Of all the galleries in the world, I had to pick this one: Robilant + Voena in London opens a show tomorrow called “Back To the Future: Young Artists Look To Old Masters.” (Actually, I know about it because I was seated next to Edmundo di Robilant at a dinner last spring…)
The concept is neat, and so is the fact that the gallery commissioned the works in the show, inviting British artists into its gallery to choose an inspiration and “investigate and expose the strong dialogue between the past and the present.”
So here we have Vincenzo Chilone’s Venice: The Molo from the Bacino di San Marco, c. 1800, inspiring 
Justin Coombes’ Empire, 2005-2009.
Here below is Ary Scheffer’s Dante and Virgil Encountering the Shades of Francesca and Paolo, ca. 1845.
Which inspired Tom Gallant’s Would I to those, 2009, of paper.
R + V specializes in Old Masters and 19th Century works, which makes the commissions more noteworthy. More about the show here.
It all puts me in mind of a show at Otto Naumann last year, about which more in another post.
This is a good trend, if in fact it is one — not to mention that it gets younger people into galleries, which is not necessarily common even among arts students.
Photos: Courtesy of Robilant + Voena