The exhibition Roma en México/México en Roma: las academias de arte entre Europa y el Nuevo Mundo (1843–1867) presents the academic and artistic exchange between Italy and Mexico through 93 nineteenth-century works. It focuses on the relations between the Accademia de San Luca and the Academia de San Carlos, and presents the results of an extensive research project by Professor Stefano Cracolici, Director of the Zurbarán Centre for Spanish and Latin American Art at Durham University, and Professor Giovanna Capitelli, of the Università della Calabria in Italy.
Roma en México/México en Roma is divided in eight sections: La fábrica del prestigio discusses Rome’s legitimising power; Obras de viaje is dedicated to the import of exemplary paintings and sculptures from Rome to Mexico; Dramatis personae presents the portrait as the most sought-after genre in the period; Virtud de los clásicos focuses on the importance of Greek and Latin literature in inspiring iconographies; La riqueza del pueblo is a display of works after the live model; La escuela del paisaje includes landscapes by the Hungarian painter Károly Markó El Viejo, among others; La internacional del arte sacro contains religious paintings by students of the Academia de San Carlos; El espectáculo de la historia concludes the exhibition with major historical works.
The show foregrounds works by Mexican artists, from the lesser-known Tomás Pérez, Primitivo Miranda, Tiburcio Sánchez and Epitacio Calvo, to better-known personalities such as Juan Cordero. Francesco Coghetti, Francesco Podesti and Giovanni Silvagni are examples of Roman painters whose works arrived in Mexico and were used to illustrate the art of painting to students of the Academia.
A major publication by Campisano Editore accompanies the exhibition, acting as both an exhibition catalogue and a scholarly introduction to this under-researched topic.
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