Between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries Baroque art - the search for wonder, fiction and amazement, for the movement of affections, for pathetic emphasis and ecstasy - brought great protagonists to the fore in Genoa : in painting, sculpture, in the enthralling great dimension of the fresco and in the small, precious dimension of the design, of the fabric, of the majolica. These protagonists, famous and successful artists in their time, were actors in great transformations of taste in the city and were sometimes able to establish themselves on the national and international scene by attracting coveted orders from prestigious clients.

A "superb" Baroque that of Genoa , as the Scuderie del Quirinale entitles the contemporary Roman exhibition SuperBarocco, dedicated to Genoese art between 1650 and 1750.

The Protagonists review. Masterpieces in Genoa 1600 - 1750 is ideally connected to the Roman exhibition and to the Genoese exhibition La Forma della Meraviglia. Masterpieces in Genoa 1600 – 1750 in Palazzo Ducale (March 27 – July 10) to celebrate together, at the same time, this extraordinary artistic season: that of a splendid and astonishing Baroque, which looking at external, "international" models (not only and certainly Rome, but also the space painting of the sixteenth century in Emilia, the rhetoric of light of the Nordic naturalists, Bernini's lively sculpture mediated by the forms of the French Pierre Puget, and other references still), translates them however into a singular and sophisticated language, with figures peculiar and recognizable, which become the 'Genoese' acronym of the activity of their own workshops, interconnected with each other in common references for a refined, brilliant baroque, like an elitist and precious gem.

The exhibition is dedicated to the four sculptures by Filippo Parodi, known as Le Metamorphoses exhibited since the 18th century in the Galleria degli Specchi of the Royal Palace of Genoa : four white marble statues with traces of gilding which represent, according to a consolidated critical tradition, Venus, Adonis , Clizia and Hyacinth.

Probably intended for a garden or in any case an open space, the four statues were introduced into the gallery of the building in via Balbi by Filippo's son, Domenico Parodi, author of the Galleria degli Specchi in the layout wanted, around 1726, by Gerolamo Durazzo .