Elia Dalla Costa
L’uomo e l’immagine

edited by Timothy Verdon

exhibition catalogue: Florence, Museo dell’Opera del Duomo 8 december 2011–15 april 2012

With the exhibition entitled ‘Elia Dalla Costa. L’uomo e l’immagine’, the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo in Florence commemorates the archbishop fifty years following his death. Through their works, which differ enormously, three modern artists have sketched out a profile of Dalla Costa in three stages of his life.
In 1938 Antonio Berti created a bronze half-figure portrait, ‘prophetic’ and almost bellicose; in 1948, in an intense oil painting Oskar Kokoschka depicted him in his study and wrote: “I had the thrilling experience of expressing in his presence all my sceptical and profane opinions, and feeling that I was understood by a broad-minded old man full of grace and dignity, who forgave my shortcomings in the name of a humanitarian spirit and brotherly love.” Lastly, in 1957 Luciano Guarnieri portrayed him in an ‘iconic’ manner, with a powerful meditative element.
The catalogue, curated by Timothy Verdon and with essays by Silvano Nistri and Giulio Conticelli, examines the life of Cardinal Dalla Costa, who for thirty years (1931–61) was Archbishop of the Florentine Church, and a defender of Jews and the poor.