Mainolfi/Sculptures Bestiario (Bestiary)

The Reggia of Venaria displays a group of over 20 sculptures created between 1978 and 2020 by Luigi Mainolfi.

The title of the exhibition, Bestiario, originates from the zoomorphic-themed sculptures, referring to the medieval manuscripts, illuminated with both real and imaginary animals, like the fantastic zoology of Jorge Luis Borges.
A recurring theme for Mainolfi, who is already the author of the Bestiario del Sole (Bestiary of the Sun) with polychrome metamorphic creatures, between myth and fairy tale.

Mainolfi's Bestiary creeps into the architecture, invades the green geometries of the Gardens and comes into contact with the living presence of fawns and other wildlife in the park and surrounding woods.
These fantastic, mutant creatures communicate with the fables and the animals painted and molded in the Reggia, dedicated in the 17th century to the myth of Diana, goddess of the moon and the hunt.

On the terraces of the Clock-tower stand out the Caprette blu (Little Blue Goats), the Struzzo (Ostrich), the Gabbie (Cages), Cervallo piramide and Solcavallo, created as an iron design.

Beyond the Court of Honour, colourful zoomorphic Bandiere (Flags) and Alatino are in the Loggia of the Hall of Diana.

In the 18th-century Gran Parterre of the Upper Park there are the Centaure, Titan and then Apesse and other animals in bronze with imaginative names and appearance: Malat, Nominon femina e Nominon oro, Scosso, the Silontes and Soltitan.

In the Juvarra’s Church of St. Hubert, two Isole (Islands) emerge, two sculptures, with the appearance of large bronze shells with marble, wood and water, suspended on sharp peduncles, like holy water stoups, landed on distant Archipelagos. 

Curated by Guido Curto and Clara Goria