Sanpaolo, who in this way wishes to culturally mark his first visit to Croatia bringing to Zagreb also a part of the Italian cultural heritage. We have embraced this praiseworthy initiative with great enthusiasm together with the Museum of Arts and Crafts and we believe that this is the beginning of a new form of cooperation in continuing to present Italian art and culture to our domestic public.

Since art has such special power to connect people in the best possible way, the cultural event that we are witnessing today will most certainly contribute to the further development and promotion of the already excellent relations between our two countries - Italy and Croatia.