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Futuro Antico. Interview with Francesca Cappelletti
1 ago 2023
Ludovico Pratesi
An expert on Caravaggio and the director of the Galleria Borghese, Francesca Cappelletti is a strong advocate for study and research as key to understanding the world. She also emphasizes the importance of generosity.
What are your inspirational references in art?
I have always taught at the university, and for the past two years, I’ve been directing a museum. My references are rooted in those I’ve listened to throughout my life, from school to university, starting with my elementary school teacher, Mrs. Maria Cutini, who taught me how to write. I thought of them when I focused on my guiding principles for directing the Galleria Borghese: research, conversation, and generosity. Never stop studying, listening to others, and engaging in an active relationship with people and institutions.
What project represents you the most? Can you tell us about its origins?
Although I have many ongoing projects that are very dear to me—from upcoming exhibitions, which are always based on thorough research, to the publication of the Galleria's general catalogs, a significant undertaking, especially with the challenging model we’re confronting, like Paola della Pergola's catalog, which has been in the works since 1959—the project I consider most significant is Les bas-fonds du baroque (The Undersides of the Baroque). It was born in 2013-2014 from a reinterpretation of post-Caravaggio Rome and led to a new understanding of the presence of many young foreign artists in the city. This has been a collaborative effort from the very beginning and throughout all its phases with Annick Lemoine, a colleague and friend. This project encompasses everything: studying, renewing, sharing—and also laughing.
How important is Genius Loci in your work?
It is the starting point, an undeniable foundation. Without Rome, how can one generate ideas, realize them, or truly understand? All the exhibitions at the Galleria Borghese, for instance, begin with the collections. Meraviglia senza tempo(Timeless Wonder), which focused on painting on stone, introduced a vast and enthusiastic audience to objects that were almost forgotten. This too was a collaborative project involving the entire museum, curated together with Patrizia Cavazzini, another colleague and friend.
How important is the past for imagining and building the future? Do you believe that the future can have an ancient heart?
Preserving memory, at least in the museum context, which has this vocation, is essential, but we must give tradition an active role, as Baxandall suggested when rethinking the concept of "influence" from the past. As a scholar, my focus is on the past, but as a leader of an institution, I constantly plan and think about tomorrow—about how to bring cultural heritage into the future in a way that is understandable and vital.
What advice would you give to a young person wanting to follow your path?
Study.
In an era defined as "post-truth," does the concept of the sacred still have importance and strength?
Can I say that it’s a somewhat pointless question? The sacred is connected to the human condition, regardless of the times. When it seems to be disappearing, it may just be changing, or perhaps it’s a matter of geography rather than history. Somewhere, there exists our concept of the sacred (mine is in front of Raphael’s Deposition at the Galleria Borghese), while elsewhere, a different one is being created. Would you like some bibliography on this topic?
How do you imagine the future? Could you share three ideas that you think will guide the coming years?
I know the answer to that! There are three: research, conversation, and generosity.