4/3/03

Agnelli collection goes to final home

Before his death from cancer earlier this year at the age of 81, Gianni Agnelli had seen to fruition the donation of his collection for permanent display in Turin. The venue is a £13 million building by Renzo Piano. The building stands overlooking the famous test track, the Lingotto, made famous by Fiat. The collection contains seven Matisse works, a Renoir, a Manet and a Modigliani. There is also Giacomo Balla's ‘Abstract Speed’, which eulogises the car. From the 18th century, there are six views of Venice by Canaletto, as well as Tiepolo's ‘Halberdier in a Landscape’ (the other half of which is in the National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh).