28/09/2026
Not everything at BIAF is solemn.
Bartolomeo Passerotti
(Bologna, 1529–1592)
Due vecchi che amoreggiano
Oil on canvas, 54 × 70.5 cm
A particularly curious and rare painting by Bartolomeo Passerotti, a leading figure in Bolognese art of the second half of the sixteenth century.
Through a distinctive combination of naturalistic observation, acute attention to physiognomy, and a subtle satirical vein, Passerotti explores the theme of love in old age, transforming it into a refined meditation on vanity, desire, and the fleeting nature of beauty. In doing so, he anticipates some of the developments of genre painting in the following century.
The subject belongs to the sixteenth-century tradition of the “ill-matched couple,” particularly widespread in Northern European painting, which Passerotti reinterprets with remarkable freedom and a distinctly personal sense of irony.
The painting also has a noteworthy collecting history. It once belonged to Federico Zeri, one of the most important art historians of the twentieth century, who devoted particular attention to Passerotti’s genre scenes.
The canvas has also been associated with the celebrated “Allegra compagnia”, now in the Musée du Grand Siècle in Nanterre and formerly in the collection of Pierre Rosenberg.
A rare and singular work, bringing together iconographic originality, pictorial quality, and a distinguished provenance.
