Gioacchino Assereto, Guardian Angel
This week, as part of my re-display project, I held a series of audience consultations within the Baroque Galleries. The aim was to learn how visitors perceive the 17th Century paintings and what they felt could enhance their visit. I used ‘The Curation Game’ as a way of finding out this information in a fun and interactive way. ‘The Curation Game’ invited members of the public to choose works from the collection and create their own mini-display in a mock-up of the Gallery space. They could then choose interpretation and write a little blurb about their hang. I found it to be a really fruitful exercise, as people were more relaxed and open than with a traditional Q&A audience survey and the quality of information we obtained was very high. Visitors would happily chat about their choices and many became really involved in the activity, taking the time to make sure their display was perfect. I’m currently in the process of writing an evaluation for ‘The Curation Game’: trying to figure out what my findings mean and how this will impact my re-display. It is already clear, however, that people are drawn to specific works. One work that people kept choosing again and again was The Guardian Angel by the Genoese artist Gioacchino Assereto.
The Guardian Angel shows an angel sheltering a young boy with its left arm. Traditionally, the painting was thought to represent the story of Tobias and the Angel: Tobias was sent by his blind father to collect a debt; the Archangel Raphael accompanied Tobias and instructed him to extract the heart, liver and gall from a fish to heal his father’s blindness. The Guardian Angel is unlikely to depict this story, since Tobias was a man and this painting shows a young boy holding a book, not a fish. Instead, it is more likely to be an allegorical painting about morality and the choice between good and evil. At the bottom left, behind the boy, is the devil lurking in the darkness. By contrast, the right side of the picture is bathed in light, and the angel points to God the Father and Jesus Christ seated in heaven at the top right corner. The angel guides the young buy away from evil and into the light. The book in the boy’s hand perhaps represents the key to his salvation: the bible.
It is an incredibly beautiful work, with drapery and polished surfaces used to create a striking result. Assereto painted The Guardian Angel when he was quite young, and was still working under the influence of the Bolognese artist Giulio Cesare Procaccini (who visited Genoa in 1618, and left a number of works in the city). This is evidenced foremost in Assereto’s use of theatrical lighting effects within the painting.
Given its height and brilliant colours, The Guardian Angel is a really impressive painting. However, its large size means that it is competing for space with many of our other star works. Because of this, I had previously left it out of my hang, something which I have now re-considered in light of ‘The Curation Game’. As ever, your thoughts on the painting and the display are welcome!
Birmingham Baroque 