The Unfinished at the Musei Capitolini: poetics and execution technique

The Unfinished: between poetics and execution technique — Pinacoteca, Musei Capitolini

The exhibition at the Pinacoteca of the Musei Capitolini explores the stages of making artworks, showing how incompletion and execution choices relate to artistic intention. Curated by Costanza Barbieri and Claudio Seccaroni, the show combines non-invasive diagnostic methods—commonly used in conservation—to reconstruct creative processes and workshop practices.

The display gathers mainly 16th–17th century paintings alongside ancient pieces: each work is supported by didactic material that clarifies preparatory phases, corrections and deliberately unfinished areas.

• Scientific approach: infrared reflectography and other diagnostic tools reveal underdrawings, incisions and subsequent paint layers;
• Key examples: a 3rd-century strigilated sarcophagus with roughly sketched faces; Garofalo paintings showing workshop conventions and varying completion levels;
• Guido Reni section: a dedicated gallery with works from the Sacchetti collection illustrating the softer definition and late style variants of the Bolognese painter;
• Scholarly material: catalogue by Artemide featuring scientific reports and art-historical essays.

Notable cases include the sarcophagus where faces appear only roughly modeled—an intentional choice, with portrait features sometimes added later at the patron's request. Infrared reflectography on a Garofalo composition painted on the reverse of a Sacra Conversazione reveals preparatory incisions and differing execution strategies between workshop assistants and the master.

The Guido Reni room contains works characterized by attenuated color application and indistinct contours—traits valued by the Sacchetti family and useful today for reading the late phases of the artist's career.

The catalogue complements the exhibition with curator introductions, restoration and diagnostic studies, and essays addressing the notion of the 'unfinished' in artists such as Leonardo, Michelangelo and Titian. Among the contributions, a philological reading offers an iconographic analysis that benefits both specialists and an informed public.

Overall, the installation merges scientific inquiry with historical interpretation, turning unfinished works into educational moments to understand techniques, workshop routines and aesthetic choices: a recommended visit for those who wish to delve into the creation processes behind works preserved at the Musei Capitolini.