Exhibition "Pranciškus Smuglevičius. From Ancient Rome to Vilnius University," May 13, 2021 – March 13, 2022

Exhibition "Pranciškus Smuglevičius. From Ancient Rome to Vilnius University," May 13, 2021 – March 13, 2022, Vilnius Picture Gallery.

Lithuanian National Museum of Art on May 13 The long-awaited exhibition "Pranciškus Smuglevičius. From Ancient Rome to Vilnius University", introducing visitors to the life of this famous personality of the classicism period in Italy and Lithuania and a wide range of his work.

"The exhibition is the museum's tribute to the great pioneer of professional art in Lithuania P. Smuglevičius, whose celebration of the 275th anniversary was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic last autumn, so the opening of the exhibition was postponed to May. It is also the first step towards the renewed exposition of the Vilnius Picture Gallery," says Arūnas Gelūnas, Director of the LNDM. "We hope that visitors will be pleasantly surprised by the original and modern architecture created for this exhibition by talented architects Vytautas Biekša and Eglė Matulaitytė."

Pranciškus Smuglevičius occupies a special place in the history of Lithuanian art. At the end of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth century, he was one of the most popular and valued artists of local origin, surpassing many of his contemporaries in terms of his education and professional training.

P. Smuglevičius was a representative of educational classicism, an active and progressive citizen of his country. The artist boldly expressed his beliefs through his works, with which he sought to form the self-awareness and political attitudes of his compatriots, to raise the culture of the nation, and to educate it aesthetically. As head of the Department of Drawing and Painting at Vilnius University, P. Smuglevičius not only prepared the first generation of local artists, but also significantly contributed to the development of the concept of professional art, created preconditions for the further development of art genres – P. Smuglevičius and his students created not only portraits and altar paintings, which prevailed in Lithuanian Baroque art, but also ancient, historical, domestic compositions and landscapes.

As a creator, P. Smuglevičius was praised and criticized, forgotten and rediscovered. Today, there is no doubt about the significance of P. Smuglevičius for Lithuanian, Polish and even European art. His works occupy an honorable place in permanent museum expositions, they are shown in thematic exhibitions, and the works of the Roman period, which had been less explored until then, are attracting more and more interest, but a larger exhibition dedicated to P. Smuglevičius has not been organized so far.

"The aim of this exhibition is to introduce visitors to the diverse activities and works of P. Smuglevičius up close," says the curator of the exhibition Dalia Tarandaitė. – The exposition of the exhibition begins with a hall dedicated to the artist's family, presenting the artistic environment in which P. Smuglevičius grew up and matured. Copies and independent compositions of ancient monuments created during the Roman period are shown below. The majority of the exhibition consists of works by P. Smuglevičius, created after the artist returned to his homeland. They are divided into themes and genres, which allow to reveal the breadth of P. Smuglevičius' creative interests and his influence on the further development of Lithuanian art. One of the final halls of the exhibition is dedicated to pedagogical work and the artist's students.

To bring the distant era closer and understand the work of P. Smuglevičius, short descriptions and video material that complements the exposition will help to bring the distant era closer. We hope that the exhibition will not only provide pleasant aesthetic impressions, but also involve the viewer in a fun cognitive adventure."