Collection
EN
MANUSCRIPTS
The main archival collections preserved at the Maldotti Library were described in 1934 by Aldo Cerlini from Novellara in the work Inventari dei Manoscritti delle Biblioteche d’Italia (Inventories of Manuscripts in Italian Libraries), published by Olschki and edited by Albano Sorbelli (vv. LXIII-LXIV). The most consulted is undoubtedly the Archivio Gonzaga (Gonzaga’s Archive) (97 items, 1495-1806), containing documents relating to the family that ruled Guastalla between the 16th and 18th centuries. The Fondo Cani (Cani’s Collection) (109 items, 1551-1872) contains documents that engineer Giulio Cesare Cani (1754-1834), nephew and executor of Marcantonio Maldotti, collected during his lifetime and professional career. The Fondo Davolio Marani (Davolio Marani’s Collection) (34 items, 1432-1847) takes its name from the person who, at the beginning of the 20th century, donated this collection of Gonzaga documents to the Maldotti Library: Bernardo Davolio Marani from Fabbrico (d. c. 1907), a scholar interested in historical memoirs and a politician. The Fondo Carlo Galvani (Carlo Galvani’s Collection) (1802-1869) (143 items, 1486-1868) consists of literary manuscripts, transcriptions of local memoirs, chronicles and weather reports from the past. Of particular note is a manuscript from 1486 entitled Itinerario al Santo Sepolcro (Itinerary to the Holy Sepulchre) by Antonio da Crema.
The Fondo Provenienze Varie (Miscellaneous Sources Collection) (48 items, 1191-1949) is extremely diverse, not only because of the origin of the documents, but also because of their dates and subjects. To cite a few examples, there is a parchment from 1191 in which Henry VI, son of Frederick I Barbarossa, refers to the lands of Guastalla. There is also a precious illuminated manuscript of Lucan’s Pharsalia dating back to the 15th century and annotated by two humanists. Also of considerable interest is a collection of autographs collected in the 19th century, including the signatures of Annibal Caro, Aldo Manuzio, Ludovico Antonio Muratori, Giambattista Bodoni, Silvio Pellico, Niccolò Tommaseo, Eleonora Duse, Giuseppe Verdi and many others (an autograph by Torquato Tasso is preserved in the aforementioned Archivio Gonzaga).
Aldo Cerlini also reorganised the Archivio Storico del Comune di Guastalla (Historical Archives of the Municipality of Guastalla) (669 items, 1491-1896), described in the Inventory of Municipal Papers and Archives of the Reggio Emilia area (Reggio Emilia, Tip. Moderna U. Costi, 1935) and preserved in Maldotti since the 1930s. After the comprehensive reorganisation carried out in 1934, the Maldotti Archive was enriched over time with new documents. In 1937, the Archivio Rufo Paralupi (Rufo Paralup’si Archive) (1876-1937) (11 items, 20th century) entered Maldotti. Paralupi was a scholar, art critic, politician, and president of the Associazione Guastallese di Storia Patria (Guastalla Association of Local History) in the early 20th century. A second Archivio Paralupi (Paralupi’s Archive), originating from another branch of the same family, arrived several years later, in 1975: this is the archive of engineer Giuseppe Valente Paralupi (1895-1963) (12 items, 17th-20th centuries). Between 1942 and 1943, the Fondo Mossina (Mossina’s Collection) (107 items, 20th century) arrived in Maldotti: Aldo Mossina (1887-1941), a native of Guastalla, was a lawyer, but also a scholar and local historian. He typed the most important handwritten chronicles in this library, as well as many documents from the Archivio Gonzaga in Guastalla, now preserved in Parma, Mantua and Milan. Between 1981 and 1982, the Archivio delle Opere Pie of Guastalla (Archive of the Charitable Works of Guastalla) (1201 items, 1528-1959) arrived, containing papers relating to Guastalla’s welfare institutions (Patrimonio dei Poveri, Monte di Pietà, Ospedale, Granaio della Beata Vergine del Popolo, Ospizio dei Mendicanti-Bertoluzzi, Ospizio Fracassi, Orfanatrofio Bennati, Ricovero Paralupi Fiorani). In the 1980s and 1990s, the Fondo Gualdi Bisini (Gualdi Bisini’s Collection) (7 items, 18th-20th centuries), the Archivio Asilo Maria di Piemonte di Guastalla (Archive of the Maria di Piemonte kindergarten of Guastalla) (13 items, 1846-1972), the Archive of Eng. Alberto Paglia (74 items, 1920-1964) the Archivio della Digagna di Guastalla (Archive of the Digagna di Guastalla) (201 items, 1520-1945).
Finally, the Archive of the Maldotti Library (18th-21st centuries) should not be overlooked, documenting the activities of this cultural institution from its origins to the present day.
Since 2004, the Maldotti Library has participated in CastER, a project to census the historical archives of Emilia-Romagna (http://archivi.ibc.regione.emilia-romagna.it/ibc-cms/).
ANCIENT BOOK FOUND
The original and main core of the Maldotti Library consists of its collection of antique books. The founder’s bequest consists of approximately 5,000 volumes printed mainly in the 16th and 18th centuries on various subjects (from literature to history, geography, law, mathematics and hydraulics). This core collection was skilfully expanded, particularly during the institution’s first century of existence, both through purchases and bequests from individuals who were sensitive to and aware of the importance of a public library in a small but historical town such as Guastalla.
Even scholars from Guastalla who lived far from their hometown always sought to leave a tangible mark of their attachment to this institution at the Library. Among others, Filippo Bacchi did so in 1829, donating an 8-volume New Testament written in Chinese, and Pietro Fiaccadori (1791-1870) did so in 1835, donating 84 works he had printed.
The first significant increase in the collection dates back to the purchase, in 1812, of the libraries of the suppressed religious congregations of Guastalla. This was followed by bequests from private individuals. Of particular note are the libraries of Father Carlo Maria Traversari (d. 1818), the first librarian of the Maldotti Library, his successor Luigi Coppi (d. 1847), the nobleman Rufo Paralupi (1876-1937) from Luzzara, and Canon Vincenzo Bianchi.
The preserved texts are mostly literary, moral and religious in nature, although there are also extensive sections containing interesting works on law, mathematics, geography and medicine.
Marcantonio Maldotti himself was particularly fond of medical texts, as evidenced by some correspondence in which the priest from Guastalla expresses his desire to increase the number of medical texts in his private library. After Maldotti’s death, his wish was granted: in 1850, the considerable bequest (382 volumes) of the heirs of Doctor Domenico Zanichelli (d. 1850) was added to this library. Later, another 200 medical works were purchased from the physicist Giuseppe Manfredini (d. 1851). A further donation, made by Giovanni Scaetta in 1862, added to the collection. Among the ancient books are about twenty incunabula, some decorated with splendid miniatures, such as the Missale Romanum, Bernardius Borgomensis, Georgius Mantuanus et Paganinus Brixiensys, 1483. The 15th-century editions are described in the volume: Notazione bibliografica degli incunaboli conservati nella Biblioteca Maldotti di Guastalla (Bibliographic notation of the incunabula preserved in the Maldotti Library in Guastalla), (edited by the Scuola di bibliografia Italiana, Reggio Emilia, 1932). There are about 2,000 sixteenth-century editions, 72 of which were left by Maldotti, 66 from the libraries of suppressed religious orders and numerous others from the Library of the Seminary of Guastalla, deposited here since 1985. Among the sixteenth-century editions, those printed by Manuzio, Giunti of Florence and Viotto of Parma are particularly noteworthy. As for the remaining antique printed volumes, approximately 30,000, it is worth noting the presence of many rare and valuable books, in particular an 18th-century edition of Diderot and d’Alembert’s Encyclopédie complete with copper plates and the so-called “Bodoniane”. A considerable number of works printed by Guastalla printers between the 17th and 18th centuries testify to the cultural vitality of the small Gonzaga capital. The library’s first handwritten catalogue, compiled in 1862 by Giuseppe Lusi in four volumes, was followed by a typewritten catalogue based on the Staderini model, completed in 1932 and still in use today. The Maldotti Library participates in the national Edit16 census organised by the ICCU. Computerised cataloguing is currently underway.
MODERN BOOK FUND
Originally established as a library primarily for scholars and researchers, during its first century of history, the modern book collection (texts printed after 1830) was developed with a focus on enriching the sections already established in the antique collection, paying particular attention to valuable editions and scientific novelties.
Starting in 1930-32, thanks to the efforts of archivist Aldo Cerlini and other collaborators, the so-called “circulating library” began to be developed. In the volume La Biblioteca Maldottiana di Guastalla (Guastalla, Tipografia Torelli, 1934), Cerlini asserts: ‘An institution that does not serve the real needs of culture and leisure for all classes cannot be called a library’. Novels, literature books, manuals and tourist guides were therefore purchased for loan and free consultation, an activity skilfully supervised and guided by the library custodian, Cav. Natale Burlazzi (1901-1997). The documents always refer to Burlazzi as the custodian of the library; in reality, his role was effectively that of a modern librarian. However, the term custodian is particularly appropriate for Burlazzi because of the love, passion and almost paternal sense of protection he always had for the Maldotti Library and all its collection.
In 1984, with the establishment of the Municipal Cultural Centre, some of the objectives of the circulating library were assigned to the new institution. Among other titles, several series of Italian and foreign fiction, texts in their original language, a collection of Hoepli manuals, several Italian Touring Club guides, children’s books and texts for children with particularly interesting graphics remain in the catalogue from that experience.
In recent years, the local section has grown considerably, with a priority given to preserving books produced in the area and concerning the area itself. Another priority has been given to art history books, of which there are more than 4,000 titles. The collection has been further enhanced by the Nevio Iori (1925-1990) bequest, a rich collection of literary texts published between 1950 and 1980, accompanied by a notable section dedicated to art, in particular naïve painting.
The deposit of the Bishop’s Seminary Library in 1985 enriched the collection of the library with numerous texts on theology, patristics, morality and philosophy. A section dedicated to music has also been started, with vinyl records, texts on the history of music, music dictionaries, opera scores and religious music, to which has been added the collection of publications by the local Giuseppe Serassi Cultural Association.
The main cultural, literary and bibliographic reference tools are also available to the public (Enciclopedia Treccani, Bibliotheca Sanctorum, Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, Enciclopedia dell’Arte Medievale, Dizionario Letterario Bompiani and other encyclopaedic dictionaries).
BOOKS IN BRAILLE
Our library preserves about ten volumes written in Braille, a code used by blind or visually impaired people to read and write. These books were produced by the San Giacomo Braille Centre, a cooperative founded in Guastalla in 1988 by a group of blind volunteers who worked in the premises of the Guastalla Seminary with the support of the Apostolic Movement for the Blind and the diocesan curias of Reggio and Guastalla.
The main purpose of the centre – which has now moved its operations to Cadriano di Granarolo Emilia (BO) – was to transcribe religious texts (the Bible, missals, catechisms and many other texts on spiritual formation and prayer) into Braille, as well as school texts requested by various municipalities and schools of all levels: for example, the Maldotti Library holds an illustrated edition of Gianni Rodari’s work “La freccia azzurra” (The Blue Arrow).
PERIODICALS
In 1814, the administration of the Maldotti Library – conscious of the importance of newspapers for the dissemination of culture and scientific updates – purchased Il giornale de’ letterati, edited by Antonio Fabroni, in the Pisa edition from 1771 to 1796. This was followed by the acquisition of several volumes of Il giornale dei letterati edited by Francesco Nazari; of the complete collection of Giornale de’ letterati d’Italia edited by Scipione Maffei, Antonio Vallisneri and Apostolo Zeno, printed in Venice from 1710 to 1740; of Giornale pisano di letteratura, scienze e arti; of Giornale internazionale delle scienze mediche, edited in Napoli, by Detken & Rocholl and numerous other titles.
From 1850 onwards, subscriptions to scientific and literary journals were joined by those to religious magazines such as La Civiltà Cattolica, Les Annales de S.te Therese de Lisieux, Presenza pastorale and Rivista di pastorale liturgica.
With the establishment of the circulating library in 1930, the newspaper library was enriched with more popular publications. Collections such as Le vie d’Italia, Storia illustrata, Historia, La scuola cattolica, and L’Illustrazione italiana are preserved here. Of particular interest is the collection of local newspapers and periodicals: you can consult Guastalla newspapers printed since the late 1800s, such as Il Times (a serious-humorous weekly newspaper from Guastalla) starting from 1869, La Gazzetta di Guastalla starting from 1873, Il Popolo starting from 1901, La Settimana starting from 1903, La Piazza starting from 1905 and La Cittadella starting from 1946. There are also collections of newspapers linked geographically and historically to Guastalla, such as: la Gazzetta di Reggio, La Libertà (weekly newspaper of the diocese of Reggio Emilia-Guastalla), Reggio Storia, Civiltà mantovana, Barnabiti studi, Bollettino storico Piacentino, Bollettino storico reggiano, Strenna del Pio Istituto Artigianelli, Vitelliana, and Qui Po.
PRINTS AND CARTOGRAPHY
The collection of prints and drawings was probably formed in the second half of the 19th century with the donation of two collectors from Guastalla. These were Francesco Manfredini, who in 1859 deposited his collection of prints, and Barbara Ghidorzi, who in 1888 left her personal collection of portraits of illustrious Guastalla citizens, including that of the poet Gaetana Secchi Ronchi (1700-1782).
The collection continued to grow, reaching its current size of around 700 pieces. These include a pencil portrait of Carlo Maria Traversari (d. 1817), an engraving with a portrait of Ireneo Affò (1741-1797) by Francesco Rosaspina (1762-1841) and the design for the construction of a pendulum clock with a single wheel, conceived by G. Casalgrandi from Guastalla and presented on 17 April 1846 to H.M. Maria Luigia (1791-1847), Duchess of Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla.
The Maldotti Library also has a rich collection of cartographic and hydrological material (more than 1,000 items). Particularly interesting is the collection of drawings and maps concerning Guastalla and its territories, such as the one entitled La Ducal città di Guastalla (The Ducal City of Guastalla), sketched by Giulio Cesare Cani (1754-1834) in 1800 and engraved by Sebastiano Zamboni (Reggio Emilia school, active in the second half of the 18th century).
Part of this collection was used between 1988 and 1990 for the creation, by architect Walter Baricchi, of the SIRIS (Information System for the Reconstruction of Historical Settlements) project.
GRIDARIO
The Maldotti Library preserves a handwritten gridario and several printed gridari.
The handwritten gridario consists of a collection of public notices from the Guastalla area dated between 1573 and 1715.
In addition to the Guastalla register (approximately 2,000 documents, 17th-19th centuries), the printed gridari include those of Parma (approximately 1,200 documents, 16th-19th centuries), Modena (approximately 270 documents, 17th-19th centuries) and Mantua (approximately 200 documents, 16th-19th centuries).
The documents collected under the term “gridario” are quite heterogeneous in nature: they include public notices, ordinances, proclamations, notifications, call for proposals, tables, regulations, notarial communications, tariff or price lists for various product sectors. The topics covered range from the imposition of taxes to the regulation of customs or religious and political celebrations, from the fight against crime to public health issues.
These are historical sources rich in information about the life, culture, economic activities, rules and problems of the communities that preceded us.
DEGREE THESES
The Library stores degree theses, doctoral dissertations and research papers on local topics or carried out by individuals and organisations in the area.
This type of deposit is strongly encouraged as it makes materials that would otherwise be more likely to be forgotten accessible and available for consultation, in compliance with copyright law.
POSTERS AND FLYERS
The collection includes posters from shows performed at the Guastalla Theatre since the late 1700s. There are over 1,000 posters for plays, operas, concerts, magic shows, acrobatic performances and carnival balls.
The collection began thanks to a donation by the Municipality of Guastalla of the local theatre’s poster collection. This initial core was then expanded with donations from individual collectors.
PAINTING COLLECTION
The creation of the painting collection in the Maldotti Library
In the early years following its opening to the public, there was no indication that the new library would become a place for preserving paintings. Marcantonio Maldotti did not like painting; in the contrary, he considered it potentially dangerous because of its ability to intensely stir the passions of the soul.
The first paintings arrived almost by chance, together with donations of books and documents (mostly portraits of modest quality).
In 1889, a bequest arrived at the library that radically changed the nature and importance of the Maldotti art collection. In a holographic will dated 8 March 1888, at the age of sixty-one, the Guastalla priest Don Luigi Antonelli left 749 books and a group of paintings to be chosen from the best pieces in his personal collection. Don Luigi Antonelli died on 5 January 1889. The painter Pietro Rossi was called upon to select the works to be transferred to The Maldotti library, and he identified 18, including several masterpieces: Arria pronuncia le parole “Paete, non dolet!” by Luca Ferrari; San Luca dipinge la Madonna col Bambino by Francesco Stringa; Lot invita gli angeli a entrare in casa by Marcantonio Franceschini; and Santa Caterina d’Alessandria by Giuseppe Bazzani. The Antonellis are an ancient family from Guastalla who descend, on the female side, from the Aldrovandi family, a surname that evokes the prestigious Bolognese personalities of the naturalist Ulisse and Cardinal Pompeo. It is therefore likely that at least some of the paintings were inherited and came from Bologna.
Exactly one hundred years after Don Antonelli’s bequest, the Bisini collection entered Maldotti. Attilio Bisini was an engineer (born in Guastalla in 1901) and partner in a company specialising in civil engineering and road infrastructure. In 1982, he was living in Milan, was long retired, and decided to make a will. He left his properties and shares to the Paralupi Retirement Home in his hometown, while the paintings and furniture from his homes in Milan, Livorno, and Guastalla went to the Maldotti Library. He died on 6 November 1988 and his assets were acquired by the library the following year. Among the works carefully selected by an expert (or well-advised) collector, some pieces of particular value stand out: first and foremost, a beautiful panel by Giulio Cesare Procaccini depicting St Joseph with the Baby Jesus; a replica from the workshop of Giambattista or Gerolamo Bassano of Cristo in casa di Marta e Maria by the more famous brothers Jacopo and Francesco Bassano; an extraordinarily high-quality version of Guercino’s Cattura di Cristo; two works by Antonio Gualdi: a female portrait and a Morte di Atala, a romantic subject par excellence taken from Chateaubriand’s novel and made famous in 1808 by Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson’s painting, now in the Louvre.
The latest substantial collection of works to enter the institution is the Nevio Iori collection, consisting of more than two hundred paintings and multiples by 20th-century artists, predominantly naïve painters.
These fundamental acquisitions include numerous donations of individual works, which over time have formed a rich and varied collection. By the end of the 20th century, the number of paintings had exceeded the capacity of the walls of the rooms, which were mainly intended to house books. In 1993, director Father Giancarlo Bellani arranged part of the painting collections in the first-floor hall, in the centre of which he placed several large iron parallelepipeds on which the canvases were hung. This was an effective storage solution, which is still used in part today. He also promoted a major restoration campaign to secure the most significant works. However, the paintings lacked adequate accessibility for the public and scholars. Hung in the reading room and stored in the hall, they were illuminated by large neon tubes designed to serve readers, not visitors interested in ancient painting.
The exhibition as a historical narrative
Once physically restored, the paintings of the library needed to be properly exhibited.
The opportunity arose between 2016 and 2017, when the Councillor for Culture, Gloria Negri, together with the Director, Gino Ruozzi, and the Curator of the Art Collections, Ivan Cantoni, decided to host a selection of the library’s paintings on the main floor of the Ducal Palace.
When it was decided to create an exhibition itinerary, it was necessary to identify a criterion for organising the works. Two possibilities seemed obvious: chronological order or grouping on an iconographic basis (by subject). Both solutions would have had the effect of presenting the paintings in an abstract way, detaching them from the context in which they were collected, as well as from the times and ways in which they arrived at the library. The Maldotti collection is closely linked to the territory and to the people who collected the paintings, kept them in their homes as silent companions in their everyday lives and then decided to transform them into a public heritage, available to their fellow citizens and, potentially, to the whole world.
Hence the decision to structure the exhibition around the development of the painting collection over time through bequests and donations, thus highlighting its essential link with the territory and collecting in the Guastalla area. The layout of the Maldotti Painting Collection is based on the assumption that paintings and art objects are conceived and produced in contexts intimately connected to the “life” of people and institutions, not to enter museums, where they usually end up after long journeys in the “outside world”. They serve devotion or liturgy when they belong to religious contexts; in secular environments, they pass on and keep alive the memory of people, tell stories, decorate interiors, bear witness to the passions and, not infrequently, the obsessions of their patrons, arouse wonder or admiration, stir feelings… For this reason, a hidden, poorly lit or poorly preserved painting suffers a kind of betrayal that forces it into an unnatural and forced silence. Placing a work in a museum context according to criteria of philological correctness and historical-scientific rigour does not mean distancing it from people and life, but giving it back its voice and making it fully “enjoyable” for anyone who wishes to encounter it. It is important to create the conditions so that those who approach works of art can not only understand them, but also love them as one loves a book, a film, a song, or the face of a loved one. The exhibition layout and design of the Maldotti Painting Collection have been conceived so that rigour and fascination, history and narrative can coexist and support each other.
Il percorso espositivo
Al primo nucleo di dipinti che costituisce l’origine, piuttosto modesta, della Quadreria è dedicata la SALA B del percorso espositivo. La sala precedente, contrassegnata con la lettera A, contiene pannelli informativi sulla biblioteca e sul suo fondatore; rappresenta pertanto una sorta di premessa al percorso vero e proprio. Il lascito Antonelli, di cui si è trattato poco sopra, occupa l’ampia SALA C.
Alla fine del XIX secolo il flusso di donazioni è divenuto ormai costante: libri e dipinti entrano in continuazione e sono riportati con regolarità sui registri, oggi conservati nell’archivio. Mentre don Luigi Antonelli lascia una collezione “antica”, altri donatori cedono pezzi che, in quegli anni, possono considerarsi a pieno titolo “contemporanei”. La Quadreria attenua così il proprio carattere antiquario e si apre alle espressioni artistiche del proprio tempo: l’Ottocento, a cui è dedicata la SALA D. Qui sono esposte diverse opere su carta: un acquerello di Francesco Hayez raffigurante Ivanhoe (studio per la prima litografia di una serie edita fra il 1828 e il 1831); un piccolo olio su cartoncino di Giuseppe de Nittis del 1877 che raffigura, con l’impiego di una tavolozza luminosa tipicamente impressionista, rue de l’Impératrice, il boulevard d’ingresso al Bois de Boulogne; due raffinatissimi ritratti di sacerdoti a carboncino (di autori ignoti) ci mostrano esempi della maniera con cui operavano gli artisti di orientamento accademico alla metà del secolo. Pietro Rossi, il pittore che ha avuto il compito di selezionare gli esemplari migliori della collezione Antonelli, è presente in questa sala con un olio di soggetto biblico: La morte di Giuseppe, ambientato in un Egitto letterario, che ricorda gli allestimenti teatrali del melodramma o le architetture storiciste dei cimiteri monumentali. Nel corso dell’Ottocento entrano anche alcune opere di Antonio Gualdi, il maggiore artista guastallese di questo secolo, unico ad avere goduto di una notorietà e di commissioni ben oltre i confini della propria patria. A lui è dedicata l’unica sala monografica del museo (SALA E), che presenta soprattutto esempi della sua attività nel periodo in cui, dopo l’apprendistato a Firenze sotto la direzione di Pietro Benvenuti, risiede e lavora a Guastalla, eseguendo numerosi ritratti.
La prima metà del Novecento è segnata da un grosso legato dovuto a Rufo Paralupi, esponente dell’antica famiglia che, dal XVIII secolo, risiede nella gonzaghesca Villa al Maso di Luzzara. In una stirpe di ingegneri e agronomi, egli rappresenta un’eccezione: si occupa di arte contemporanea (pubblica, nei primi anni del secolo, numerosi articoli e alcuni volumi sulle Biennali di Venezia) ed è un cultore di storia locale. Si suicida nel 1937. Insieme al proprio archivio, dona una gran varietà di oggetti, fra cui due dipinti piuttosto interessanti: una piccola tavola decorativa di gusto tardo gotico, parte di un soffitto ligneo, che raffigura Lot invitato da un angelo a lasciare Sodoma; un paesaggio alpino molto ben dipinto (1910 circa) di Ugo o Augusto Gheduzzi, pittori originari di Crespellano Bolognese, attivi nell’ultima parte della loro carriera a Torino. È del 1940 l’ingresso di una tela di scuola tedesca del tardo Cinquecento (Cristo davanti a Pilato) dovuto al dono di un privato, che probabilmente l’ha acquisita sul mercato antiquario.
Alle donazioni pervenute fra il 1900 e il 1950 è dedicata la SALA F in cui, oltre alle opere sopra menzionate, è stato collocato un ritratto di Rufo Paralupi dipinto da Marino Mazzacurati nel 1935.
La seconda metà del XX secolo porta in biblioteca due lasciti di grande importanza. Negli anni Ottanta, da Villa Paralupi al Maso di Luzzara, giunge una donazione ancora oggi oggetto di particolare interesse da parte degli storici della moda: otto tele di fine Seicento presentano altrettante dame, in dimensioni naturali. I volti poco caratterizzati e l’attenzione posta nella raffigurazione degli abiti, delle calzature, degli accessori, dei gioielli, testimoniano che il vero soggetto dei dipinti non sono le signore, ma il loro abbigliamento. A questa serie è dedicata la SALA 02, che, insieme alla precedente (SALA 01) va a costituire due sezioni tematiche collaterali al percorso espositivo principale, dal quale sono anche fisicamente distinte, in quanto collocate a sinistra del corridoio d’ingresso (SALA A), sul lato opposto rispetto alla sequenza che va dalla B alla G. Nella SALA 01 trovano spazio i ritratti in coppia delle ultime tre generazioni dei duchi di Guastalla, una sorta di focus sulla storia locale di cui la Biblioteca Maldotti conserva fondamentali testimonianze e nel cui ambito promuove, fin dalle sue origini, studi e ricerche. La SALA G è dedicata al lascito Bisini del 1989. Unendosi all’eredità Antonelli a distanza di un secolo, questo legato testamentario (di cui si è parlato in precedenza) va a costituire il più importante nucleo di opere pittoriche della quadreria maldottiana e conclude il percorso espositivo di Palazzo Ducale.
The exhibition itinerary
The first core of paintings, which constitutes the collection’s rather modest origins, is displayed in ROOM B of the exhibition itinerary. The previous room, marked with the letter A, contains information panels on the library and its founder; it therefore serves as a sort of introduction to the actual itinerary. The Antonelli bequest, mentioned above, occupies the large ROOM C.
At the end of the 19th century, donations became a constant feature: books and paintings arrived continuously and were regularly recorded in the registers, which are now preserved in the archive. While Father Luigi Antonelli left an “antique” collection, other donors gave pieces that, in those years, could be considered fully “contemporary”. The picture gallery thus softened its antiquarian character and opened up to the artistic expressions of its own time: the 19th century, to which ROOM D is dedicated. Several works on paper are on display here: a watercolour by Francesco Hayez depicting Ivanhoe (a study for the first lithograph in a series published between 1828 and 1831); a small oil on cardboard by Giuseppe de Nittis from 1877 depicting, with the use of a typically Impressionist luminous palette, rue de l’Impératrice, the boulevard leading to the Bois de Boulogne; two highly refined charcoal portraits of priests (by unknown artists) show us examples of the manner in which academically oriented artists worked in the middle of the century. Pietro Rossi, the painter who was tasked with selecting the best pieces from the Antonelli collection, is represented in this room with an oil painting on a biblical subject: La morte di Giuseppe, set in a literary Egypt, reminiscent of melodramatic theatre sets or the historicist architecture of monumental cemeteries. During the nineteenth century, several works by Antonio Gualdi, the major artist from Guastalla of that century and the only one to have enjoyed notoriety and commissions far beyond the borders of his homeland, were also added to the collection. The museum’s only monographic room (ROOM E) is dedicated to him, presenting mainly examples of his work during the period when, after his apprenticeship in Florence under Pietro Benvenuti, he lived and worked in Guastalla, producing numerous portraits.
The first half of the 20th century was marked by a significant bequest from Rufo Paralupi, a member of an ancient family that had resided in the Gonzaga Villa al Maso in Luzzara since the 18th century. In a lineage of engineers and agronomists, he was an exception: he was involved in contemporary art (publishing numerous articles and several books on the Venice Biennales in the early years of the century) and was a lover of local history. He committed suicide in 1937. Together with his archive, he donated a wide variety of objects, including two rather interesting paintings: a small decorative panel in late Gothic style, part of a wooden ceiling, depicting Lot being invited by an angel to leave Sodom; a beautifully painted alpine landscape (circa 1910) by Ugo or Augusto Gheduzzi, painters originally from Crespellano Bolognese, who were active in Turin during the final part of their careers. A late 16th-century German school canvas (Cristo davanti a Pilato) was added in 1940, donated by a private individual who probably acquired it on the antiques market.
Room F is dedicated to donations received between 1900 and 1950. In addition to the works mentioned above, it also houses a portrait of Rufo Paralupi painted by Marino Mazzacurati in 1935.
The second half of the 20th century brought two very important bequests to the library. In the 1980s, Villa Paralupi al Maso di Luzzara donated eight late 17th-century paintings depicting ladies in life size, which are still of particular interest to fashion historians today. The lack of facial detail and the focus on the depiction of clothing, footwear, accessories and jewellery show that the real subject of the paintings is not the ladies themselves, but their attire. ROOM 02 is dedicated to this series, which, together with the previous one (ROOM 01), forms two thematic sections collateral to the main exhibition route, from which they are also physically distinct, as they are located to the left of the entrance corridor (ROOM A), on the opposite side to the sequence from B to G. ROOM 01 houses the paired portraits of the last three generations of the Dukes of Guastalla, a sort of focus on local history, of which the Maldotti Library preserves fundamental evidence and in which it has promoted studies and research since its beginnings. ROOM G is dedicated to the Bisini bequest of 1989. Joining the Antonelli legacy a century later, this bequest (mentioned above) constitutes the most important collection of paintings in the Maldotti picture gallery and concludes the exhibition itinerary of the Ducal Palace.
PHOTO LIBRARY
The Maldotti photo library preserves and makes available to users numerous images documenting local history from the late 19th century to the present day: events, personalities, architecture, urban planning and cultural heritage.
Much of the photographic material comes from archives donated by Guastalla families such as Bisini, Della Valle, Paglia and Paralupi. These are family albums that collect evidence of the customs and lifestyle of people at the beginning of the 20th century.
Orfeo Veronesi (1910-1990) left several photographs of sporting competitions in which athletes from Guastalla participated, as well as FIGC membership cards from Guastalla from the 1920s and 1930s.
There is also evidence of how the Maldotti Library has changed over the years, how it has expanded, how the rooms have been reorganised and how the book collection was safeguarded during the Second World War, when the most valuable items were hidden as a precaution by walling them up in a space under the stairs.
The photographic collection also includes a number of albums from the 1920s relating to the primary school in Guastalla, which were donated by Margherita Grassi (1888-1983), the school’s headmistress.
The collection is regularly expanded thanks to the work of the Maldotti Photography Club, which deposits the material exhibited in its annual exhibition here, documenting the research work carried out by its members in the local area.
GLOBES
Within the Inventory of books, furniture, and effects left as a bequest by the late Priest Marc’Antonio Maldotti for the benefit and convenience of the citizens of this City and Diocese, there are ‘Two spheres supported by two walnut feet’. These are two works engraved on paper and glued onto wood, created by Jean-Antoine Nollet.
The first sphere, depicting the globe, dates back to 1728, while the celestial globe, depicting the stars and signs of the zodiac, dates back to 1730.
A restoration in 2006 restored them to their original functionality.
NUMISMATIC COLLECTIONS
Following the inventory and cataloguing work carried out since May 2024, the numismatic collections consist of 241 medals, 459 coins, 161 votive medals, 40 items divided between tokens, pins, plaques, reproductions, 3 dies from the Guastalla mint and 71 sealing wax seals, embossed stamps and ink stamps.
Based on the historically available lists, the amount of unregistered, uncatalogued and certainly unpublished items (coins, medals, seals and votive medals) is certainly considerable.
Among the unregistered and unreported materials, a group of 31 Roman coins from the 4th century is particularly interesting and historically valuable. Due to their type and uniform state of preservation (encrustations, oxidation, corrosion), they are considered to be part of a single hoard of coins hidden by an unknown owner, probably during one of the many crises that ravaged the 4th century AD, and never recovered. The group consists of Antonianus coins, all in good condition, issued between 353 AD and 385 AD in the name of the emperors Gallienus, Claudius II, Aurelian, Probus, Carus and Carinus.
At present, it is not possible to draw conclusions about the origin of the Maldotti coin group, whether it is a separate hoard or part of another larger hoard, nor has it been possible to trace the date and identity of the donor.
Among the unpublished materials, a group of wax seals, embossed stamps and ink stamps are of particular interest, representing and retracing much of Guastalla’s history.
Since ancient times, the authenticity and integrity of letters and documents has been guaranteed by the presence of sealing wax seals or stamps bearing mottos or heraldic symbols adopted by the authority that drafted the document. When a person left office or died, it was customary for the seals representing them to be cancelled, abraded and rendered unserviceable. It is therefore obvious that these objects, when intact and legible, are extremely rare and of great historical value.
Among these, an almond-shaped sealing wax seal belonging to the Confraternity of the Disciplinati di San Rufino di Assisi and a seal from the Abbey of Notre Dame du Val Profond stand out.
The series of seals and stamps from Guastalla begins with an embossed stamp belonging to Persio Caracci, born in Guastalla in 1594 and appointed bishop of Larino in 1630, followed by an embossed seal belonging to the President of the Chamber of Guastalla with the coat of arms of the Gonzaga family of Mantua, attributable to the rule of Ferdinando Carlo Gonzaga-Nevers (1678 – 1692). The dry seal of Guidobono Mazzucchini, abbot of Guastalla from 22 May 1714 to 1730, is beautiful and well preserved.
The sealing wax seals of the last Gonzagas of Guastalla and their consorts are of considerable beauty and historical value
A seal for Teodora, Princess of Hesse-Darmstadt and Duchess of Guastalla, as wife of Antonio Ferdinando Gonzaga (1706–1784), combines the coats of arms of the two families; a seal belonging to Giuseppe Maria Gonzaga has identical characteristics to those used on coins issued for the same duke, suggesting that the seals were also produced in the city mint. Finally, a portable seal of exquisite workmanship combines the heraldic shields of Giuseppe Maria Gonzaga (1729–1746) and Eleonora of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Wiesenburg (1715–1760), his consort.
The history of Guastalla continues to be represented by a dry stamp of Philip of Bourbon, Infante of Spain and Duke of Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla, dated between 1748 and 1765.
There are also stamps that bear witness to the presence of the Napoleonic administration in Guastalla. The ink stamp of the municipality of Guastalla is unique, featuring banners and a crowned standard with the imperial eagle in the center and the French inscription MARIE DE GUASTALLA. Two other ink stamps, with drapery, a crown, and a crowned eagle bearing the Napoleonic N on its chest, represent the Podesteria and the Cancelleria Censuaria (Census Office) of Guastalla.
The advent of the Kingdom of Italy is testified by several seals, the most notable of which is a seal of the National Guard Command; the fascist ventennio is represented by a single ink seal of the Conciliation Office bearing the Savoy shield and a shield bearing the fascio littorio.
The unpublished materials also include medals and tokens that clearly represent the social transformations of the early 20th century. There are pins and medals commemorating the birth of workers’ societies and the first consumer cooperatives. Emblematic examples include the pin of the Guastalla Workers’ Society—with its original tricolor bow, which is directly linked to the sign of the “La Fratellanza” tavern—and the 1913 medal commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Artieri Workers’ Society.
The birth of the first labor and consumer cooperatives is attested to by some tokens from the Cooperative of Santa Vittoria, founded in 1911, the Consumer Cooperative of Villa Tagliata, and the Production and Consumer Cooperative of Suzzara.
Also noteworthy is the group of religious and votive medals, a sign and testimony of the profound devotion that has always animated the people of Guastalla; devotion that sometimes bordered on superstition and magic, as is clearly evident from a medal of St. Benedict accompanied by a unique manuscript describing its properties and instructions for use.
The section regarding coins and medals is the best known historically.
Among the coins are numerous examples of coins issued by local mints, in particular those of Mantua, Guastalla, Sabbioneta, Bozzolo, and Milan.
The Guastalla mint began issuing coins in 1570 and continued to operate, albeit intermittently, until 1734.
The Maldotti collection includes, in addition to three dies used in the city mint, numerous coins issued by the Guastalla mint, some of which are extremely rare. Such as the silver Giulio worth 14 soldi issued in the name of Ferrante II Gonzaga (1575-1630), with an unprecedented error in the obverse legend; or the sesino issued in the name of Ferrante II Gonzaga, characterized by the presence of two verses and therefore missing the obverse with the description of the issuing authority, a variant known to date in only three examples. Also of remarkable beauty and quality are the three talleri coins for Ferrante II Gonzaga dated 1620 and the 7 lire shield dated 1664 for Ferrante III Gonzaga.
As for medals, the Maldotti Library collection represents different eras, subjects, and fields. Of particular importance is the medal dedicated to Cesare I Gonzaga, Duke of Guastalla, found in the foundation stone of a noble palace, demolished in 1958 and until its discovery it was known only thanks to a plastic electrotype copy preserved at the British Museum. Other medals represent members of the Gonzaga family of Guastalla and prominent figures from the Renaissance to the modern era, including the Risorgimento.
