The Borghese Gallery, in collaboration with the Museum of Oriental Art in Turin, presents two wonderful sculptures by the Mongolian artist Zanabazar, proposing an unusual relationship between East and West: with this exhibition, the Gallery effectively creates a bridge between European and Asian Baroque.
In the century of Gian Lorenzo Bernini, a genius of the European Baroque, an equally pivotal artistic figure emerged in Asia: Zanabazar (1635-1723) who became the highest authority on Tibetan Buddhism in Mongolia, venerated as the reincarnation of one of the Buddha's direct disciples. He was also the greatest Mongolian sculptor of the modern age. His depictions of Tara, a female deity of refined beauty associated with protection and spiritual liberation, are famous. Like Bernini in Europe, Zanabazar was indeed the proponent of a new artistic language; two very distant worlds, therefore, sharing a single creative force capable of changing the history of art. The two works on display - a green Tara and a bronze self-portrait sculpture of Zanabazar himself enthroned - come from the Chinggis Khan National Museum in Ulaanbaatar and are presented to the public for the first time - in Italy and Europe - in an unprecedented comparison.
Born on the Asian steppe, within one of the largest empires ever, Eshidorji belonged to the noble lineage of Genghis Khan. Having become famous by his spiritual name, Zanabazar, he was recognized as Öndör Gegeen, ("His Holiness the Enlightened One"): the first Khutuktu Jetsundamba, the title of the highest religious authority of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism in Mongolia; a spiritual leader of exceptional charisma, Zanabazar was also a brilliant linguist. He and his disciples created works deeply inspired by travels and stays in Tibetan monasteries, worshipped as sacred objects in the places of worship and temples he founded throughout Mongolia. Among these, the depictions of Tara, female manifestations of Buddha, deities associated with protection, liberation, and the inner states of being, stand out for their high aesthetic value. Thanks to his artistic prowess, Zanabazar succeeded in spreading Buddhism in Mongolia on an unprecedented scale, making it accessible to ordinary believers by creating sculptures with natural and harmonious forms.
The project ideally stems from the exhibition Global Baroque. The World in Rome at the Time of Bernini, organized in collaboration with the Scuderie del Quirinale and curated by Francesca Cappelletti and Francesco Freddolini. Drawing on this exhibition, the Galleria Borghese has developed a project that explores the complex relationships between figures and artifacts seemingly distant in historical, geographical, and technical context, yet incredibly similar in their creative spirit and ability to influence art in the spirit of "global Baroque."
For visitors, this is a unique opportunity to admire works usually kept tens of thousands of kilometers apart, brought together for the first time as expressions of the same historical moment.
Photo: official poster of the exhibition
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