The artwork by Cosroe Dusi that shows Romeo and Juliet’s encounter arrives in Verona. It was acquired by the Veronese Civic Museums, and starting on Wednesday, March 6 at 11 a.m., Juliet’s House will have the 1838 piece permanently on exhibit. After making just one public appearance over two centuries ago, this astonishingly valuable masterpiece now has a new home in the city of lovers.
Dusi’s creations will be on display in the Ballroom in connection with Pietro Roi’s 1882 opera “Juliet,” as well as stage costumes designed by Danilo Donati for Zeffirelli’s well-known 1968 film. The initial phase of a new exhibition design proposal concerning Juliet’s House is symbolized by the two masterpieces from the nineteenth century by Cosroe Dusi and Pietro Roi.
Cosroe Dusi’s masterpiece
Large in scale and in excellent condition of preservation, the artwork shows Romeo and Juliet’s nighttime meeting at the young Capulet’s home. Romeo, using the rope ladder that hangs from the foreshortened balustrade on the left, climbs to the balcony, or loggia, where he hugs Juliet and gives her a loving gaze. The two lovers stand out for their melancholy expressiveness, which is laced with tenderness, and for the preciousness of their clothing, which plays on the contrasted palette of vivid red for Romeo’s cloak and white for Juliet’s, which represents the dichotomy between purity and desire.
