Robilant+Voena returns to Frieze Masters with an impressive presentation of Old Master paintings and drawings – including a portrait by Joshua Reynolds and a rare watercolour by J.M.W. Turner – alongside Post-War Italian and international modern masters, across painting, drawing and sculpture.
Alongside paintings by Giambattista Tiepolo – recently exhibited at the Morgan Library and Museum, New York – and Anne-Louis Girodet, a highlight of our Old Master selection is a portrait by Joshua Reynolds, one of the most important English artists of the 18th century. His portrait of the infamous societal figure Nancy Horton has a rich provenance, formerly belonging in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Another remarkable piece is a rare watercolour by J.M.W. Turner, one of his last Swiss subjects still in private hands. This work was much coveted by John Ruskin, hailed by the critic as one of Turner's greatest treatments of the subject.
In the Modern section, R+V offers paintings and ceramics by Lucio Fontana, including an early figurative ceramic, La Novia (1940) coming from a private collection in Argentina, presented for the first time in Europe at Frieze. Works by Agostino Bonalumi and Enrico Castellani, and a late landscape by Giorgio Morandi complement the selection. In conversation with these Italian works are examples by key figures on the international modern art scene, including Sam Francis, René Magritte and Andy Warhol.
Reflecting the gallery’s growing contemporary programme, the presentation reaches a 21st-century climax with works by some of the most significant artists on the international art scene today. The selection includes a colourful mirror work by Michelangelo Pistoletto, echoing R+V's current London exhibition of new works by the legendary Italian artist.
