BELLUM PUNICA de Francano

The exhibition Bellum Punica , created by the artist Francano, brings to life the history of the Second Punic War through detailed terracotta sculptures painted in oil. Coinciding with the 36th edition of the Carthaginians and Romans Festival, this exhibition from the "Rosique Moya Collection" pays profound homage to the city's ancient past, a key setting in the conflict between Rome and Carthage in the 3rd century BC.

The artistic display captures the drama, strategy, and heroism of the key figures on both sides. On the Carthaginian side, the most prominent are Hamilcar Barca, the initiator of the Punic dream; Hasdrubal the Fair, founder of Qart-Hadasht; and Hannibal Barca, the great strategist who began the war after capturing Saguntum alongside his wife, the Iberian princess Himilce. Opposing them are the Iberian leaders Orison and Tagus, who resisted Carthaginian expansion.

The Roman side is led by the brilliant general Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus, the architect of the audacious capture of the city in 209 BC, accompanied by his influential wife Aemilia Paula and the commander Gaius Laelius. The exhibition also immortalizes soldiers such as Sextus Digitius and Quintus Trebellius, whose dispute over the mural crown gave rise to the current coat of arms of Cartagena. The exhibition concludes with the figure of Emperor Augustus, who pacified Hispania and built monuments for Carthago Nova.

Bellum Punica opens in the Roman theater of Cartagena, one of the great works commissioned by Augustus in Roman Hispania, but the exhibition is not only a display of technical mastery, but also a tactile journey to the heart of the protagonists who shaped our land. Historical figures who, thanks to Francano's hands, come back to life to tell us their story.

About Francano

Francisco Cánovas Carretero, known artistically as "Francano," trained at the School of Arts and Crafts in Murcia and later earned a degree in Fine Arts from the University of Valencia. After completing his studies, he worked for seven years at various sculpture schools in Germany. Upon his return to Spain, he began to build extensive collections for some of the country's most prestigious art collectors.

A prominent member of the "Young Sculptors of the Murcian Baroque School" group, he has focused much of his career on Holy Week imagery and Nativity figures. In fact, at just nineteen years old, he was selected to model the Nativity figures for the Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba. Currently, he combines his regular work with a new sculptural project inspired by figures from the classical world and the Roman Empire.

His international prestige is reflected in prominent institutional and hotel commissions. Among these are the relief plaque commemorating the centenary of the historic Westin Palace Hotel in Madrid, as well as a bust of King Alfonso XIII for the royal suite of the Gran Hotel in Rome, located in the room where the monarch lived and died in exile. He is also the creator of the bust of John Paul II that presides over the headquarters of the Episcopal Diocese of Toledo and the recreation of the Face of Christ from the Shroud of Turin, kept in the Vatican. In the field of exhibitions, he has curated several shows in Madrid dedicated to the Spanish Golden Age and to the figure of the great master Leonardo da Vinci.

BELLUM PUNICA by Francano
Rosique Moya Collection
Temporary exhibition hall of the Roman Theatre Museum of Cartagena from September 17 to November 16
Plaza del Ayuntamiento nº 9
30201 Cartagena
www.teatroromanocartagena.org

Artistic production
Francisco Cánovas, Francano

Roman Theatre Foundation of Cartagena:
Cartagena City Council,
Autonomous Community of the Region of Murcia,
Caja Murcia Foundation

Iberdrola Foundation collaborates