Modern Art and Architecture

By the 18th century, painting in Bologna had run out of ideas, and almost nothing of value was produced. The low ebb of art did not prevent churches and cathedrals from being demolished or redecorated in the worst possible taste, no doubt destroying much earlier work in the process.

The big museums often end with a section of 19th-century painting, and though the names are obscure, and the styles and subject matter not especially original, these are always worth a look; local painting shows a definite academicism but there are also some excellent portraits and genre scenes that offer interesting glimpses of 19th-century life.

Architecturally, if you see anything in the cities that looks too medieval to be true, with Gothic mullioned windows and carved coats of arms, it probably dates from the period 1890–1930, which saw a fad for romantic and imagi4native restorations of genuine medieval buildings. Bologna produced its own Viollet-le-Duc in Alfonso Rubbiani, who remodelled the palaces of Piazza Maggiore and much else in the city.