Sciortino’s Speed exhibited in the Netherlands

The bronze sculpture Speed by Maltese artist Antonio Sciortino will be exhibited for six months in the Netherlands. This is the first time that a foreign museum has asked Heritage Malta specifically for the loan of a work by Sciortino, and for Speed in particular, attesting to the sculptor’s international acclaim.

Speed, usually on display at MUŻA, will be exhibited from the 4th of March till the 3rd of September at the Design Museum Den Bosch in the city of ’s-Hertogenbosch, where it will be showcased as part of the exhibition Faster, Better, more Beautiful: The Form of Progress. The exhibition is dedicated to the philosophy behind the concept of streamlining, one of the most important design principles of modern times, and includes artefacts from the Netherlands and beyond.

Speed, completed in 1937, depicts galloping horses and horsemen whose speed leaves behind a strong force in the opposite direction. Sciortino is said to have felt strongly about this sculpture. The Maltese government bought it in June 2014 as a gift to the public to mark the 50th anniversary of Independence Day, the 40th anniversary of Republic Day, the 35th anniversary of Freedom Day, and the 10th anniversary of Malta’s accession to the European Union.

Another MUŻA artefact currently loaned by Heritage Malta is Vittore Carpaccio’s study Standing Male Figure. Between 20th November 2022 and 12th February 2023, it was hosted at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, USA. From 18th March till 18th June it will be exhibited at the Palazzo Ducale of Venice in Italy. Carpaccio’s work was requested to form part of the exhibition Vittore Carpaccio: Master Storyteller of Renaissance Venice, which spans two continents and is being organised by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, and the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia.

The drawing loaned by Heritage Malta was a study for the ‘Arrival of Ambassadors’ scene from the ‘Life of Santa Ursula’ cycle, a series of large wall-paintings on canvas commissioned by the Loredan family. They were originally created for the Scuola di Sant’Orsola in Venice, which was under the patronage of the Loredan family, but today they can be admired at the Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice.