Faith, Beauty, and Devotion Opens Fall 2023 at the Saladrigas Gallery at Belen Jesuit Preparatory School

The largest exhibition of art from the Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque Periods to be assembled in Miami from a private art collection is heading to South Florida this fall. Faith, Beauty, and Devotion: Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque Paintings is being organized by Federico Gandolfi Vannini, a fourth-generation art dealer and owner of Frascione Arte in Florence, Italy, his wife Daisy Diaz (a native South Floridian) as the Cultural Director of the Gallery, and Sylvie Daubar-San Juan, Humanities Department Chairperson and Director of the Olga M. & Carlos A. Saladrigas Art Gallery at Belen Jesuit Preparatory School.

“This collection from Italy, now arriving in America for the first time, is the embodiment of our family’s constant and passionate pursuit of representations of beauty and history,” comments Vannini. “Belen Jesuit, with its tradition of faith, is the ideal setting to highlight the intrinsic meaning of the work of art: its Divine message.” The Frascione Fine Art Collection was founded in 1893 by Enrico Frascione, Vannini’s great-grandfather.

“In a cultural landscape dominated by contemporary art, this historic exhibition will provide a rare opportunity to view works by European masters such as Venetian painter Tintoretto, and Baroque artist Peter Paul Rubens,” says Daubar-San Juan, who will oversee the curation of 30 historically significant artworks loaned by Frascione Arte to Belen Jesuit.

Dates and Programming

From mid-September through Art Basel/Miami Art Week 2023, the South Florida community will be invited to encounter works of art tracing the Western canon of art history from the thirteenth to the seventeenth centuries. The exhibition will be housed in the Olga M. & Carlos A. Saladrigas Art Gallery at Belen Jesuit Preparatory School at 500 SW 127 Avenue, Miami, FL 33184.

A VIP Opening Reception will be held on September 14, and the public opening will be on September 16. In addition to the exhibition, visitors can anticipate a robust schedule of programming such as lectures, panels, dinners, and both small and large gatherings. Detailed information will be posted on the event website in the coming weeks.

About Frascione Arte (Florence)

Frascione Arte is located on Via Maggio (Oltrarno District), in Florence (Firenze) and known historically as the city’s most important commercial artery when the Medici family transferred their court to the Palazzo Pitti in the 16th Century.  The gallery is steps away from Piazza Pitti and lavish Boboli Gardens, Ponte Vecchio, Duomo, Uffizi Gallery, and other key cultural hubs in Florence.

Art lovers will welcome a glimpse of “the center of the Renaissance” in Miami. Additionally, Vannini and Diaz offer a wealth of knowledge and insights that expose the hidden mysteries behind meticulously preserved paintings that have selectively transferred hands from the original patrons to private collectors and museums in Europe, East Asia, and the United States.

Faith, Beauty, and Devotion will include both sacred and secular artworks from Italian and Flemish Masters, including among others:

• Umbrian master close to Rinaldo di Ranuccio (c. 1300)
• Tintoretto (full name Jacopo Robusti; 1518 – 1594)
• Circle of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (Italian, 1562-1609)
• Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640)
• Valerio Castello (1624-1659)

The full list of paintings will be announced in the coming months.

“We are honored to host such an impressive collection of art at Belen Jesuit,” said Fr. Guillermo M. García-Tuñón, S.J., President of Belen Jesuit Preparatory School. “From the perspective of an educator, this is an exciting opportunity for our students to see works of art in person. From an art aficionado perspective, I’m incredibly excited to see firsthand not only the religious art that will be part of this exhibition but the other paintings as well. We are fortunate to have the Olga & Carlos Saladrigas Art Gallery on our campus and look forward to welcoming the community to see this fantastic exhibition.”

About Belen Jesuit Preparatory School

The Society of Jesus is both a missionary and a teaching Roman Catholic religious order since Pope Paul III founded it at the request of Saint Ignatius of Loyola in 1540.  The motto of the Society, "Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam," indicates its goal to help all men and women to live according to Christ's example of love and service. The Jesuits dedicated themselves to spreading the Gospel in mission lands and to the apostolate of education very early in their history. 

The Jesuits founded Belen Jesuit Preparatory School in 1854 in Havana, Cuba.  In 1961, when the new political regime confiscated Belen and all private schools, the school was re-established in Miami that same year and has grown over the last five decades. Currently, the enrollment is nearly 1,400 male students in grades 6 to 12 and over seven thousand alumni. The Ignatian Center for the Arts includes the 665-seat, state-of-the-art Ophelia & Juan Js. Roca Theater and the 3,200 square-foot Olga M. & Carlos A. Saladrigas Art Gallery. The Saladrigas Gallery displays several professionally curated exhibits annually, a young artists exhibit, a Belen community art show, and numerous other projects.