id: 111691 accession number: 1930.22 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1930.22 updated: 2019-06-27 08:02:47.827000 Interior of a Synagogue, c. 1725-1735. Alessandro Magnasco (Italian, 1667-1749). Oil on canvas; framed: 140.5 x 167.5 x 6 cm (55 5/16 x 65 15/16 x 2 3/8 in.); unframed: 122 x 148.5 cm (48 1/16 x 58 7/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1930.22 title: Interior of a Synagogue title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 1725-1735 creation date earliest: 1725 creation date latest: 1735 current location: 212 Baroque Painting and Sculpture creditline: Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund copyright: --- culture: Italy, 18th century technique: oil on canvas department: European Painting and Sculpture collection: P - Italian 18th Century type: Painting find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Alessandro Magnasco (Italian, 1667-1749) - artist --- measurements: Framed: 140.5 x 167.5 x 6 cm (55 5/16 x 65 15/16 x 2 3/8 in.); Unframed: 122 x 148.5 cm (48 1/16 x 58 7/16 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: The Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition: The Official Art Exhibit of the Great Lakes Exposition opening date: 1936-06-26T04:00:00 The Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition: The Official Art Exhibit of the Great Lakes Exposition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 26-October 12, 1936). title: Masterpieces of Art from the New York and San Francisco World's Fairs opening date: 1940-02-07T05:00:00 Masterpieces of Art from the New York and San Francisco World's Fairs. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (February 7-March 7, 1940). title: The Silver Jubilee Exhibition opening date: 1941-06-23T04:00:00 The Silver Jubilee Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 23-September 28, 1941). title: Art: The International Language opening date: 1956-10-02T04:00:00 Art: The International Language. The Cleveland Museum of Art (October 2-November 4, 1956). title: Paths of Abstract Art opening date: 1960-10-04T04:00:00 Paths of Abstract Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art (October 4-November 13, 1960). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * Venice, 1929: "Il Settecento Italiano," cat. no. 14.
CMA, 1936: "The Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition of CMA," cat. no. 158, pl. XXXVIII.
Springfield (Massachusets) Museum of Fine Arts, 1938: "Alessandro Magnasco, ca. 1677-ca. 1749," cat. no. 3. cat. no. 6.
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1938: "Tiepolo and His Contemporaries," cat. no. 6.
New York, World's Fair, May 27-Oct. 31, 1939: "Masterpieces of Art," cat. no. 230.
San Francisco, M.H de Young Memorial Museum, Dec. 28, 1939-Jan. 28, 1940: "Seven Centuries of Painting," cat. no. Y-86.
CMA, Feb. 7-Mar. 7, 1940: "Masterpieces of Art," cat. no. 47, pl. XVI.
Genoa, Palazzo Bianco, June 18-October 15, 1949: "Mostra del Magnasco," cat. no. 72, pls. 80, 81; L'Orangerie, Paris, France.
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Nov. 3, 1950- Feb. 11, 1951: "Diamond Jubilee Exhibition, Masterpieces of Painting," cat. no. 32.
CMA, 1956: "The International Language," no catalogue.
CMA, 1960: "Paths of Abstract Art," cat. no. 7.
Milan, Italy, Comune di Milano, Palazzo Reale, March 20-July 7, 1996: "Alessandro Magnasco," cat # --- PROVENANCE Private collection, sold Hotel Drouot, Paris, 1928 date: footnotes: citations: D'Atri Gallery (Paris, France) date: footnotes: citations: Benno Geiger, 1882-1965 (Vienna, Austria) date: footnotes: citations: Italico Brass (Venice, Italy), 1870-1943, sold through Harold Parsons to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1930. date: footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: The Jewish synagogue was Magnasco's favorite and most frequently painted subject, here presented in a mystical, dark, and imaginative way. Expansive architectural space creates room for a multitude of tiny, fantastical figures with elongated limbs. These characters thoroughly engage in the service as they respond with emotion and expressive gestures. Flashes of light dash across the surface against a dark, muted palette of earthy tones to create an otherworldly effect and suggest spiritual presence. The composition invites the viewer to enter the space and experience the service. Though he used characteristic elements of Baroque composition and was strongly influenced by Venetian painting, Magnasco's loose brushwork, caricature-like elongated figures, and mysterious subject matter set him apart. Magnasco peers into another world, that of a curious sector of society: he was not Jewish and probably perceived the Jews as outsiders. At the dawn of the Enlightenment in Europe, many progressive aristocratic families commissioned paintings by Magnasco, suggesting the painter's support for Enlightenment ideals such as religious tolerance. Magnasco's personal views on Judaism in Italy remain unknown. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Paintings in the Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland]: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1945. page number: Reproduced: p. 55 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAPaintings1945/page/n63 The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 430 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1958/page/n79 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. page number: Reproduced: p. 142 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n166 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. page number: Reproduced: p. 142 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n166 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. page number: Reproduced: p. 141 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n161 The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Catalogue of Paintings, Part 3: European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1982. page number: Mentioned: p. 374-376; Reproduced: p. 375 url: Franchini Guelfi, Fausta, and Veronique Damian. Alessandro Magnasco (1667-1749): les années de la maturité d'un peintre anticonformiste (Exh. cat. Galerie Canesso, Paris, and Museo di Strada Nuova--Palazzo Bianco, Genoa, 2015). page number: Mentioned: p. 25-26; Reproduced: p. 26, fig. 22 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1930.22/1930.22_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1930.22/1930.22_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1930.22/1930.22_full.tif