Herbert Golser - Palazzo Roveresco
HERBERT GOLSER
L’Anima Del Legno
curated by Riccardo Freddo and Luca Baroni
Golser’s sustainable art engages in dialogue with the Renaissance: abandoned wood comes back to life in the historic rooms of Palazzo Roveresco.
A tribute to Lavinia Feltria della Rovere, Princess of Urbino and enlightened patron of the 16th century. July 26 – September 6, 2025
Sat–Sun 10am–6pm; Mon–Fri by appointment only
OPENING: July 26 | 6:00 PM
Palazzo Roveresco di Montebello - Via Montebello, 61038 Montebello PU
From July 26th to September 6th, 2025, the historic rooms of the Renaissance Palazzo Roveresco in Montebello, a hamlet of Orciano di Pesaro in the heart of the Marche region – once home to Lavinia Feltria della Rovere, one of the most fascinating female figures of the Italian Renaissance – will host The Soul of Wood by Herbert Golser, curated by Riccardo Freddo and Luca Baroni.
After his solo exhibition in the underground fortress of the Rocca Paolina in Perugia, the Austrian artist continues his exploration in another symbolic site of Italian heritage, investigating the relationship between strength and fragility in materials, and the process of reconnection between humanity and nature. At the core of his work lies the skilful use of the energy stored within an organic, ancient, and solid material like wood, which Golser transforms into living art, shaped over time by air, moisture, and heat through wooden sculptures and meticulous, delicate carvings.
Broken branches, abandoned trunks, discarded (yet living) scraps are selected and transformed by the artist into works of art. Nothing is wasted; everything is regenerated. In this act of giving back to the material, Golser embraces a profoundly contemporary ethic of making, where wood is transfigured into a living presence, full of memory and possibility.
Curated by Riccardo Freddo and Luca Baroni, The Soul of Wood represents the first step in a long-term curatorial vision aimed at restoring Palazzo Roveresco di Montebello to an active role in the production and promotion of contemporary art. Inspired by the spirit of the cultural circle fostered by Lavinia Feltria, the project aspires to create dialogue among contemporary artists from various international contexts in a place where history, research, and shared memory converge.
An educated and charismatic figure, Lavinia Feltria managed to carve out a prominent role in the male- dominated world of Renaissance patronage. Raised at the court of Urbino, she spoke fluent Latin and French and corresponded with intellectuals and artists of her time; she was also acquainted with Torquato Tasso, who stayed at the Roveresco court and composed several verses in her honor. It is also said that she was passionate about botany and had rare medicinal plants cultivated in the palace gardens, following the herbal treatises of the time.
After her husband’s death, Lavinia lived in seclusion in Montebello, surrounded by a circle of artists, writers, and clerics. A chronicle from the time mentions that she kept a collection of natural objects and relics in her personal study, including a wooden fragment of unknown origin that she considered a “bearer
of memory.” A detail that today finds an unexpected echo in Golser’s works, in which wood is not just a plastic material, but a spiritual and sensitive archive.
“Golser’s work reminds us that matter is never silent. The wood he works with carries a story made of time, layers, and silences. His works do not impose themselves, but present themselves as presences to be listened to, capable of creating subtle relationships between space, memory, and vision. With this exhibition, we curators wish to revive Lavinia Feltria della Rovere’s profound intuition – in these very rooms she brought together the artists and thinkers of her time, giving them space to create and reflect. We begin here, with a great international artist like Golser, to open a new season of cultural dialogue,” says Riccardo Freddo.
Herbert Golser (Golling, 1960) lives and works in Lower Austria. Specializing in wood and marble sculpture, he transforms material with extraordinary finesse, pushing it toward forms of extreme lightness and transparency. A graduate with honors from the University of Applied Arts in Vienna under the guidance of Bruno Gironcoli, he has exhibited in numerous international contexts across Austria, Italy, Switzerland, and Hungary. His works, suspended between the archaic and the contemporary, give voice to a silent and profound poetics, capable of interrogating matter in its purest essence.
Riccardo Freddo is a curator and specialist in contemporary art with a solid international background. A graduate of LUISS, he studied at Stanford and completed a thesis on art investing under the supervision of Columbia University. He has worked for Paddle8, Christie’s, and Sotheby’s in New York, London, and Los Angeles, and directed a private collection in Paris. After completing a master’s in Marché de l’Art at the Sorbonne, he founded The Place of Silence, an artist residency in Umbria, in 2023. He is currently Institutional and Museum Liaison for the Rosenfeld Gallery in London.
