Federico Giannini, Ilaria Baratta
Gli articoli firmati Finestre sull'Arte sono scritti a quattro mani da Federico Giannini e Ilaria Baratta. Insieme abbiamo fondato Finestre sull'Arte nel 2009. Clicca qui per scoprire chi siamo
Entrepreneurs and art patrons of today's Tuscany: who they are and what they do
Tuscany is not only celebrated for its beautiful landscapes and unparalleled artistic heritage, but also for a tradition of patronage that has spanned the centuries. Today, this noble practice finds expression in modern business and professional patr...Read more...
Sandro Botticelli's Primavera, the very image of the beautiful season
When one thinks of a work of art that succeeds in embodying the essence of spring, probably the image that will most easily come to mind will be that of Botticelli's Primavera , at the risk of being a bit trite. Few paintings, however, have reached t...Read more...
The Fasti of Elizabeth Farnese: mundane-political chronicle of an eighteenth-century royal wedding
A memorable undertaking for a memorable wedding. One could summarize thus, in seven words, the Fasti di Elisabetta Farnese cycle, the series of paintings that was commissioned from Ilario Mercanti known as the Spolverini (Parma, 1657 - 1734) on the o...Read more...
A fresh look at some famous paintings by Leonardo da Vinci. Martin Kemp's lecture
Leonardo da Vinci is a "painter of light." This is how art historian Professor Martin Kemp, a longtime lecturer at Oxford University and one of the foremost experts on the great Tuscan artist, defined him during a lecture entitled Leonardo da Vinci....Read more...
The Portrait of a Lady in Red: at the origins of Bronzino's portraiture
For a long time the scientific community has been wondering about the identity of the lady depicted in the Portrait of a Lady in Red, one of the masterpieces of the Städel Museum in Frankfurt. But it has also long wondered about the identity of ...Read more...
Like a fairy tale. Elizabeth Farnese, the princess who became queen of Spain.
A sweet, good-hearted, intelligent princess, but also strong-willed and determined: this is how we must imagine, at least according to the accounts of her contemporaries, the temperament of Elisabetta Farnese (Parma, 1692 - Aranjuez, 1766), princess ...Read more...
Gian Lorenzo Bernini's Apollo and Daphne, the most spectacular of the bourgeois groups
"He who loves and pursues the joys of fleeting beauty, fills his hand with foliage and plucks bitter berries." This is the couplet that can be read at the base ofApollo and Daphne, the masterpiece by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (Naples, 1598 - Rome, 1680) p...Read more...
Madonna with the Long Neck, Parmigianino's unfinished masterpiece
Lost in antiquity is the origin of the nickname by which the Madonna with the Long Neck, the masterpiece by Parmigianino (Francesco Mazzola; Parma, 1503 - Casalmaggiore, 1540), now housed in the Uffizi, is known today. The work is known thus ab antiq...Read more...
Piero della Francesca's Madonna del Parto, one of the most beautiful images of motherhood
An intense and profound scene from Valerio Zurlini's 1972 film La prima notte di quiete stars Alain Delon, who plays the role of Professor Daniele Domenici, and Sonia Petrova, who plays his student Vanina Abati in the film: the two young people find ...Read more...
Van Gogh exhibition in Milan, why yes and why no: double review
Why yes. Federico Giannini The mythographies that hover around the figure of Vincent van Gogh have long prevented the exhibition occasions dedicated to him from delving into the intricate complexity of his figure, far removed from that idea of the o...Read more...
The Greccio nativity scene of St. Francis according to Giotto
In one of the scenes frescoed by Giotto in the cycle of the Stories of St. Francis that adorns the walls of the Upper Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi, one can see the saint, kneeling in front of a kind of box, with a child in his hands: this is the...Read more...
Women patrons in Tuscany: female patronage from the 16th to the early 20th century
The topic of female patronage has begun to appear in the field of art history studies in recent years. In the field of gender studies, there has recently been a flourishing of research that has largely focused on women artists, and at most a few pion...Read more...
About Achille Funi futurist (or ... of Funi futurism)
"This very strong painter sums up in a vision that is almost always personal, rough and sincere, all the concerns of modern painting." Thus defining Achille Funi (Ferrara, 1890 - Appiano Gentile, 1972), in 1916, was Umberto Boccioni, who in an articl...Read more...
Patronage in 15th century Florence: palaces, chapels, works
In 1472, there were more woodcarvers than butchers in Florence . We know this from the Chronicle of Benedetto Dei, in which 84 stores of "woodcarvers of tarsias and 'ntagliatori" are listed for that year, compared to 70 beccai (the butchers, precise...Read more...
Origins of Patronage. Gaius Cilnius Maecenas and his support of the arts.
The term "patronage" refers to the activity of anyone who favors the arts by granting munificent support to those who produce them (artists, writers, musicians, filmmakers, and so on). The term today mainly designates the activity of companies or ind...Read more...
Giambattista Tiepolo's Apotheosis of the Pisans, the masterpiece of eighteenth-century fiction
Nestled along the banks of the Naviglio del Brenta canal, just a short walk from the center of the town of Stra, stands the "queen of the villas of the Veneto," Villa Pisani, a majestic example of an 18th-century patrician residence, erected beginnin...Read more...
The Chapel of San Severo in Perugia, where Raphael and Perugino painted the same wall
Tucked away among the medieval alleys of Perugia, after a steep climb, is a quiet and little-known place, far from the routes of mass tourism, where it is possible to see two great masters of art history side by side, in comparison, namel...Read more...
The Monteripido Altarpiece: Perugino's work with two faces
In the center of the Perugino room in the National Gallery of Umbria is a particular work by Pietro Vannucci known as Perugino (Città della Pieve, c. 1450 - Fontignano, 1523): it is in fact the Monteripido Altarpiece, an opisthograph altarpie...Read more...
The Polyptych of St. Augustine, Perugino's most complicated work
If you visit the Late Perugino room at the National Gallery of Umbria, where works from the extreme phase of the career of Pietro Vannucci known as Perugino (Città della Pieve, 1450 - Fontignano, 1523) are kept, you will notice two panels disp...Read more...
Perugino's Baptism of Christ, the work preserved in his Città della Pieve
Among the masterpieces that Pietro Vannucci, known as Perugino (Città della Pieve, c. 1450 - Fontignano, 1523) created for his home town, Città della Pieve, about an hour from Perugia, and that can still be admired today in the place fo...Read more...
Perugino's Corciano Altarpiece, a masterpiece in the place for which it was born
The small Umbrian village of Corciano preserves in the church of Santa Maria Assunta a masterpiece by Pietro Vannucci known as Perugino (Città della Pieve, c. 1450 - Fontignano, 1523): there are many tourists who come specifically to admire he...Read more...
A Perugino against the plague: the gonfalon of Saints Romano and Rocco of Deruta
Among the most beautiful villages in Italy, Deruta, about fifteen kilometers from Perugia, is known for its production of artistic ceramics, but it is not only the art of ceramics that fascinates anyone who comes to these parts, because in the 14th-c...Read more...
Perugino in the Collegio del Cambio frescoes: the classical and Christian Renaissance
Walking around the Sala delle Udienze (Audience Hall ) of Perugia's Nobile Collegio del Cambio , one will easily spot, on the wall toward the entrance, a self-portrait of the author of the frescoes, Perugino (Pietro Vannucci; Città della Pieve...Read more...
Perugino's Madonna of Consolation, the work the artist did not want to deliver
Art history enthusiasts who frequent social networks are sure to have come across vignettes and "memes" (i.e., humorous images made by putting an ironic comment on a photograph that comes from a different context) a few times that play on theimpassib...Read more...
A cornerstone of the young Perugino: the Farneto PietÃ
Over the course of his career Perugino (Pietro Vannucci; Città della Pieve, c. 1450 - Fontignano, 1523) made several gonfalons, or banners that were usually painted on canvas because they were intended to be carried during processions, and thu...Read more...
Late Baroque masterpiece from Genoa rediscovered: Francesco Schiaffino's Immacolata
A villa in the Turin area, a late 19th-century photograph discovered by chance, the determination of two young antiquarians. And, above all, the rediscovery of a masterpiece of 18th-century Genoese sculpture that, after more than a century, h...Read more...
Perugino's Adoration of the Magi, the masterpiece with which the painter introduced himself to the world
In his Lives, Giorgio Vasari does not give an enthusiastic judgment of theAdoration of the Magi that Perugino (Pietro Vannucci; Città della Pieve, c. 1448 - Fontignano, 1523) painted for the church of Santa Maria dei Servi in Perugia, now pres...Read more...
Caravaggio's enigmatic Bacchus, the early masterpiece at the Uffizi.
Today, Caravaggio 's Bacchus (Michelangelo Merisi; Milan, 1571 - Porto Ercole, 1610) is one of the most famous paintings in the history of art, one of those for which people purposefully queue to enter the Uffizi. But a little more than a hundred yea...Read more...
Botticelli's Venus, a symbol of the Renaissance
Sandro Botticelli 's Birth of Venus is a masterpiece for which adjectives have now run out. Celebrated by poets and men of letters, the very image of the Renaissance, the Florentine in particular and the Italian in general, turned into...Read more...
Bronzino's Allegory with Venus and Cupid: a complex intellectual drama
A "drama of intellectual hysteria" in which a complex tangle of symbols, formal interlocking games, ideational abstraction and chromatic abstraction add up: this is how Andrea Emiliani defined Bronzino 'sAllegory (Agnolo di Cosimo Tori; Florence, 150...Read more...
The Bentivoglio diptych by Ercole de' Roberti: a masterpiece of Renaissance portraiture
The Bentivoglio diptych, preserved at the National Gallery in Washington, can be seen until June 19 at the exhibition "Renaissance in Ferrara. Ercole de' Roberti and Lorenzo Costa," curated by Vittorio Sgarbi and Michele Danieli. A pair of elegant g...Read more...
Benvenuto Cellini's Perseus. The story of a masterpiece of Mannerism.
There is a particular anecdote that is often told around Benvenuto Cellini 's Perseus with the Head of Medusa (Florence, 1500 - 1571), the Florentine sculptor's great bronze masterpiece, the symbolic monument of Mannerism, more than five meters high,...Read more...
Wiligelmo's Genesis plates, in Modena the masterpiece of a terrible revolutionary
The expressive power of Wiligelmo's Stories of Genesis, the masterpiece of Romanesque sculpture that decorates the facade of Modena Cathedral, has very few equals in the history of art: this was the conviction of Francesco Arcangeli, among the greate...Read more...
Simone Martini's Annunciation, a summit of the Sienese school.
On Jan. 10, 1799, Simone Martini and Lippo Memmi 'sAnnunciation left the small oratory of Sant'Ansano in Castelvecchio in Siena, also known as the church of the Prisons of Sant'Ansano, and departed for Florence, where it was to reach the Uffizi by or...Read more...
From Nicola Pisano to Michelangelo in one monument. The Ark of San Domenico in Bologna
When, in the Basilica of St. Dominic in Bologna, one enters the chapel dedicated to the Spanish saint and looks at theArk of St. Dominic, the monument that holds his remains, one is immediately captivated by the monument's grandeur, fascinated by its...Read more...
Rosso Fiorentino's Deposition: a chilling hallucination
One of the most beautiful, most evocative and most famous descriptions of Rosso Fiorentino's Deposition, the masterpiece by Giovanni Battista di Jacopo (Florence, 1494 - Fontainebleau, 1540) kept at the Pinacoteca Civica in Volterra, can be read betw...Read more...
Domenico Veneziano's Magnoli Altarpiece: when Florence discovered light.
There is a primacy to be accorded to the Santa Lucia dei Magnoli Altarpiece, better known, more simply, as the "Magnoli Altarpiece," the masterpiece by Domenico Veneziano (Venice, c. 1410 - Florence, 1461) preserved in the Uffizi. A premise is necess...Read more...
Leonardo da Vinci's Lady with an Ermine, the first portrait in modern history
A painting that has entered the collective imagination, copied and reproduced, a continuous source of inspiration even beyond art, the subject of a thousand parodies: it can be said without a shadow of a doubt that the Lady with an Ermine by Leonardo...Read more...
Medardo Rosso's Ecce Puer, a masterpiece of modernity between presence and absence
Impression d'enfant, Enfant anglais, Portrait de l'enfant Alfred Mond, Enfant de Nazareth: these are many of the titles by whichEcce Puer, perhaps Medardo Rosso 's (Turin, 1858 - Milan, 1928) best-known masterpiece, is known. This is thelast original...Read more...
Baroque Pontremoli: the sites and masterpieces of the Pontremoli Baroque period
If one wished to list the capitals of the Baroque, perhaps the collective imagination would hardly grant the town of Pontremoli one of the first places on the list: yet, between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the important center of Lunigi...Read more...
Guido Reni's Samson the Victorious, a symbol of ideal beauty
It is curious to think that Guido Reni 's Samson Victorious (Bologna, 1575 - 1642), one of the most famous works of the seventeenth century, now preserved at the Pinacoteca Nazionale in Bologna, was originally intended to decorate a fireplace: in fac...Read more...
Verrocchio and Leonardo da Vinci's Baptism of Christ: when pupil and master collaborate
A great many artists in the history of art have tried their hand at the theme of the Baptism of Christ, but perhaps no painting with this subject is as singular as the one by Verrocchio (Andrea di Michele di Francesco di Cione; Florence, 1435 - Venic...Read more...
For eighty cents! The hard work of the mondine in Angelo Morbelli's masterpiece
On January 18, 1895, Giuseppe Pellizza da Volpedo wrote to Angelo Morbelli (Alessandria, 1853 - Milan, 1919) to congratulate him on his progress with the work the artist was making at the time, his masterpiece Per ottanta centesimi!, now preserved in...Read more...
Paolo Uccello's Equestrian Monument to Giovanni Acuto, a symbol of the Renaissance
Driving north along the road connecting Cortona to Castiglion Fiorentino, one will notice on the right the Castle of Montecchio Vesponi: until the end of the 14th century, this fortress belonged to the English condottiere John Hawkwood (Sible Heding...Read more...
Giorgione's Tempest, the mystery no one has yet solved
Few paintings in the history of art have caused as much talk and discussion as Giorgione 's The Tempest (Giorgio Barbarelli; Castelfranco Veneto, 1478 - Venice, 1510), preserved at the Accademia Gallery in Venice, a work of art exactly as mysterious ...Read more...
Carrara marble in art. History of its use in monuments
The Roman poet Claudius Rutilius Namazianus, active in the fifth century A.D., was among the first to record in literature the wonder everyone feels at the Apuan Alps and the white marble that stains these mountains on the border between Tusc...Read more...
The Pisanello Tournament in Mantua. The story of the exciting discovery of a spectacular cycle
"One of the most important acquisitions in the field of art history in the 20th century": this is how, and rightly so, the director of the Ducal Palace in Mantua, Stefano L'Occaso, defines the discovery of the Arthurian cycle that one of the greatest...Read more...
The elegance of power. Bronzino's Portrait of Eleanor of Toledo.
At the Uffizi, in the center of the "Hall of Dynasties," stands one of the most famous portraits of the 16th century: the Portrait of Eleanor of Toledo with her son Giovanni de' Medici, one of the greatest masterpieces by Bronzino (Agnolo Tori; Flore...Read more...
When Pietro Annigoni painted a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II of England.
When Pietro Annigoni (Milan, 1910 - Florence, 1988) was commissioned in 1954 to paint a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II of England, at first he thought it was a joke. He had been given a letter from the Worshipful Company of Fishmongers, also kno...Read more...
Santa Maria della Vittoria in Gubbio: the church where St. Francis tamed the wolf
The church of Santa Maria della Vittoria, or of the "Vittorina" as it is otherwise known, stands at the edge of a verdant park, dotted with olive trees, holm oaks and plane trees, that slopes down a gentle slope just outside the historic center of Gu...Read more...
The Riace Bronzes. History of the two masterpieces of Greek sculpture.
The extraordinary story of the Riace Bronzes, the two sculptures of Greek origin, dated to the fifth century B.C. and now housed at the National Archaeological Museum in Reggio Calabria, began on August 16, 1972: on that day, the young Roman amateur ...Read more...
The erotic ceramics of the National Archaeological Museum in Tarquinia.
The room of ancient ceramics of the National Archaeological Museum of Tarquinia is one of the passages of the visit itinerary of Palazzo Vitelleschi where the public lingers the longest, given the vastness and importance of the collection of ...Read more...
Lunigiana stele statues, the ancient prehistoric sculptures of the Apuan Ligurians
The modern history of the stele statues of Lunigiana, the peculiar prehistoric monuments typical of the lands that straddle Liguria and Tuscany, begins on a precise date, December 29, 1827, and in a precise place, the locality Novà di Zign...Read more...
Around Piero della Francesca's Baptism. The Polyptych of Matteo di Giovanni in Sansepolcro.
Visitors walking through the halls of the Civic Museum of Sansepolcro, after admiring the masterpieces by Piero della Francesca preserved here (the Polyptych of Mercy, the San Giuliano, the San Ludovico di Tolosa and the splendid Resurrection, ...Read more...
Villa Durazzo in Santa Margherita Ligure, a splendid 17th-century Genoese mansion
Villa Durazzo in Santa Margherita Ligure, splendid mansion of seventeenth-century GenoaA splendid abode of summer pleasures: thus was born Villa Durazzo, a sumptuous residence in Santa Margherita Ligure, surrounded by a lush park, a very high and wel...Read more...
The Church ship: a propaganda image of the Counter-Reformation
A rare iconographic subject from the age of the Counter-Reformation links two beautiful northern Italian cities, Mantua and Riva del Garda: that of the ship of the Church Triumphant. In the Lombard city, the church of San Francesco preserves ...Read more...
What a seventeenth-century Wunderkammer looked like: the Gonzaga's Metamorphosis Gallery
It was Vincenzo I Gonzaga, in 1595, who began the Galleria delle Metamorfosi, destined to become a few years later one of the most astonishing rooms in the Ducal Palace in Mantua, home to the ducal library and a varied and eclectic collection...Read more...
Pontormo's Deposition, a nonconformist masterpiece that breaks with tradition
The role of Pontormo 's (Jacopo Carucci; Pontorme di Empoli, 1494 - Florence, 1557) Deposition as the founding masterpiece of the historical period that is called "Mannerism" in the manuals is now acknowledged, despite the fact that the work ...Read more...
A garden in a first-century B.C.E. room: the viridarium of Livia at the National Roman Museum
All those who visit the National Roman Museum for the first time at the site of the Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, just across the street from Roma Termini station, can hardly hold back their amazement when, in the halls of the paintings, toward...Read more...
The least known and least visited part of the Uffizi. Here's what it is
Hundreds of thousands of visitors every year at the Uffizi pass through the metal detectors on the ground floor, present their tickets, climb panting up the Grand Ducal Staircase (or take the elevator), arrive on the second floor where the tour beg...Read more...
The Chapel of the Magi in the Medici Riccardi Palace in Florence, a masterpiece by Benozzo Gozzoli
"Travelers will see in the Palazzo Riccardi, the former home of the Medici, a very well-preserved chapel by Benozzo Gozzoli. There is a rare profusion of gold in the frescoes, a spontaneous and vivid imitation of nature that makes it precious today...Read more...
That pat on the butt of Mars to Venus. An "erotic climax" by Lavinia Fontana
Among the most interesting recent acquisitions in the catalog of Lavinia Fontana (Bologna, 1552 - Rome, 1614) is a singular work with a unique iconography: Mars and Venus, a work owned by the Fundación Casa de Alba and preserved in Madri...Read more...
Jacopo Zucchi's The Kingdom of Amphitrite: a private painting featuring the cardinal's mistress
In his Lives of painters, sculptors and architects, the painter Giovanni Baglione, in the chapter devoted to the Florentine artist Jacopo Zucchi (Florence, c. 1541 - Rome, 1596) recalls the latter's collaboration with Cardinal Ferdinando de' ...Read more...
The art of Giuseppe Zola, modern landscape painter in eighteenth-century Ferrara
We owe to a critical journey begun in the 1970s, preceded by an isolated and pioneering contribution by Emma Calabi in 1935, the rediscovery of a sensitive, fascinating and singular painter like Giuseppe Zola (Brescia, 1672 - Ferrara, 1743), ...Read more...
The "Domus" of Palazzo Grimani, one of the most spectacular places in Venice
One of the most extraordinary wonders of Venice is located, as is often the case in the lagoon city, in a secluded, almost hidden position: in fact, Palazzo Grimani, the residence of one of the families that most affected the history of Venice, can...Read more...
Young gallery owners Caretto & Occhinegro open space at Antonello Colonna Resort.
"For a long time," say Massimiliano Caretto and Francesco Occhinegro, "we wanted to stop and reflect on the content and expressive power that the Old Masters possess in a timeless way, in ways that elude chronological or art-historical catego...Read more...
To the origins of tennis: the racket game in 16th century works
If one wanders around the rooms of Palazzo Te in Mantua, in one of the rooms immediately after the Camera dei Giganti one cannot help but notice a case that holds three game balls: these are the three "ballette" found right in Palazzo Te, and whi...Read more...
The tribulated history of the Mercatello Cross by Giovanni da Rimini, a masterpiece of the 14th century
By the signature on its vertical arm alone, the painted cross preserved in the church of San Francesco in Mercatello sul Metauro, a village in the Marche Apennines halfway between Urbino and Sansepolcro, could be considered an exceptional work, b...Read more...
Gabriele Gabrielli, an "effective creator of sensations of horror" in early 20th century Livorno
"Gabriele Gabrielli had been painting for only four years. And it was his sudden revelation. He did not come from any school and entered art without any technical preparation. He confessed this himself. He was indeed proud of it." Thus wrote, on ...Read more...
Alfons Walde, the Austrian painter who looked to Klimt and Schiele, and celebrated Kitzbühel
"At a time when painting was in crisis, eclipsed by the disappearance of major Viennese artists such as Klimt and Schiele," wrote art historian Julia Secklehner, "regionalism seemed to offer an opportunity for rejuvenation and a different kind of i...Read more...
A theater of feelings: the Lamentation over the Dead Christ in Lombard Renaissance sculpture
"The narrative of the Italian Renaissance can no longer be solely or predominantly Tuscan-centric," explains Francesca Tasso, curator of the Museum of Decorative Arts and the Museum of Musical Instruments at the Castello Sforzesco in Milan, a...Read more...
Claudia del Bufalo, the seventeenth-century painter of whom we know only one painting
Among the most interesting novelties presented by the recent exhibition Le Signore dell'Arte (in Milan, Palazzo Reale, from March 2 to August 22, 2021) it is possible to include the pioneering though incomplete survey of Claudia del Bufalo (a...Read more...
The Sacred Mount of Varallo: an exciting journey, between faith and great art
The Sacred Mount of Varallo, wrote the great art historian Giovanni Testori, is "one of the most unexpected, greatest and exceptional monuments that art in northern Italy has built, in clear, thoughtful and solemn response to what were the divine t...Read more...
The 1401 competition that changed art history: the challenge between Ghiberti and Brunelleschi
It was the year 1401 when theArte di Calimala, one of the seven Arti Maggiori of Florence, i.e., the guilds that protected the interests of the various professional categories (the Arte di Calimala being the association of textile merchants), a...Read more...
The artist who discovered the Cinque Terre. Telemaco Signorini and Riomaggiore
Telemaco Signorini (Florence, 1835 - 1901) discovered Riomaggiore almost by accident. At the time, the first of the Cinque Terre was a peasant village that was very difficult to reach: one got there only by boat, or on foot through the roads and pa...Read more...
Mandatory green pass, even for culture (and more): doubts and perplexities
A premise: The authors of this article are staunch pro-vax and ardent supporters of theextreme importance of the Covid vaccine in reducing the risks associated with the disease. However, we are less convinced of the idea of imposing a green ...Read more...
A castle as big as a village: history of the Consortium Castle of Buronzo
A castle that is as large as an entire village, or a village that is shaped like a castle: this is the impression one gets when one arrives at the Castello Consortile di Buronzo, a rare complex of fortified houses and towers that rises in the heart...Read more...
Modena, the taste of a court: Ludovico Lana, Jean Boulanger and the artists of Francis I
Those who enter the Galleria Estense in Modena usually cannot help but pause rather long in front of a masterpiece by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, the Portrait of Francesco I d'Este, who was duke of Modena from 1629 until the year of his death, 1658...Read more...
The works Dante saw in Ravenna, including Byzantine mosaics and masterpieces of the Giotto school
"There are undoubted consonances between the mosaic decorations of the Adriatic city and the dazzling visions of the sacred poem: light and colors play a primary role in both cases as the expressive means necessary to represent the indescriba...Read more...
Gustav Klimt, his passion for roses and the garden of his villa in Vienna
For several years, the only work by Gustav Klimt (Vienna, 1862 - 1918) in French public collections was a painting entitled Roses under the Trees, which the great Austrian artist painted around 1905, bringing his passion for the beautiful spr...Read more...
Could the "ecological transition" weaken landscape protection? Here's what's being debated
"We should be proud to live in a country that, thanks to very old legislation and a widespread presence on the ground through the Superintendencies, basically won the battle of protection in the twentieth century: of the landscape, the coasts...Read more...
Beethoven between music and visual art: a journey through works dedicated to the great composer
There is only one painting depicting Ludwig van Beethoven (Bonn, 1770 - Vienna, 1827) that was executed when the great German composer was still alive: it is the celebrated portrait depicting him together with the manuscript for the Missa Sol...Read more...
Napoleonic spoliations: the legal and cultural reasons for the removals
When one associates Napoleon Bonaparte (Ajaccio, 1769 - St. Helena, 1821) with art history, the most immediate link is with the Napoleonic despoliations, that is, the long sequence of artwork embezzlements and requisitions that French soldier...Read more...
Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper: origins and novelties of the Last Supper in Milan
It probably dates back as early as the time of Leonardo da Vinci (Vinci, 1452 - Amboise, 1519) to use the term "Last Supper" as a metonymy to refer to the work the great artist painted on the wall of the refectory of the convent of Santa Ma...Read more...
Was Leonardo da Vinci gay? On the homosexuality of the Tuscan genius
What do we know about Leonardo da Vinci'shomosexuality? Can we say with certainty that the great Tuscan genius was gay? If the reader is looking for an immediate answer, then the answer is: no, we cannot have documentary evidence that Leonardo da V...Read more...
The incredible story of Alceo Dossena, the forger who fooled the great American museums
An article written by an anonymous journalist and published on December 22, 1928, in The Literary Digest, a popular U.S. weekly newspaper at the time, recalled a singular story that had occurred five years earlier. A wealthy American collecto...Read more...
The emotion of winter in eight paintings: the "Winter Poem" by Vittore Grubicy
On July 31, 1920, four days before his death, Vittore Grubicy de Dragon (Milan, 1851 - 1920) left one of his most important works, the Winter Poem, to Milan ("This work," we read in his will, "is assigned by me to the municipal collection of ...Read more...
Duccio di Buoninsegna's Madonna Rucellai, the greatest panel painting of the 13th century
It is the largest painted panel of the 13th century known to us: an imposing work four and a half meters high by nearly three meters wide. It is the Rucellai Madonna, an extraordinary masterpiece by Duccio di Buoninsegna (Siena, c. 1255 - 131...Read more...
Museums, Spain's lesson. "Never closed in the second wave: we contribute to prosperity."
While museums halfway around the world closed last fall because of Covid-19, Spain was one of the very few countries that, despite theraging second wave, never thought of closing museums centrally, not even for a day. It was on Oct. 21 wh...Read more...
Reopening museums on weekends? "We're ready!": the views of 20 directors
Can we reopen museums on weekends? This is the question that Windows on Art posed to the directors of some major museums throughout Italy. With data on Covid-19 contagion becoming more comforting, with institutions now fully compliant with safe...Read more...
A beauty with hair that jokes with the wind: Leonardo da Vinci's Scapigliata
"Fa tu adonque alle teste li capegli scherzare insieme col finto vento intorno alli giovanili volti": thus, in a passage from his Treatise on Painting, datable to 1490-1492, the great Leonardo da Vinci (Vinci, 1452 - Amboise, 1519) suggests, ...Read more...
A great temple of seventeenth-century art in Emilia: the Madonna della Ghiara in Reggio Emilia
It is May 4, 1596: the Duke of Ferrara, Alfonso II d'Este, receives a missive from Reggio Emilia, a report from the Council of Elders regarding a miraculous healing that occurred in the city a few days earlier, on April 29. "Most Serene Prince Signor...Read more...
Private museums risk the abyss. "Government silence on culture unacceptable."
The Covid-19 pandemic is likely to have serious consequences for private museums. When we think of museums, we are usually accustomed to call to mind public institutions, but in Italy there is also a dense landscape of private museums, conducted wi...Read more...
New ways to communicate museums: here are some that are standing out in the second wave
The future of museums will be increasingly transmedia. We have addressed the topic of transmediality in museums several times in this magazine, with articles by museologist Sandro Debono (such as the one on the "museum pandemic" that developed th...Read more...
The collector's apartment: the faithful reconstruction of the MAMCO in Geneva
There are not many museums inside which an entire apartment can be found. One of the best-known cases in Italy is the so-called Albini Apartment located on the top floor of the Palazzo Rosso Museum in Genoa: the great rationalist architect Fran...Read more...
Monsters and ghosts in early twentieth-century Prague. The horror art of Jaroslav Panuška
In the late nineteenth century, in the intellectual circles of Bohemia, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, there was a keen interest in the themes of mystery,horror, hermetic sciences, Christian mysticism and Eastern mysticism. Art histori...Read more...
Michelangelo's early masterpieces: the Madonna della Scala and the Battle of the Centaurs
Two "skillfully complementary" works: this is how scholar Cristina Acidini, among the foremost experts on the art of Michelangelo Buonarroti (Caprese, 1475 - Rome, 1564), defines, in the catalog of the exhibition Michelangelo divino artista (Geno...Read more...
Caravaggio's masterpiece in Malta: the "Beheading of St. John the Baptist"
It is known to all, even to those without a deep knowledge of art history, for being the only signed among the known works by Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi; Milan, 1571 - Porto Ercole, 1610), as well as the largest: it is the Beheading of St. Joh...Read more...
What are the problems of museums during Covid and how to work to overcome them: 5 institutes speak out
Restrictions on the number of visitors, reduction of space, compulsory routes, strict and rigorous sanitary protocols, tight controls on the public, the need to find the material to be able to perform sanitization and to allow anyone entering mus...Read more...
In 16th-century Switzerland, people went to spas: here's what 16th-century spas looked like
One of the most curious paintings to be encountered at the Kunstmuseum in Basel, Switzerland, is an engaging scene of a bath at a spa: its author is the Alsatian painter Hans Bock (Saverne, 1550 - Basel, 1624), and the painting dates from 1597. I...Read more...
Covid will profoundly change exhibitions. How? Major organizers' predictions
The Covid-19 pandemic has radically transformed the world of exhibitions and museums. Anyone who has frequented cultural venues since the May 18 reopening will surely have experienced what it means to visit a museum in the months of the coronavir...Read more...
From still lifes to neoplasticism: the extraordinary journey of Piet Mondrian
Mills, forests, seascapes, farms, cows, streams, sunsets: observing the beginnings of Piet Mondrian (Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan; Amersfoort, 1872 - New York, 1944), under the banner of a painting made up mainly of views and still lifes, one woul...Read more...
The miracle of Volterra. Lots of tourists and museums holding in the summer of the virus
Volterra, Wednesday of the week of Ferragosto, noon: the car thermometer reads thirty-five degrees, but the heat is dry, and ancient Velathri even today confirms its reputation as a windy city, reasoning that the heat can be endured very well. Th...Read more...
The most famous "dickhead" in art history: history of the work of Francesco Urbini
"Ogni homo me guarda come fosse una testa de cazi," meaning "every man looks at me as if I were a head of cocks": it is well guessed from the contemporary Italian translation of the cartouche that adorns the singular composite head of a half-...Read more...
Parmigianino's Turkish Slave: the Parmesan painter's most famous portrait
She is not a slave, nor is she Turkish: yet, this wonderful young woman with brown hair and green eyes, with her fine arched eyebrows, coquettish gaze and flushed cheeks, has gone down in art history as the Turkish Slave. And it is one of the bes...Read more...
Brunelleschi's dome that stunned the world: history of the Renaissance masterpiece
It begins with a breakfast of bread, melon and wine, on August 7, 1420, the story of one of the greatest masterpieces in human history: the Dome of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, the masterpiece of Filippo Brunelleschi (F...Read more...
The pandemic of libraries. Open, but amidst a thousand difficulties and major inconveniences
June 22, 2020: in Florence, a group of citizens takes to Piazza della Signoria to protest against the City Council, which, more than a month after reopening operations after the end of the confinement to contain the Covid-19 contagion, still keeps ...Read more...
Cinema, concerts, special tours. Here's how museums reinvent themselves in the summer of the virus
Museums transforming themselves into open-air cinemas, theaters, concert arenas, or taking their activities outdoors to parks and gardens, or creating special guided tour programs. The post-Covid summer of museums is about reinvention, broa...Read more...
Raphael was the first superintendent in history. The letter to Leo X
Many art historians like to define the great Raphael Sanzio (Urbino, 1483 - Rome, 1520) as the first superintendent in history, and it is not a stretch to say that his figure constitutes one of the fulcrums of the history of monument protection i...Read more...
Chianti Sculpture Park, the forest where art becomes part of the landscape
A forest where wild boars once ran, on the slope of a hill, not far from Siena (the city is about twenty minutes away by car), but already in full nature: the nearest village, Pievasciata, is a handful of houses a few hairpin bends away. Even, if...Read more...
The Magic of Quarrata: the Medici villa where ancient and contemporary meet in a dialogue between man and landscape
The recent history of Villa La Magia, the grand Medici villa in Quarrata, to be read strictly with the accent on the first "a," began in 2000: "mà gia," meaning "great," from the Latin maius. That year, the ancient mansion became the property o...Read more...
Journey through the museums of Sweden, the only European country that has never closed them for coronavirus
No mandatory confinement to counter the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus epidemic. Sweden wrote a significant page in the history of the pandemic by remaining the only country in the European Union that did not impose the so-called lockdown: it...Read more...
Lorenzo Lotto's works in Jesi: five masterpieces of the 16th century
The first document attesting to the relationship between the great painter Lorenzo Lotto (Venice, 1480 - Loreto, 1557) and the town of Jesi, a center where no less than five important Lotto masterpieces are preserved, is a contract dated October ...Read more...
Abolition of 18-year-old bonus, book deductions and other possible measures to help culture in the post-virus era
How to help culture out of the economic crisis triggered by the health emergency over the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic? In our view, there is a starting point that should be clear: direct state aid should be limited to the emergency only, and th...Read more...
The whole history, devotional and artistic, of the miraculous crucifix of San Marcello al Corso
"He made the plan and model and then began to have walled up the church of San Marcello de' frati de' Servi, a certainly beautiful work." the church mentioned by Giorgio Vasari in his Lives is that of San Marcello al Corso, formerly known as San...Read more...
The titanic feat of Enrico Mazzone, at work on the largest ever illustration of the Divine Comedy
When Dante Alighieri (Florence, 1265 - Ravenna, 1321) composed his Divine Comedy, Finland, we might say, practically did not exist. It was not an independent state, had no literary tradition (which would only begin in the 16th century with Michael Ag...Read more...
The works and places of Jan van Eyck in Bruges, in the heart of Flanders.
In the early 1430s the Flemish painter Jan van Eyck (Maaseik, c. 1390 - Bruges, 1441), after spending a year in Lille, moved to Bruges, in West Flanders, in the service of the Dukes of Burgundy. The city, which since the Middle Ages had presented it...Read more...
One, ten, one hundred Mona Lisa: ancient copies and variants of Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece
What art lover has never harbored, even in secret, the dream of seeing the Mona Lisa again, even temporarily, in Italy? Of course, we know that it will be very difficult, if not impossible, to see the celebrated painting by Leonardo da Vinci (Vin...Read more...
Nymphs and Venuses in the early 16th century Veneto, from Giorgione to Titian: love in all its meanings
The installation of the Uffizi rooms dedicated to the Venetian and Tuscan sixteenth century that opened in spring 2019 allows us to embrace, at a single glance, two extraordinary works placed in two different but communicating rooms, by two pai...Read more...
But how had Jan van Eyck managed to create such realistic works? This is how he arrived at his optical revolution
One of the most quoted literary passages about the great Jan van Eyck (Maaseik, c. 1390 - Bruges, 1441) is the incipit of the chapter devoted to him in Bartolomeo Facio 's De viris illustribus (La Spezia, c. 1400 - Naples, 1457): the treatise by ...Read more...
A dream of masks: Luisa Casati in the dreamlike portraits of Alberto Martini
"He who lives in the dream is a superior being, he who lives in reality an unhappy being." These are the words of Alberto Martini (Oderzo, 1876 - Milan, 1954), an artist among the protagonists of the Belle Époque, as well as among the most u...Read more...
Nature, culture and human being as indivisible realities in the art of Giuseppe Penone
"A sharp division between human and nature is a vision forced by reality." This was said by Giuseppe Penone (Garessio, 1947) to art historian Arabella Natalini in a conversation published in the catalog of his solo exhibition Prospettiva vegetal...Read more...
Pablo Picasso's reinterpretation of the ancient in his ceramic works.
Pablo Picasso (Málaga, 1881 - Mougins, 1973) came late to ceramics. It was not that he had never had the opportunity to see it up close, or even to try his hand at this very ancient medium of expression: he was in his early twenties when he di...Read more...
"I am sure I will be his continuator": Van Gogh and Adolphe Monticelli, the painter who inspired his sunflowers
If one pays attention, there is a precise moment from which the output of Vincent van Gogh (Zundert, 1853 - Auvers-sur-Oise, 1890) is filled with extraordinary still lifes featuring colorful bouquets of flowers: the summer of 1886. At that time, ...Read more...
The fishermen of Weligama, Sri Lanka: the whole story behind Steve McCurry's famous icon
Fishermen in Weligama, Sri Lanka: the whole story behind Steve McCurry's famous icon"Many people ask me about this photograph I took, in Sri Lanka, of fishermen who, early in the morning, go out with these very thin rods to catch small fish. It was a...Read more...
A journey through the themes of Rembrandt van Rijn's early masterpieces
Walking through the streets of Leiden(Leiden in Dutch) one can still feel the atmosphere of RembrandtHarmenszoon van Rijn (Leiden, 1606 - Amsterdam, 1669), the famous Dutch painter to whom the city gave birth in 1606. A plaque on the building whe...Read more...
Here is the Shadow of San Gimignano: extraordinary Etruscan discovery finally revealed
One of the most important discoveries in Etruscan archaeology in recent years has finally been revealed: it is theOmbra di San Gimignano, a marvelous and surprising bronze votive statuette found in 2010 in the territory of San Gimignano (Siena) d...Read more...
Entering the homes of seventeenth-century Holland with the works of Pieter de Hooch
The city of Delft is continually juxtaposed with the birthplace of Jan Vermeer (Delft, 1632 - 1675), the famous painter of the Girl with a Pearl Earring who was born here and spent his entire existence. Simply walking through the streets of Delft on...Read more...
Caravaggio and Mattia Preti: two Italian geniuses in Malta, in the Oratory of Alof de Wignacourt
Among the few portraits executed by Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi; Milan, 1571 - Porto Ercole, 1610), one of the most interesting is a nearly two-meter-high canvas in the Louvre depicting Alof de Wignacourt (Flanders, 1547 - Valletta, 1622), Gr...Read more...
Gravina in Puglia, the singular history of the church with the facade shaped like a noble coat of arms
A bishop probably suffering from problems of megalomania but very shrewd and shrewd, a community of believers extremely devoted to the worship of an image of the Madonna, a large supply of money: these are the ingredients that led, in 1602, to th...Read more...
Albrecht Dürer's Rhinoceros. Origin and fortune of the most famous pachyderm in art history.
Among the most famous prints of the conspicuous graphic production of Albrecht Dürer (Nuremberg, 1471 - 1528), who as is known was a tireless and extraordinary engraver, the most curious is surely the one depicting a bizarre rhinoceros: specim...Read more...
The Tavola Doria, the best known of the copies of Leonardo da Vinci's lost Battle of Anghiari
On June 12, 2012, the secretary-general of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Antonia Pasqua Recchia, and the director of the Tokyo Fuji Art Musueum, Akira Gokita, signed an agreement thanks to which Italy would regain possession of a precious ...Read more...
A glimpse of Greek-Byzantine art in the heart of Salento: the abbey of Santa Maria di Cerrate
In the heart of Salento, close to the Roman road that joined Lecce and Otranto, today the provincial road Squinzano - Casalabate, stands what can be considered one of the wonders of the medieval age of the entire Salento area: theabbey of Santa M...Read more...
Franceschini A to Z. Super review of what he did as minister, what to keep and what to throw away
As everyone knows by now, Dario Franceschini has been appointed minister of cultural heritage and activities and tourism in the Conte II government. Dario Franceschini, a civil lawyer by profession, was born in Ferrara in 1958, served as secr...Read more...
"At the beginning of the most terrible tragedies is ignorance." Humanity, Ai Weiwei's book on the refugee crisis
Few artists like Ai Weiwei (Beijing, 1957) have devoted so much attention, so much perseverance, and so much of their output to the theme of the migrant and refugee crisis. Not only with works (stand out, among many others, Reframe, the installat...Read more...
The National Gallery of Apulia in Bitonto, a museum created through the generosity of two collector brothers
Along Bitonto's ancient Via delli Mercanti, which connected the town's main gate, Porta Baresana, and the Cathedral, in what could be called the Renaissance heart of the town, stands Palazzo Sylos Calò, a noble building that owes its name to G...Read more...
The "fascinus" of ancient Rome: the phallus-shaped amulet that protected against the evil eye
The "fascinus" of ancient Rome: the phallus-shaped amulet that protected against the evil eyeAnyone who has visited an archaeological museum with a section devoted toRoman art will have come across phallus-shaped objects at least once: they could hav...Read more...
When migrants were us. The artists who told the story of Italian emigration in the late 19th century.
In 1876, the Ministry of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce of newly united Italy decided, for the first time, to collect statistical data on the phenomenon ofemigration, which, in previous years, had already led tens of thousands of Italians to le...Read more...
Castel del Monte, Frederick II's imposing octagonal castrum: history, works, significance
On January 29, 1240, the emperor and king of Sicily, Frederick II of Swabia (Jesi, 1194 - Fiorentino di Puglia, 1250), wrote from Gubbio a letter to Riccardo da Montefuscolo, Giustiziere della Capitanata (i.e., the official who represented the so...Read more...
Michelangelo's Tondo Doni: origins and significance of one of the greatest masterpieces in art history
It is the only work on a movable support that can be assigned with certainty to Michelangelo Buonarroti (Caprese, 1475 - Rome, 1564): it is the Tondo Doni, the masterpiece preserved at the Uffizi Gallery and created at the behest of one of the ri...Read more...
How Lucio Fontana made his cuts. Technical aspects of his "Waiting"
One of the most famous photographs depicting Lucio Fontana (Rosario, 1899 - Comabbio, 1968) is the one taken by the great Ugo Mulas (Pozzolengo, 1928 - Milan, 1973): the image shows the artist, the father of spatialism, as he has apparently just ...Read more...
"All Earth is Art. Nature by and according to Hans Arp
"For Arp, art is Arp." For Arp, art is Arp: so wrote, in 1949, Marcel Duchamp (Blainville-Crevon, 1887 - Neuilly-sur-Seine, 1968), between the serious and the facetious, to sum up in just five words the poetics of Hans Arp (Strasbourg, 1887 - Bas...Read more...
Romanino's Loggia in Trento's Buonconsiglio Castle: history and significance of a 16th-century masterpiece
"A kind of vault of the Farnesina, as far as illustrative tasks and formal distribution are concerned": this is how, in 1930, art historian Antonio Morassi defined the Loggia Grande of the Buonconsiglio Castle in Trento, one of the most sumptuous...Read more...
Free admission week, a winning bet? Here's how it went at major Italian museums
The first "Museum Week," the seven-day totally free admission in all state museums strongly desired by Minister Alberto Bonisoli, ended on Sunday. One of the most frequently asked questions on the eve of the event was what impact the free week woul...Read more...
An iconic masterpiece in the history of Bologna and Ercole de' Roberti: the Portrait of Giovanni II Bentivoglio
One of the most recent achievements of the Bologna of art lies in having brought back a masterpiece by Ercole de' Roberti (Ferrara, c. 1450 - 1496), the Portrait of Giovanni II Bentivoglio, to the Museum of Palazzo Poggi, the ancient aristocratic r...Read more...
"This is how we allow everyone to buy works of art and see them in museums." Francesco Bellanca, CEO of Feral Horses, speaks.
A group of entrepreneurs under 25, Italians Francesco Bellanca and Christian De Martin and Frenchwoman Lise Arlot, founded in spring 2017 the startup Feral Horses, a platform that offers everyone the opportunity to become co-owners of works of ar...Read more...
"One should not copy nature, but know it so that the result is fresh and authentic." Van Gogh and nature
On January 3, 2019, the film Van Gogh. On the Threshold of Eternity, by Julian Schnabel, starring Willem Dafoe as van Gogh. Click here for an in-depth look at reasons why you should see the film, click here for a list of ten paintings you may...Read more...
10 Vincent van Gogh paintings that appear in the film "Van Gogh. On the Threshold of Eternity" and where to see them live
One of the special features of the film Van Gogh. On the Threshold of Eternity, to be released in Italian theaters on January 3, 2019( an in-depth look at why to see it can be found atthis link ), consists in the fact that the paintings seen in t...Read more...
Urbino Renaissance--from theory to practice: the Annunciation by Giovanni Santi
One of the main protagonists of the Urbino Renaissance, namely Giovanni Santi (Colbordolo, 1440 - Urbino, 1494), is best known today for having been the father of one of the greatest painters the history of art can remember, Raphael Sanzio (Urbino,...Read more...
The Depot of Santo Chiodo in Spoleto, the hospital of works where earthquake-injured heritage is hospitalized
From the outside, it looks like an ordinary commercial shed, the kind that punctuates the image of a working and producingItaly. Here, too, of course, work is being done (and very hard and briskly, too): what changes is the content of this large ...Read more...
The grace and sweetness of Correggio's Saint Agatha
Correggio 's Saint Agatha (Antonio Allegri, Correggio, c. 1489 - 1534) is a girl with the sweetest features, thoughtful, dense with humanity: little more than a child, her cheeks slightly flushed, and her brown hair pulled back, with the faint li...Read more...
How to organize a serious exhibition. The case of "Lorenzo Lotto. The Lure of the Marches."
While in the publications that accompany exhibitions it is natural to expect contributions that shed light on the motivations that led to the conception of the exhibition (or at least, this is what is normally expected from an exhibition based on a...Read more...
One of the earliest representations of the dream in art: Max Klinger's glove
"Klinger straddles inner worlds and reality, in a dialogue between an inside and an outside that is the motif of his creative genius. In his etchings the unconscious bursts into reality, taking hold of it and thus becoming tangible. Influenced by...Read more...
The Pazzi Conspiracy, the event that forever changed the face of Florence and Italy. History through art
"He was tall in stature, had a well-proportioned body, his pectorals broad and protruding, his arms muscular and well-turned, his joints strong, his belly flat, his thighs strong, his legs decidedly strong, his eyes expressive, his face energetic...Read more...
The second season of the drama "The Medici": 15 locations where the series was filmed
The second season of the TV series I Medici is enjoying great success, partly because it is helping to uncover or rediscover a good deal of Italy's artistic heritage, since most of the scenes are set at Renaissance palaces and churches throughout I...Read more...
Art, a possibility of development against the sovereignist and racist regurgitations of the present. Interview with Anna Daneri
Also back for 2018 is the "Back to the future" section of Artissima, the major contemporary art fair (here is all the info on this year's edition, number 25), of which Windows on Art is in-kind media partner for the second consecutive year. "...Read more...
"I love the sea because I was born in a seaside town." The sea in the painting of Giovanni Fattori
When the great Fattori Exhibition was organized in Florence in 1925 to celebrate the centenary of the birth of Giovanni Fattori (Livorno, 1825 Florence, 1908), it fell to critic Margherita Sarfatti (Venice, 1880 Cavallasca, 1961), a leading figur...Read more...
All the faces of October 6. Stories from the largest ever demonstration for cultural work.
The freshness, the resolve, the high and proud gaze of those who have just entered the world of work, already assaying all its contradictions, but with the desire to try to change the course of the game by playing their cards to the best of their...Read more...
There is a new Melozzo da Forli. Extraordinary discovery in Perugia
A new work by Melozzo da For lì (Melozzo degli Ambrosi, Forlì, 1438 - 1494) has been discovered: it is a Salvator Mundi "re-emerged" from the storerooms of the Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria in Perugia, on the occasion of the exhibition L' ...Read more...
Mantegna's Dead Christ, a masterpiece at the Brera Art Gallery
On Oct. 2, 1506, Ludovico Mantegna, son of the great artist Andrea Mantegna (Isola di Carturo, 1431 - Mantua, 1506), sent a letter to the marquis of Mantua, Francesco II Gonzaga (Mantua, 1466 - 1519), in which the painter's heir (and he himself a...Read more...
Cimabue, Duccio or Giotto? The enigmatic Madonna of Castelfiorentino, a crucial work in our art history
It is truly impressive to scroll through the bibliography on the extraordinary late 13th-century Madonna and Child preserved at the Museum of Santa Verdiana in Castelfiorentino, in the hills of Valdelsa. Many of the greatest art historians of all...Read more...
"He is truly a wonderful devotee of the beautiful": Auguste Rodin according to Carl Burckhardt
"He is truly a wonderful devotee of the beautiful": Auguste Rodin according to Carl Burckhardt"At the Kunsthalle a pair of torsos and a woman lying in plaster, fragments of giants, representations of crowds, everything that falls under the concept of...Read more...
Child labor in Italy between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, a journey through works of art
In 1877, the Parliament of the young Kingdom of Italy established the start of an inquiry into the reality of the country'sagrarian economy sixteen years after Unification: the documents that the inquiry commission collected represent the most de...Read more...
August 23, 1944, the massacre of the Padule di Fucecchio: in Cerreto Guidi a museum so as not to forget
It was six o'clock in the morning. The area of the Padule di Fucecchio, the vast marshland that occupies the heart of Tuscany between Empoli and Pontedera and laps the town of Fucecchio, was slowly waking up. Its inhabitants were beginning to pre...Read more...
Genoa, the new life of the Royal Palace: open museum and spectacular growth
When talking about the Palazzo Reale in Genoa, it is not uncommon to hear, in the city but also outside, the noun "miracle" being associated with the management of Serena Bertolucci, the museum's director since 2015, when the via Balbi institutio...Read more...
Genoa's Mackenzie Castle, the fantastic dream of an antiquities enthusiast and a great architect
He was just 30 years old Gino Coppedè (Florence, 1866 - Rome, 1927) when he was about to design his first major work, the one that would later grant him fame among his contemporaries and help launch his name. Coppedè, a talented but then inex...Read more...
Masolino's Christ in Pity, the 15th-century masterpiece that inspired Bill Viola
"Neo-Giottesque locutions": with this expression, the great art historian Roberto Longhi referred to the figures that appear in the very famous Christ in Pieta by Masolino da Panicale (real name Tommaso di Cristoforo Fini, Panicale, 1383 - Floren...Read more...
Vincenzo Vela's Victims of Labor, a powerful and moving memorial to those who died at work
On May 23, 1882, the Gotthard Railway Tunnel was officially opened. It was one of the most important technological achievements of the time: it was the longest railway tunnel in the world, a fifteen-kilometer, three-meter tunnel that ran through ...Read more...
Michaelina Wautier, story of a woman artist from seventeenth-century Flanders who defied all prejudice
"Glück glaubte ein Gemälde so grossen Formats der Hand einer Frau nicht zutrauen zu dürfen." That is, Glück did not believe that such a large-format painting was made by the hand of a woman. Writing these words was, in 1967, the then cu...Read more...
Women's hard work in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries: a journey through the artworks of the time
One of the salient aspects of the exhibition Colors and Forms of Work at Palazzo Cucchiari in Carrara (June 16 to October 21, 2018) concerns the exhibition's emphasis on women's work in the period examined (i.e., the decades from the Unification ...Read more...
Bernini's Rape of Proserpine, at the origins of the Baroque
It is almost unbelievable to think that Gian Lorenzo Bernini (Naples, 1598 - Rome, 1680) was only twenty-three years old when he was about to create one of his most celebrated masterpieces, the Rape of Proserpine: yet, despite his very young age, h...Read more...
The Etruscans and sex: how our ancestors made love
Among the most famous Etruscan sarcophagi is certainly possible to include those preserved at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. These are two masterpieces depicting as many couples, lying in bed, and caught in a moment of affectionate intimacy: ...Read more...
When Venice repaid a debt through... works of art: the Venetian Provinces' Homage to the Austrian Empire
On November 10, 1816, a solemn wedding was celebrated in Vienna between the Emperor of Austria, Francis I (Florence, 1768 - Vienna, 1835), then forty-eight years old, and Princess Caroline Charlotte Augusta of Bavaria (Mannheim, 1792 - Vienna, 18...Read more...
The Etruscans, skilled traders and navigators. The exchanges, the products they bought and sold, the emporiums
If you enter an archaeological museum that has a section devoted to the Etruscans, it is almost certain that you will find large showcases filled with ceramics from every era, many produced in Etruria, but many more from Greece: they are perhaps ...Read more...
Carlo Crivelli and his spectacular triptych ... three-dimensional at the Pinacoteca di Brera
On September 24, 1811, a load of paintings that had been gathered in Ancona and then sent, together, to Milan arrived at the Pinacoteca di Brera: these were the works that Napoleon's soldiers had requisitioned throughout the Marche region, and am...Read more...
Sober makeup women and shaved men: cosmetics, makeup and beauty in the world of the Etruscans
Among the characters participating in the banquet depicted on the walls of the Tomb of the Shields in Tarquinia, one can observe some elegant ladies sporting well-groomed blond hair, which contrasts with their dark eyebrows. Similar figures can b...Read more...
The Etruscan woman: independent, free, modern and beautiful
When we think of the status of women in ancient civilizations, in our imagination the figure of a woman looms large, subordinate to men, and whose task is mainly to take care of domestic activities, or at any rate to attend to typically female oc...Read more...
Dining with the Etruscans: banquets, cuisine, what and how people ate in ancient Etruria
Many poets and prose writers of antiquity celebrated the splendors and splendors of the banquets of the Etruscans. An author such as Diodorus Siculus, quoting Posidonius, returned to us a rather detailed description of the convivial atmosphere th...Read more...
The Polyptych of the Mystical Lamb: the masterpiece by Hubert and Jan van Eyck in Gent Cathedral
It was 1823 when, in Berlin, a restorer working on the Polyptych of the Mystic Lamb, one of the greatest masterpieces in the history of world art, removed some of the repainting and discovered an illuminating inscription, which read, "Pictor Hube...Read more...
Rubens in Flanders, the four great masterpieces in Antwerp Cathedral.
When the great Scottish writer Walter Scott (Edinburgh, 1771 Abbotsford House, 1832) visited the city of Antwerp in 1815, soon after Napoleon's defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, he found the Cathedral of Our Lady still bare of its masterpieces. T...Read more...
How did the Etruscans write and speak? The use of the alphabet for a mysterious language
It is well known that the Etruscans were the first population of Italy to adopt a writing system based on an alphabet, which was derived from some variants of theGreek alphabet and which, according to an account more "mythological" than real, rep...Read more...
Vitruvian man as a symbol of imbalance: Mario Ceroli reinterprets Leonardo da Vinci
The story of one of the best-known and most photographed works of contemporary art in all of Tuscany, namely The Man of Vinci by Mario Ceroli (Castel Frentano, 1938), the monumental wooden sculpture that pays homage to Leonardo da Vinci'sVitruvia...Read more...
Luc Tuymans. The painter of inadequacy
One of the most famous works by Luc Tuymans (Mortsel, 1958) is a huge Still Life, measuring three and a half by five meters. It is perhaps the largest still life in the entire history of art. It is certainly one of the Flemish artist's most chall...Read more...
The timeless, ancestral visions of Simone Pellegrini
Many of those who have written about Simone Pellegrini (Ancona, 1972) could not help but quote Aby Warburg. Just as the great German art historian had created his Mnemosyne atlas to construct his maps of figurative memory, in the same way the Mar...Read more...
The Etruscans were already practicing modern sports. Here are what their favorites were and where we find them depicted
Boxing, running, long jumping, wrestling, discus throwing, javelin throwing, horse racing-these are just some of the sports we practice today, but they were already practiced by the Etruscans more than two and five thousand years ago. We know tha...Read more...
How the Etruscans still influence contemporary design, from Giò Ponti to the Italia '90 World Cup
Is it possible to speak of"Etruscan design"? Obviously, it would be a great gamble to find, within the artistic and artisanal production of the Etruscans, characteristics that could be compatible with the modern concept of design understood as "a...Read more...
Pieter Paul Rubens in Antwerp, a gentleman's self-portrait for the noble-minded painter
When confronted with a self-portrait, the most intimate genre to which an artist can devote himself, the observer eager to grasp the essence of the painting is often led to wonder whether that painter or sculptor, at the moment he decided to entrust ...Read more...
Facebook censors Mantegna's Camera degli Sposi, a UNESCO heritage site. The incredible misadventure of Lorenzo Bonoldi
Facebook has become the protagonist of yet another art blackout: the victims this time were the Bridal Chamber of the Castle of San Giorgio and the Chamber of the Giants of Palazzo Te in Mantua, blocked by Mark Zuckerberg's social network because of ...Read more...
I am an Etruscan: Marino Marini and the relevance of Etruscan art
"I look to the Etruscans for the same reason that all modern art has turned back skipping the immediate past and has gone on to invigorate itself in the most genuine expression of a virgin and remote humanity. The coincidence is not only cultural; bu...Read more...
When Telemaco Signorini painted and denounced the drudgery of the Arno risers.
In 1874, when the great Macchiaioli artist Telemaco Signorini (Florence, 1835 - 1901) exhibited his towpath, one of the most celebrated products of his brush, for the third time exactly ten years after its creation, the reception it received was not ...Read more...
How did the Etruscans dress? Fashion and clothing in Tuscany 2,600 years ago
Colorful fabrics in light and bright hues and with strong contrasts, cuts in the most varied fashions, a marked sense of elegance, a taste that favored refinement, whimsy, and fantasy: these are the most obvious characteristics of Etruscan fashio...Read more...
The extraordinary story of a blind sculptor: Giovanni Gonnelli, the Blind Man of Gambassi
The history of art is filled with extraordinary events, some of which are known to most, while others are less well known but no less fascinating and worthy of being told. These are vicissitudes involving artists who are considered minor, perhaps bec...Read more...
The music that accompanied the horror of Mauthausen and the photographer who saved it
Dance me to your beauty with a burning violinDance me through the panic till I'm gathered safely inLift me like an olive branch, be my homeward whereAnd dance me to the end of love. (Leonard Cohen) Dance me to the end of love by Leonard Cohen (...Read more...
Monuments, community, public heritage: interview with artist Cosimo Veneziano
Cosimo Veneziano (Moncalieri, 1983) is a contemporary artist whose works, as critic Elena Forin has written, "investigate the vast universe of images of social, architectural and urban heritage." Central in his art is the reflection on nature, destin...Read more...
The inlays of San Quirico d'Orcia that changed Federico Zeri's life and made him an art historian
San Quirico d'Orcia, 1941: a young Federico Zeri (Rome, 1921 - Mentana, 1998) was called to arms during World War II and sent to Florence, in the light artillery. For the future art historian, the wartime experience ended up becoming a time of gr...Read more...
Montespertoli's delightful masterpiece: the Madonna and Child by Filippo Lippi
If there were to be a ranking of the Italian works of art that have most traveled the world to be displayed in international exhibitions, then probably the Madonna and Child by Filippo Lippi (Florence, 1406 - Spoleto, 1469) preserved at the Museu...Read more...
Amor Sacro and Amor Profano, the mystery of Titian's most famous painting
One of the most enigmatic and discussed paintings in theentire history of art shows itself in all its fascination to the visitor who arrives in the last room of the Borghese Gallery: it is the work by Tiziano Vecellio (Pieve di Cadore, 1488/1490 ...Read more...
Laurentian Medicean Library, no closure: there will be agreement between state and parish
In recent days it had been feared that the study room of the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana in Florence would be closed: a room of fundamental importance for scholars, equipped for the consultation of the ancient manuscripts that make up the most pre...Read more...
A very delicate Petrarchan Madonna, that of Zanobi Machiavelli in Fucecchio
On the second floor of the Civic Museum of Fucecchio, in the room dedicated to paintings and minor arts from the 13th to 15th centuries, the visitor's attention will be captured by a small panel, a delicate Madonna and Child of great elegance and...Read more...
Galileo's revolution in Padua: exclusive preview photos of the exhibition
The major exhibition Galileo Revolution opened in Padua at the Palazzo del Monte di Pietà. Art Meets Science, scheduled from November 18, 2017 to March 18, 2018. The exhibition, curated by Giovanni Carlo Federico Villa and Stefan Weppelmann, a...Read more...
Artissima, 10 works from the Italian Art Depot Present
The Deposito d'Arte Italiana Presente is one of the newest sections of Artissima(here are details and information about the fair): it is a sort of "warehouse" that houses works created from 1994 to the present by some of the best contemporary Ita...Read more...
Artissima, the top 15 works: 5 established artists, 5 new talents, 5 works not to be missed
The 2017 edition of Artissima opened to the public today(details and practical information here): 206 galleries were present, from 31 countries, bringing to theOval Lingotto in Turin more than two thousand works by seven hundred different artists. It...Read more...
The Sacred Mount of San Vivaldo, a miniature Jerusalem in the heart of Tuscany
A "place where all the mysteries of the Lord's Passion are found, expertly depicted, as well as devout chapels, some of them splendid, arranged like those in Jerusalem": this was the concise description Bishop Francesco Gonzaga (Gazzuol...Read more...
A new chapter in art history: the Italian Art Depot Present. Interview with Vittoria Martini
The 24th edition of Artissima, thecontemporary art fair to be held again this year in Turin (November 3 to 5), will see among its new special projects the Deposito d'Arte Italiana Presente, an exhibition project curated by Ilaria Bonacossa and Vi...Read more...
Caravaggio's Nativity: the masterpiece painted in Rome, sent to Palermo, and stolen in 1969
On the night of Oct. 17-18, 1969, Caravaggio 's Nativity with Saints Lawrence and Francis (Milan, 1571 Porto Ercole, 1610), one of the Lombard painter's most celebrated masterpieces, was stolen from its original location, the loratoryof San Loren...Read more...
Art and culture in disco: a new format for Artissima. Interview with Paola Nicolin
Among the novelties proposed by the 2017 edition of Artissima, the international contemporary art fair to be held at Turin's Oval from Nov. 3 to 5, arouses great curiosity is the PIPER program. Learning at the discotheque, which will be curated b...Read more...
Villa Durazzo-Pallavicini in Genoa: an incredible initiatory journey into the park of wonders
There is a heavy gate ahead. If you go through it, we can imagine that there is no turning back. Two columns flank the entrance, and above them two statues depicting two fierce dogs on guard are almost meant to admonish the visitor who enters thi...Read more...
I will do everything to return the Guercino to Modena as soon as possible. Interview with Maria Grazia Gattari
The Madonna with Saints John the Evangelist and Gregory the Wonderworker, the painting by Guercino stolen from the church of San Vincenzo in Modena in 2014, recovered in February this year in Morocco and returned to Italy in mid-July, will underg...Read more...
Emil Wolff's Thetis, myth according to the beauty and measure of neoclassicism
In 1828, a then 26-year-old Emil Wolff (Berlin, 1802 - Rome, 1879) set off for Malta and Greece on a journey that would last nine months.Wolff was already a talented artist, but he wanted more. He wanted to know everything aboutancient art, and h...Read more...
A medieval Buddhist fresco in Asciano's Palazzo Corboli
Entering the sixth room of the Museo Civico di Palazzo Corboli in Asciano, also known as the Aristotle Room, we can encounter, frescoed on the walls, some bizarre and unusual wheels filled with figures and episodes. These are works attributed to ...Read more...
Ambrogio Lorenzetti's Badia a Rofeno triptych: the extraordinary work of an innovative artist
It is not a simple work, the Badia a Rofeno triptych, one of the most interesting paintings by Ambrogio Lorenzetti (Siena, ca. 1285 - 1348) and currently housed in the Museo Civico di Palazzo Corboli in Asciano, in the historic center of the town...Read more...
Lorenzo Bartolini's Ammostatore, the breakthrough work that ushered in purist art
It is very curious to think that one of the capital works in the history of Italian art, namely Lorenzo Bartolini 's (Savignano di Prato, 1777 - Florence, 1850)Ammostatore, had gone essentially unnoticed, as scholar Stefano Grandesso recalled in a pa...Read more...
The sea voyage according to Lucio Fontana: the ceramic panels of Conte Grande
It was 1935 when a then 36-year-old Lucio Fontana (Rosario, 1899 Comabbio, 1968) participated in a competition announced by Italy's most important shipping group,Italia Flotte Riunite, which brought together some of the country's leading companie...Read more...
Sleeping children in purist art from Giovanni Dupré to Tito Sarrocchi
When Giovanni Dupré (Siena, 1817 - Florence, 1882) first exhibited his Sleep of Innocence, a marble sculpture he had begun working on in 1844, the success it garnered was considerable and unanimous. He presented it in public that it was not ye...Read more...
We will realize the national museum system: speaks Antonio Lampis, new director general of Italian museums
In recent weeks, Antonio Lampis was appointed as the new director general of Italian museums. We caught up with him for aninterview in which we asked him to briefly outline his program, and what ideas inspire him. Interview by Federico D. Giannini, e...Read more...
MAGI 900, from Modigliani to Manzoni and beyond: at the Emilia museum 20th century art and the territory
An entrepreneur with a passion for art and a desire to share it with everyone, a collection featuring the greatest artists of the 20th century, an industrious country town between Bologna and Ferrara, and an old grain storage silo. These are the ingr...Read more...
Antonio Canova and Napoleon: the complicated story of a bust-portrait
October 5, 1802: After a two-week journey departing from Rome, Antonio Canova (Possagno, 1757 Venice, 1822) finally arrives in Paris. He was given a prestigious commission: he was to be in charge of sculpting the portrait bust of Napoleon Bonapar...Read more...
Entartete Kunst: the Nazi exhibition condemning degenerate art
July 19, 1937. An exhibition destined to fill one of the darkest pages in art history opens in Munich at the Hofgarten Institute of Archaeology: the title is Entartete Kunst, "Degenerate Art," and it is curated by Adolf Ziegler (Bremen, 1892 - Varnha...Read more...
They want to build a shopping center in front of the Catajo Castle
The countryside around the Euganean Hills is one of the most scenically intact areas in the entire Veneto region. Sheds, which dot the flat areas of most of the region, are a rather rare presence here. And even aggressive construction, which else...Read more...
Armando Testa's visions, between Mondrian, MaleviÄ and Pollock
Gillo Dorfles had it right: if one were to consider Armando Testa (Turin, 1917 - 1992) only as a designer or as an advertising graphic designer, one would end up greatly reducing the scope of his art. "An artist endowed with vivid and robust painterl...Read more...
The Scream by Edvard Munch: brief literary-philosophical reading
"I was walking along the road with two friends-it was sunset-I felt like a breath of melancholy. All of a sudden the sky turned blood red. I stopped, leaned against the fence dead tired - I saw the clouds blazing like blood and similar to sabers ...Read more...
Windows on Art becomes a news outlet
As of today Windows on Art is a newspaper. The transformation of the portal you all knew into an online magazine focused onancient art with frequent forays intocontemporary art is thus officially sanctioned: this further evolution of the project is ...Read more...
Boldini, Corcos, Toulouse-Lautrec: the women of the Belle Époque in an Emilian collection
Boldini was the painter of his age: he painted women with shattered nerves, fatigued by this tormented century. His love-struck prostitutes, twisted in silk girdles with phosphorescent ripples, their corsets infioreted, their legs maddened, epile...Read more...
The Lucan Table: are we sure it is a painting by Leonardo da Vinci?
"Tavola Lucana,""Tavola di Acerenza,""Portrait of Acerenza": different names for a table of modest quality found in 2008 and since then insistently and repeatedly accosted with the name of Leonardo da Vinci (Vinci, 1452 - Amboise, 1519), who is said ...Read more...
Bernini's Ecstasy of St. Teresa: the masterpiece in Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome
If we had to choose a sculptural group that best represents the seventeenth century and the Baroque, we would most likely point to theEcstasy of St. Teresa by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (Naples, 1598 Rome, 1680): it is difficult to think of another wor...Read more...
Love and Psyche lying: the story of Antonio Canova's masterpiece
A vein of sentimental delicacy connotes Antonio Canova 's (Possagno, 1757 Venice, 1822) masterpiece right from the title with which the Louvre has decided to present it to its public: Psyché ranimée par le baiser de l'Amour, or "Psyche Awak...Read more...
Caravaggio's lost St. Matthew? Perhaps it was not painted for the Contarelli Chapel
On May 3, a seminar on Caravaggio's "St. Matthew and the Angel" will be held in Rome's Villa Lante al Gianicolo, during which new information about the work will be discussed. We give you some previews about one new thing that will be discussed. I...Read more...
Happy Birthday Windows on Art. The project turns eight years old
Today, April 29, we celebrate the eighth birthday of Finestre sullArte, which was born on April 29, 2009: an anniversary that we want to celebrate first of all by warmly thanking all our readers, without whose contribution Finestre sullArte could not...Read more...
Piero della Francesca's Madonna of Senigallia: the abstract poetry of light
It may seem strange, but we know of no ancient sources that mention one of the greatest masterpieces of the Renaissance, the celebrated Madonna of Senigallia by Piero della Francesca (Borgo San Sepolcro, 1412 - 1492). In fact, the first mention of wh...Read more...
The plant species in Sandro Botticelli's Primavera
"And because then all opens Spring, / The pregnant soil thins out, and is made / Won the dense austere frigidity; / From the open season said she claims / April; of which all makes her praise / Venus alma, and her hand over it stretches. / Her gr...Read more...
Windows on Art is renewed in partnership with Danae Project
The new website of Windows on Art is now online. We have subjected the old site to a complete overhaul, because there will be so many new features on it, and with the graphics, which are once again signed by designer Daniele Beccaria, we wanted ...Read more...
Simonetta Vespucci: was she really Sandro Botticelli's muse and lover?
The "beautiful Simonetta," the "sans par": these were the two nicknames by which one of the most famous noblewomen of the Florentine Renaissance, Simonetta Vespucci, born Cattaneo (Genoa or Portovenere, 1453 - Florence, 1476), passed into legend. A w...Read more...
We stand with the specialized tour guides
The news has not been reported by national newspapers and has been discussed exclusively by insiders, but the importance of the matter is considerable, so it is worth talking about. As we learn from industry information sites, the Regional Admini...Read more...
Francesco Hayez's The Kiss: how many and what are the versions?
One of the most striking moments of recent exhibition seasons in Italy was the simultaneous presence on the same wall in Milan of three versions of the Kiss, one of the most famous paintings by Francesco Hayez (Venice, 1791 - 1882), the great genius ...Read more...
How an informative article from Windows on Art is born.
One of the reasons that has led Finestre sull'Arte to become one of the most read and followed art history sites in Italy is undoubtedly the effort we put into ensuring that our popularization articles reach particularly high standards of quality. ...Read more...
From Bruce Chatwin to Tano D'Amico and Mario Dondero: photography exhibitions 2017 in Castelnuovo Magra
An articulated, rich program that touches on different themes (from land to travel via struggles for rights) and that already arouses a lot of interest: these are the first impressions after the presentation of the program of the 2017 photography...Read more...
Van Gogh paintings stolen by the Camorra and recovered are on display in Naples: they will return to the Netherlands at the end of the month
From tomorrow, Feb. 7, until the 26th, the two paintings by Vincent van Gogh (Zundert, 1853 Auvers-sur-Oise, 1890) that were stolen in 2002 from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam will be on display at the Capodimonte Museum in Naples: they ended up in...Read more...
Gordon Moran's essays available for free on Academia.edu
The family of Gordon Moran, late art historian, has decided to publish some of his important works on Academia.edu: they can be found at https://independent.academia.edu/GordonMoranfamily. There are scholarly articles, there are the articles written ...Read more...
Immigrant protest at Palazzo Strozzi confirms significance of Ai Weiwei's Reframe
It will surely seem inappropriate to talk about art when, in the middle, there is the life of a person, whose importance is not even comparable to that of a work of art. But what has happened today in Florence is perhaps the best response that could ...Read more...
Zacchia da Vezzano's Nativity: history of the altarpiece stolen and found, in part, in pieces
"The remaining parts have not yet reappeared, but the dissemination of the photograph of the painting will hopefully lead to the complete recovery of it so that it can be reassembled in the church for which it was executed." This hope closed an artic...Read more...
The works of Castelvecchio come home. Now spare us the rhetoric
At last, thelast of the many promiseddates for the return of the Castelvecchio paintings has been met, and the works are finally back in Italy: first stolen in Verona from the Castelvecchio Museum in November 2015, they were then found in May of ...Read more...
Matteo Renzi resigns. Here is what has happened to cultural heritage in the past three years
About an hour ago Matteo Renzi made the official announcement: he will resign, so he will no longer be prime minister shortly. We at Windows on Art have been following him since the dawn of his political career, and we started writing about him from ...Read more...
All the paintings from the theme song of The Young Pope
Who among you has been following The Young Pope, the TV series by Paolo Sorrentino? We followed it in its entirety and found it to be one of the most beautiful series ever. And then there is a theme song full of artwork that summarizes the milestones...Read more...
The true history of the rolli palaces of Genoa
If Genoa is one of the most fascinating and art-rich cities not only in Italy but in the whole world, it owes this in large part to a complex of buildings that have a unique history and that were embedded in a system that has no equal elsewhere: thes...Read more...
Philip and Attilio, the comedy duo that makes people laugh with art history, present their show!
Can you make people laugh with art? According to a young comedy duo, yes, you can! They are Filippo and Attilio, two cabaret performers (full names: Filippo Caccamo and Attilio Nazareno Pane) who have been treading the stages of northern Italy for ...Read more...
Full itinerary of Vincenzo Scamozzi's works online
Interesting news comes from Vicenza: the Centro Internazionale di Studi di Architettura "Andrea Palladio," the foundation that has been conducting international research on the history of architecture (with particular reference to that of the Renaiss...Read more...
Bologna: the Renaissance Saraceni House opens its collections to the public
If in Bologna, going down the left side of the Basilica of San Petronio, one takes the elegant Via dell'Archiginnasio, ancient and bustling, and then veers left into Via Farini, where traffic flows between two rows of uninterrupted porticoes that gli...Read more...
Where did a Renaissance lord sleep? The alcove of Duke Federico da Montefeltro
Walking through the rooms of the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche, housed in the famous Ducal Palace in Urbino, it is impossible to avoid pausing in front of one of the most valuable pieces in the collection: theDuke's alcove, which gives its name t...Read more...
Art and sport. Athletics according to Robert Delaunay
The eighth Olympic Games were held in 1924 in Paris. Theathletics program, what is now known as the "queen" discipline of the Olympics, is held July 6-13, at the Stade Olympique in Colombes, a suburb of the French capital not far from Argenteuil. The...Read more...
Art and sport. Sailing according to Gustave Caillebotte.
"To give a better idea of this type of boat, I could do no better than to mention the Condor of Monsieur Caillebotte, the grand chief and most pleasant of the independent painters of the rue des Pyramides. She has a 7.40-meter keel and measures 8.20 ...Read more...
Eike Schmidt cicerone for rich people at the Uffizi? Precisions from the museum
Last week an article appeared in Corriere Fiorentino presenting the birth of a portal dedicated to extra-luxury tourism in Florence. Among the activities proposed to the portal's clients would be experiences such as a "walk among the masterpieces...Read more...
Art and sport. Cycling according to Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.
Cycling in the late1800s was obviously very different from what we know today. Races were held almost exclusively in velodromes, for several reasons. The first: road conditions made it very difficult to organize competitions that took place, precisel...Read more...
Patrons of yesterday and today: the story of Genoa's Brignole-Sale collection on full display again
Among this year's noteworthy events in the field of art, it is necessary to point out one that has passed perhaps a bit under the radar, but which is interesting for several reasons. It is the exhibition to the public, at the Palazzo Rosso museum in ...Read more...
Photography, a universal language. Steve McCurry in Castelnuovo
Article originally published on culturainrivera.itLike a year ago. The meeting with Steve McCurry in Castelnuovo Magra was once again filled with interesting insights, an opportunity to reflect on the variety of the world around us and how we live t...Read more...
How the export of cultural property works (and what the simplification amendment might entail)
In the last few days, the Senate Committee on Industry, Trade and Tourism (and there would already be a lot to discuss here, but let's move on) approved an amendment to ddl 2085, the draft of the "annual market and competition law." The amendment...Read more...
Steve McCurry's Street Football: Football and Icons.
Article originally published on culturainrivera.itGreat photography returns to Castelnuovo Magra, and it does so with another major exhibition, following last year's one dedicated to Elliot Erwitt: this time Steve McCurry is on stage with his Footbal...Read more...
Donatello and Michelozzo in the church of Sant'Angelo a Nilo: a piece of Tuscan Renaissance in Naples
In the heart of the cheerful and atmospheric chaos of Spaccanapoli, amidst the inviting scents wafting from doors and windows, the boisterous hubbub of street vendors, and the notes of musicians who pop up from time to time in front of Baroque pala...Read more...
Our tribute to Paola Barocchi. On Memofonte and the importance of information technology for cultural heritage.
Those who deal with art history by working with sources will surely have happened upon the Memofonte Foundation website at least once in their lives. For us at Windows on Art, this site has always been an important mine of information for our work: e...Read more...
Baluardo Cinema, Carrara: excellent premiere
Article originally published on culturainrivera.it. Carrara is finally getting a movie theater again. Even if only for three months. Three months, however, is enough for a restart, to try to give a city back a place of aggregation where culture ca...Read more...
Against article plagiarism: how to tell if we are reading content that has been copied
The ease of management of content management platforms (those that serve, trivializing, to curate blogs, e-commerce, complex websites and so on), for several years now, has had the effect of giving considerable help to people who work in a serious wa...Read more...
Rome, Santa Maria dell'Orto: the sumptuous and very special workers' church in Trastevere
If we were to take one hundred people, and ask each of them for a list of ten places to visit in Rome, we could bet, with very good odds of winning, that none (or maybe one or two) would point to the church of Santa Maria dell'Orto. This is why, by...Read more...
Tell about the Palazzi dei Rolli and win an evening in Genoa!
On our website we have told you many times about the art treasures hidden in Genoa's historic center: splendid palaces, works by great artists, sumptuous aristocratic residences, churches filled with masterpieces. Well: until May 30 you have a chance...Read more...
Facebook continues to censor art: three days of silence at Windows on Art for a photograph
It seems that, for some time now, those who want to talk about art on Facebook must take care to be on guard against the increasingly pressing censorship operated by Mark Zuckerberg's social network. After the cases of the blog Arte a Modino, which...Read more...
Stolen works from Castelvecchio found: now more attention for our heritage
Now that the seventeen canvases stolen last November from the Castelvecchio Museum in Verona have been found, we would like to express a few brief impressions in the heat of the moment: after all, we were deeply affected by the affair, since we k...Read more...
In Rome on May 6 and 7 will be Emergenza Cultura. And we will be there, too.
Two days to defend culture: this is the goal of Emergenza Cultura, the demonstration "in defense of Article 9" of the Constitution that will be held in Rome on Saturday, May 7, and will be preceded, on Friday, May 6, by a conference. The organizing c...Read more...
Lorenzo De Ferrari's 18th-century splendors in Palazzo Tobia Pallavicino in Genoa
A few days ago we took you on a discovery of a piece of Raphaelesque culture in Genoa: the frescoes by Giovanni Battista Castello, known as the Bergamasco, in Palazzo Tobia Pallavicino. Before we got to talking about the paintings, we had also give...Read more...
Soccer according to Steve McCurry: a game that unites peoples in a brotherly embrace
When we think of soccer and photography, the image that is likely to appear first in our minds will be that of a great football champion caught in the highlights of an action that led to a decisive goal, a diving save, or hard contact with a player ...Read more...
A piece of Raphaelesque culture in Genoa: the Bergamasco frescoes in Palazzo Tobia Pallavicino
Let us imagine a city in great economic and cultural ferment, such as Genoa was in the mid-sixteenth century. Let us imagine an aristocracy that based its wealth on maritime trade with all the then known world. Let us imagine that this aristocracy wa...Read more...
Forlì: journey through the architectural testimonies of the fascist regime
Leafing through some history book, or even some outdated tourist guide, it will have happened, sometimes, to find Forlì, one of the richest cities in art and history in Romagna, labeled "the city of the Duce." Although this is, of course, a reduct...Read more...
Lionello Puppi: Michelangelo's Crucifixion discovered. But we await the opinions of the scientific community
The press office of the El Greco exhibition in Treviso had announced in the last few hours that a new discovery would be presented to the public today: certainly, few imagined that among the others there would be a discovery that, if confirmed, would...Read more...
A Heritage to Regain, Federico Giannini's book by Windows on Art, has been released.
Starting this week, Federico Giannini's book, A Heritage to Reclaim, is on sale. Cultural Heritage between Reforms, Labor, Hardship and Trade, published by Talos Edizioni. A book that stems from Finestre sull'Arte 's interest in all the problems ...Read more...
Cesare Corte, a painter condemned by the Inquisition in early 17th century Genoa.
But while honored and esteemed by all, Cesare was enjoying a tranquil life; behold a strange and sudden accident, which, like a violent whirlwind, hurled him from the summit of happiness to the depths of no more thought of accidents, and suffocated h...Read more...
Pope Francis on the subject of museums
As those who follow us without preconceptions know, Windows on Art has always been a space open to everyone, always open to discussion and dialogue, respectful of everyone's ideas. And, if the latter are intelligent, we do not care which side they co...Read more...
A Borzonesque route through the caruggi of Genoa
We have spoken several times on these pages about the hidden treasures in the historic center of Genoa: there is good that, depending on everyone's tastes and preferences, it is possible to carve out a thematic path through the alleys of the Ligurian...Read more...
The Piana Library of Cesena: the younger sister of the Malatestiana
In one of the last articles in our travel section, we had told you about the Malatesta Library, dwelling, however, only on ... the 15th century. There was in fact so much to be said about Malatesta Novello's Renaissance dream, the Nuti Hall, the ...Read more...
Hayez: the drawings, the study, the method. Interview with Francesca Valli
Until January 21, you can visit an important exhibition on Francesco Hayez, organized in parallel with the major exhibition at the Gallerie d'Italia in Milan. It is Hayez at Brera. The workshop of a painter, set up at the Sala Napoleonica of theBrera...Read more...
Between study and reflection: the Malatesta Library, the Renaissance dream of Malatesta Novello
In 2003, a conference celebrating anniversary number 550 since the opening of one of Italy's most illustrious cultural jewels, the Biblioteca Malatestiana, opened in Cesena, and for such a gathering of scholars rooting in the Romagna city a particula...Read more...
Silvia Dell'Orso Award 2015: the ceremony
The day before yesterday in Milan, in the Archconfraternity Hall of the Diocesan Museum, the award ceremony for the2015 edition of the Silvia Dell'Orso Prize was held, which went to us at Finestre sull'Arte, Ilaria Baratta and Federico Giannini. The ...Read more...
Prato: the legend and cult of the Holy Girdle through works of art
Looking at Prato Cathedral, whose elegant white and green marble banded facade dominates the city's main square, one cannot help but notice the highly original pulpit that adorns the corner between the facade and the right flank, the one facing Via M...Read more...
Windows on Art wins the 2015 Silvia Dell'Orso Award: we are the best outreach project in Italy!
We are very happy to announce that Finestre sull'Arte is the winner of this year's edition of the prestigious Silvia Dell'Orso Prize, which each year rewards the "best work in popularizing issues related to cultural heritage." The jury, this year...Read more...
Sculpture... dining: the table triumph of Damià Campeny
From the very first moment one enters the Salone Maria Luigia of the National Gallery of Parma, one cannot help but notice what occupies the exact center of the large room that houses, on its walls, the ancient academic essays of the city's Academy o...Read more...
From cats to owls: the animals of Felice Boselli, country painter
If we were to draw up a ranking of the most bizarre artist signatures, that of the Piacenza painter Felice Boselli (1650 - 1732) would certainly be at the top of the list. A constant and indeed almost ubiquitous presence, in Boselli's paintings, ...Read more...
Caesar Brandi: en route to Palmyra
Cesare Brandi (1906 - 1988) was not only a great art historian, but he was also a curious traveler, who decided to gather his travel memoirs in several writings. What we offer below is an excerpt taken from a writing in which Cesare Brandi recounts...Read more...
A still life by Carlo Dolci: the most beautiful ever painted in Florence?
Almost all of the production of Carlo Dolci (1616 - 1687), among the greatest artists of seventeenth-century Florence, consists of sacred subjects, which fully reflect the temperament of this great painter. And the temperament is that of a pious ...Read more...
How would the greats of art history have painted if they had passed through Lerici?
What would art history have been like if the greatest artists of the past had passed through Lerici, the wonderful and romantic village overlooking the Gulf of Poets? Surely, they would have drawn different cues for their art, just as the great poets...Read more...
An extraordinary document on Antonio Ligabue
When we are confronted with awork of art, we very often (indeed, almost always) wonder what the personality, the human condition, the thinking of the hand that guided the brush or chisel to create it were. For a work of art is always an expression no...Read more...
Will the new autonomous museums in Florence spell the end of the One Year in Art project?
We did not anticipate anything, but rumors had been swirling for some time now, given the bureaucratic situation of Florentine museums: the splendid initiative Un anno ad arte has been suspended. This was announced a few days ago by Paola Grifoni, Mi...Read more...
Trebiano Magra, the village where according to legend the manuscript of the Divine Comedy is hidden
As soon as we enter the narrow streets of the hamlet of Trebiano Magra, we are greeted by an insistent meowing: accomplices being the absolute quiet, the poor reputation of this little village clinging to the slope of a hill, the impossibility of ven...Read more...
Andrea Mantegna and Isabella d'Este: the project for the monument to Virgil
Credo deve essere cognito, saltem per fama, alla Ex. V. la condicione et summa virtù del Pontano, quale meritamente se po dire non solamente alla età nostra, ma dapochi manchò Virgilio, la natura humana non aveva producto homo de magtrina n...Read more...
A tribute to Khaled Asaad. We dedicate places of culture to the archaeologist who gave his life for Palmyra
It is almost impossible to scroll through bibliographies of texts dedicated to the ancient city of Palmyra and not find a quotation, reference or thanks to Khaled Asaad, the archaeologist who dedicated his entire professional life to the"bride of...Read more...
The Tower of the Castle of the Bishops of Luni in Castelnuovo Magra, a place rich in history again usable
In the lands of Luni, among rolling hills filled with olive groves and vineyards, rises the small medieval village of Castelnuovo Magra, dominated by the tall tower of the Castle of the Bishops of Luni. Remember. We mentioned it a few days ago when w...Read more...
New museum directors: comments and interviews
Following the appointment of the new directors of state museums, there have been many comments from the world of cultural heritage: we have decided to collect here all the voices that are occurring in these hours (including the first interviews wit...Read more...
Leonora Carrington and Max Ernst: the tormented love story of two surrealist painters
In recent times, there has been a keen interest in the art of Leonora Carrington (1917 - 2011), an interesting Surrealist painter who passed away in 2011, at the age of ninety-four: just think of the exhibition that the Tate Liverpool dedicated to he...Read more...
Card Musei is born, the card that gives you discounts and reductions at dozens of museums ;)
Have you always dreamed of a card that could offer you the chance to getreduced admission, as well as discounts on services, in dozens of Italian museums? Well, from an idea of Ilaria and Federico from Finestre sull'Arte, Card Musei was born toda...Read more...
Pieter Paul Rubens in Genoa: four works to see
Cheerful and convivial atmospheres, rich colors, florid women: we are all more or less familiar with the sumptuous paintings of Pieter Paul Rubens (1577 - 1640) who was, arguably, the greatest European exponent of the Baroque in painting. Not everyon...Read more...
Dolceacqua: the quiet, picture-postcard beauty of an ancient village in western Liguria
Those who arrive in Dolceacqua, an idyllic village of medieval origin in western Liguria, just a few kilometers from the border with France, will immediately find themselves in front of a true postcard image, especially if the weather is clear (a ver...Read more...
Artistic references in Bernardo Bertolucci's The Dreamers.
For anyone who was a kid in the early 2000s, Bernardo Bertolucci 's The Dreamers has always constituted one of the "cult films," as they say. It may be because it introduced the world to the beauty and sensuality of Eva Green, the lead actress; i...Read more...
The best way to spend your life? Traveling and photography. Steve McCurry in Castelnuovo Magra
We had never seen so many people together in Castelnuovo Magra. And even the municipal administration experienced the same feeling last night. So, accomplices of the pleasant summer atmosphere, the fascinating beauty of this Ligurian village a few ki...Read more...
The Scaliger arches: the imposing and majestic mausoleum of the lords of Verona
Walking through the center of Verona, it is impossible not to stop and admire the Scala arches, the ancient tombs of the members of the Scala family, who ruled the fortunes of Verona from 1262 to 1387. Majestic, soaring and monumental, elegant and so...Read more...
Two hundred drawings by Giovanni Battista Piranesi discovered in Germany, thanks to a 20-year-old student
Before giving the news, a small preamble: it is indeed singular that in Italy alleged discoveries in the field of art history that turn out to be resounding duds often make noise, while other discoveries that, although they have not yet been verifi...Read more...
A tour among the noble palaces of Sarzana. Part 2: from Matteotti Square to Porta Parma
Last Wednesday we had begun a tour to discover the most beautiful aristocratic palaces in Sarzana. We entered the first six of the itinerary: starting from Palazzo San Domenico we walked all the way down Via Mazzini and arrived at the Buonaparte Towe...Read more...
Millions of images of artworks soon available on the web?
The news, which appeared last month (on April 2, to be exact) in an article published in The Art Newspaper(and available to the Italian public in the May issue of Il Giornale dell'Arte), is really tasty and interesting: more than 30 million images of...Read more...
A tour among the noble palaces of Sarzana. Part 1: from Palazzo San Domenico to Casa Buonaparte
We are in the small town of Sarzana, in Liguria, a few kilometers from the border with Tuscany: we know it well, because we at Windows on Art live a short distance away. Here, every year, in the month of May, a very beautiful and special festival is ...Read more...
Bonifacio Bembo's triptych: last act of Visconti art in Milan?
In October 1468, Bianca Maria Visconti, the last duchess of the family that had ruled the fortunes of Milan for nearly two centuries, passed away in Melegnano. Despite the fact that the male line of the Visconti had already died out in 1447 and t...Read more...
A Love Called Sistine
We very gladly receive and publish this story, which came to us from one of our fans, Riccardo Tomasello, from Catania, Italy: a beautiful narrative about what one can experience when admiring one of the world's greatest masterpieces of art history...Read more...
The church with two facades: the shrine of Our Lady of the Fields in Stezzano
At seven o'clock in the evening, we arrive at our hotel in Stezzano, after wandering around the outskirts of Bergamo for at least three quarters of an hour. The navigator has run out of steam at the best of times, and the municipal administrations of...Read more...
Davide Gasparotto: Bringing those who want to see Antonello da Messina's Ecce Homo to Piacenza.
After the article on Sgarbi's exhibition at the Eataly Pavilion for Expo 2015, written by our Federico and published last April 22 in Finestre sull'Arte, we were contacted by art historian Davide Gasparotto, current Senior Curator of Paintings at the...Read more...
Introducing the Estense Gallery in Modena: interview with superintendent Stefano Casciu
The Galleria Estense in Modena, one of Italy's leading museums, will reopen on May 29, 2015, after a three-year closure due to the repercussions of the 2012 earthquake. And to celebrate the event, the Notti Barocche event will be held in Modena from ...Read more...
Cavriago: journey to the most pro-Soviet of Western lands
Film adaptations of Giovannino Guareschi 's books have given us the image of an Emilia somewhat stylized compared to the one that emerges from the texts, but nonetheless truthful: an Emilia divided between hard work in the countryside, Sundays at mas...Read more...
Exhibitions in Bologna: Nature and Expression by Francesco Arcangeli (1970)
After the major exhibition on Guido Reni in 1954, the subsequent Biennali d'Arte Antica also continued to deal with classicist painters: for example, in 1956 it was the turn of the Carracci, in 1962 there was the exhibition L'Ideale Classico nel Seic...Read more...
1992: the Expo that changed the face of Genoa (and its Old Port)
Before 1992, the area of Genoa 's Old Port was very different from how we know it today. With the growth of port traffic after World War II, the structures of what had been (and continues to be to this day) one of the world's major ports for centurie...Read more...
Van Gogh: the red in his paintings turns white over time. Scientific research reveals why
In an article published last Feb. 20 in the German scientific journal Angewandte Chemie, a group of researchers from theUniversity of Antwerp (Frederik Vanmeert, Geert Van der Snickt and Koen Janssens), confirmed what has long been known: that many p...Read more...
Bad weather: extensive damage to the Ugo Guidi Museum in Forte dei Marmi
You may have heard about the blizzard that hit Versilia tonight, particularly Forte dei Marmi. As soon as we saw the pictures of the devastation that the Versilia Riviera town suffered, we immediately got in touch with Vittorio Guidi, the director of...Read more...
The Turin of the Savoy: five world heritage buildings
Since 1997, the Savoy Residences of Piedmont have become part of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Of these, five are located in the municipal territory of Turin. And four are located in the historic center, so in one walk it is possible to discover t...Read more...
The dress of evil: exhibition of young artists in Este
Opening today, Feb. 28, at 6 p.m., at the Cultural Center "La Medusa" in Este, in the province of Padua, is a group show of seven young artists from theAcademy of Fine Arts in Venice: Alessio Guarda, Federico Seppi, Giacomo Modolo, Jacopo Pagin, Matt...Read more...
Exhibitions in Bologna: Cesare Gnudi's Guido Reni (1954)
After curating the Exhibition of Bolognese Painting of the Fourteenth Century, which we had talked about in the first installment of this series of ours dedicated to the great Bolognese exhibitions of the past, Roberto Longhi moved to Milan where, in...Read more...
The Medieval Village of Turin: a journey back in time to 15th-century Piedmont
If in Turin you have strolled along the avenues of the Valentino Park, you will surely have happened to see towers, Ghibelline battlements, three-mullioned windows, and porticoes standing out among the trees that color the banks of the Po: well, you ...Read more...
Niccolò dell'Arca's Lamentation over the Dead Christ and its violent drama.
The Marys around seem enraged with grief-Furious grief. One toward the head - on the left - holds out her open hand as if not to see the face of the corpse, and the cry and weeping and sobbing contract her face, wrinkle her forehead, her chin, her th...Read more...
A mid-seventeenth-century carnival: the carnival in Rome by Jan Miel
Among the various painters who depicted carnival scenes, a prominent place belongs to Jan Miel (1599 - 1663). He was a Flemish painter active in the 17th century and one of the leading exponents of the group of so-called Bamboccianti: these were pain...Read more...
Exhibitions in Bologna: Roberto Longhi's Fourteenth Century Bologna (1950)
In conjunction with the exhibition Da Cimabue a Morandi, which, as you know by now, opened to the public this Saturday, we want to devote a small series of three posts, here on Finestre sull'Arte, to the great Bolognese exhibitions of the past, in or...Read more...
Culture is work, and work pays: the National Association of Archaeologists to the mayor of Rome
We receive, and very gladly publish, a letter from Alessandro Garrisi, president of the Lazio section of theNational Association of Archaeologists to the mayor of Rome Ignazio Marino, in response to one from student Valentina Bellotti published last ...Read more...
Working for free in museums to keep them open? Open letter from a student to the mayor of Rome
There has been a lot of discussion in recent days about the protest of the workers of Zétema, the company that manages Rome's municipal museums. In fact, the City of Rome has planned numerous cuts for Zétema, and the museums, the quality of ser...Read more...
How we are seen from the outside: straineri ministries' advice to tourists who want to travel to Italy
When we take a trip abroad, it is always a good idea to leave informed about the destination we are going to visit: we gather information, perhaps from friends who have been to the desired destination before us; we ask a consultant or travel agent fo...Read more...
The importance of art and its history
The meeting The Importance of Art and its History was held today at 6 p.m. at the Carrara Town Hall, at which our Federico spoke to the audience in the room about the usefulness that art and art history play in today's society. For those who missed t...Read more...
How to get to Volterra
Last Wednesday we told you about the Etruscan and Roman Volterra, a must-see destination for all lovers of antiquity. Well: we had also given you some hints about the fact that reaching this town, which is located in the center of Tuscany, is not ver...Read more...
Vicenza: masterpieces of Palladio and Tiepolo at risk because of HST
It is very difficult to understand why, in Italy, the interests of culture should be put on the back burner compared to other kinds of interests, moreover, jeopardizing the safety of the artistic heritage, with all that this entails: decline in tou...Read more...
Introducing the automatic title generator of Goldinian exhibitions :-)
The indefatigable exhibition curator Marco Goldin has now become a prominent figure on the Italian art scene. Not a day goes by that we don't hear about him: exhibitions, conferences, presentations, meetings, clashes, articles in newspapers. Who know...Read more...
Gordon Moran leaves us. Our remembrance
It is only now, heavily delayed, that we learn of Gordon Moran's passing, thanks to his wife Lucia Monaci who had the kind thought to notify us, and whom we thank from the bottom of our hearts. Well: Gordon Moran, an independent scholar who devoted a...Read more...
How to work in museums: useful hints for finding a museum job
One of the questions we are asked most often is, how can I work in a museum? The question does not have a simple answer, because it basically depends on the type of museum to which you aspire. We are therefore publishing a small, quick guide that we ...Read more...
Cigoli and his Immaculate Conception with Galileo's moon in the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore
Galileo Galilei and Ludovico Cardi known as Cigoli were very good friends: they were almost the same age (the scientist was born in 1564, the artist in 1559), they had met in Florence when they were young, and a strong friendship was born between the...Read more...
How are our privately owned cultural properties doing? Go and see Boyl Palace in Pisa
"The private sector does not always take care of our heritage": this is the truth that art historian Lorenzo Carletti wants to bring out through this interesting piece he sent us, which we gladly publish. Private individuals are not always the so...Read more...
Hougoumont crucifix: survived Waterloo, stolen and finally found
It is a work of art that would have remained almost anonymous were it not for the events of the story. Therefore, it is hard to imagine that such a work could have such a compelling story to tell. Yet, for the Hougoumont crucifix, this is indeed the ...Read more...
Siena's National Picture Gallery undresses
We gladly receive and publish this open letter from a group of graduates and undergraduates of the University of Siena: the Siena National Picture Gallery is about to be dismembered. A decision that appears to be completely dastardly and will have da...Read more...
When Keith Haring was painting on the Berlin Wall.
In Berlin, the Mauermuseum, or the museum documenting the history of the Berlin Wall, has been in operation since 1962. It is also known internationally as Checkpoint Charlie Museum, named after the very famous checkpoint that controlled the flow bet...Read more...
Florence 2015 A Year in Art. A list of all exhibitions in Florentine museums
Once again this year, the complete program of Florence 2015 A Year in Art has been presented: the exhibitions that will be hosted in the museums of the Polo Museale Fiorentino. Now in its tenth edition, it is an initiative that aims, as it does every...Read more...
Florentine museums no longer bookable during free Sundays?
In recent days, rumors have been circulating in culture and tourism circles in Florence that, starting next month, it may no longer be possible to book visits to the museums of the Polo Museale Fiorentino during free Sundays. Official confirmation, h...Read more...
The hill of San Giusto: to know the whole history of Trieste in one of its most beautiful and fascinating places
There's little we can do about it: Trieste is a city we really love. And you have probably already noticed: Ilaria, who is hopelessly in love with Trieste, has already talked about it on Finestre Sull'Arte, showing us the Miramare Castle and the San ...Read more...
Five surprises to see in Pisa (besides the Tower and the square)
Tourists who come to Pisa usually limit themselves to visiting Piazza dei Miracoli with its monuments (the world-famous tower, the Cathedral, the Baptistery and the Camposanto); some of them also visit the two museums in the square, namely the Museo ...Read more...
The Palladian Basilica of Vicenza, classical harmony
Oh happy days of Palladio and enviable joy! For him, the Basilica had become his longed-for poem, and great credit was due to Trissino: much also to that host of nobles, who showed him so much favor; and Vicenza, which was adorned with palaces, saw t...Read more...
The Mona Lisa stolen by Napoleon: the origins of a hoax
Whenever the subject of Leonardo da Vinci 's paintings preserved in the Louvre in Paris comes up, there is always someone who pops up saying that " France should give them back to Italy," "the Mona Lisa was stolen by Napoleon," and so on and so f...Read more...
How to involve teenagers in the museum visit: we talk about it with Leontina Sorrentino
One of the greatest challenges for museums nowadays is to attract that part of the public consisting of adolescents. A type of audience with its own characteristics, which needs special attention, special methodologies, targeted educational actions...Read more...
A spectacular glimpse of Liguria in Verona: the Fregoso altar by Danese Cattaneo in Sant'Anastasia
If there is one thing that is astonishing about the church of Santa Anastasia in Verona, it is the fact that works from different periods and created by artists from different parts of Italy manage to dialogue with each other without ever finding the...Read more...
A grand corner of ancient Rome in Barcelona: the Temple d'August
Wandering through the alleys of Barcelona's Barri Gòtic, or the city's oldest neighborhood, you may find yourself in front of a historic stone building with a large entrance. Intrigued, you will stop in front of an iron sign from the early twentieth...Read more...
Borghetto sul Mincio: the magic of an old mill town on the banks of the river
Imagine an enchanted place, rich in history, where tranquility reigns and the most harassing noise you can hear is the quacking of ducklings. Imagine an old mill village built on the banks of a river, with lots of colorful flowers and a heady scent s...Read more...
Maximilian and Charlotte: the sad story of emperors in love in the art of Miramare Castle
One of the paintings that stuck with us most, during and after our visit to the Miramare Castle in Trieste, is the one depicting the departure of Maximilian of Habsburg-Lorraine and Charlotte of Belgium for Mexico. The painter Cesare Dell'Acqua immor...Read more...
2 billion for the Tyrrhenian highway, or 2 billion for a useless and harmful work
This weekend we were all so engrossed in the Riace bronzes affair that we completely forgot (and in several cases, perhaps intentionally) to talk about the "Sblocca Italia" package presented on Friday by Matteo Renzi during the last Council of Mi...Read more...
How to communicate culture online: a free ebook to download, useful and comprehensive
A very useful ebook is finally online that will be of great help to all those who do cultural communication online, with a focus on museums. The newly released ebook is titled Communicating culture online: a practical guide for museums, was created a...Read more...
An island of art and history in the middle of Lake Trasimeno: Isola Maggiore
Trasimeno is the largest lake incentral Italy: so large that we see three islands rising from its waters,Isola Polvese (which is the largest),Isola Minore (the smallest, uninhabited island) andIsola Maggiore, the most interesting and rich in historic...Read more...
The girl with the pearl earring will never travel again
Those who were in Bologna on the occasion of the much-discussed exhibition curated by Goldin can still say that they participated in a once-in-a-lifetime event: yes, because we learn from an article in the Guardian yesterday that Johannes Vermeer '...Read more...
Paolo Salvati, contemporary artist, leaves us
Paolo Salvati, a contemporary artist whom we here on Finestre sull'Arte had the pleasure of interviewing last year, has left us: at this link is the post with the interesting interview and the painter's thoughts on art. Paolo Salvati passed away last...Read more...
Carelessness and lack of respect for culture claim victims
It was bound to happen sooner or later:neglect and disrespect for culture have claimed a victim, and a young victim at that, Salvatore Giordano who, just 14 years old, was killed by a collapse of a piece of cornice in the Umberto I Gallery in Nap...Read more...
A great Renaissance artist--in the principality of Monaco!
When one thinks of the principality of Monaco, the associations that automatically jump to mind are usually three: the Casino, the Formula 1 Grand Prix and, of course, the prince. However, as you know (especially if you've been following us for a whi...Read more...
When libraries (especially university libraries) destroy books
It caused a stir the day before yesterday, a news story that came out in La Repubblica: some students atLa Sapienza University in Rome found among the garbage a number of books, especially humanities books. These were books thrown out of the library ...Read more...
6 must-see works of art in Castiglion Fiorentino
A few days ago, our friends at A world to travel, published on their blog a post entitled 45 photos that will make you want to visit Castiglion Fiorentino ("45 photos that will make you want to visit Castiglion Fiorentino"). There's no denying it: In...Read more...
Another library faces closure: the library of Rovigo's Accademia dei Concordi
A few days ago we told you about the library of the Warburg Institute in London, which is in danger of being dispersed because of a dispute with the University of London. Today we return to the subject of libraries because there is another one, m...Read more...
The Scaliger Castle of Villafranca di Verona
We have always thought of Villafranca di Verona as a place of passage for those going to catch a plane or for those who want a convenient base for visiting the city of Verona and its surroundings. And it was in fact with the latter intent that we hap...Read more...
Warburg Institute library in London risks dispersal
As was the case in 2010, the library of the Warburg Institute in London is in danger of being dispersed these days. But before we delve into the news, let us understand what the Warburg Institute is, and what its importance is. It is a research insti...Read more...
Wonderful news: the Bridal Chamber in Mantua reopens.
Wonderful news for art lovers: a statement released this morning on the website of the Ducal Palace in Mantua lets us know that the Bridal Chamber with Andrea Mantegna's magnificent frescoes, of paramount importance to art history, will be reopened t...Read more...
A Roman temple in the heart of Assisi: the temple of Minerva, now a Catholic church
"Eventually we reached what is really the ancient city and, look! That illustrious structure stood before my eyes: the first monument of complete antiquity that I had ever seen." The writer of these lines was not just any traveler, but perhaps one of...Read more...
Naked under Courbet's painting: where is the line between art and exhibitionism?
After the controversy of the past few days over Damien Hirst's sheep that is supposed to be exhibited in Arezzo as part of the Icastica exhibition, another episode from a few days ago gives us another cue to try to understand where art ends and mere ...Read more...
La Spezia: excess of power is the Superintendent's opinion, or disregard for citizens?
Before we begin, a necessary preamble: we at Windows on Art, respect the decisions of justice, even when these are quite questionable. However, we do not want to go into legal issues: we will try to talk about the affair of Piazza Verdi, La Spezia, f...Read more...
Genoa, San Pietro in Banchi: a church built over (and thanks to) stores!
Among the various surprises that the alleys of Genoa 's historic center hold, there is a very special one indeed: the church of San Pietro in Banchi. Getting there is very easy: from Piazza Caricamento just leave Palazzo San Giorgio on the right and ...Read more...
A contemporary masterpiece in ancient Pisa: Keith Haring's Tuttomondo
Of Pisa, everyone knows the Tower and the Piazza dei Miracoli: a monumental complex that is world-famous and represents a bit of the bare minimum of Pisan tourism. And it is there, in fact, that the bulk of mass tourism is concentrated: dozens of cou...Read more...
The first ebook of Windows on Art is finally available!
The first ebook of Windows on Art is finally available: Art History Course. From the Thirteenth Century to the Early Nineteenth Century. The ebook contains the topics of our art history course, already available on the website, and also makes them us...Read more...
Happy Birthday Windows on Art!
We have come to five years together! Who would have thought? And to think that Windows on Art was born almost as a joke, as a test: if someone had told us that it would become one of the most followed art-historical popularization projects in I...Read more...
A good lesson from Spain: museum reductions for those without employment
The day before yesterday, the always excellent Fabrizio Federici of Mo(n)stre published, in his usual ironic style, a post on his Facebook page titled "La (s)Venaria Reale": in the post we simply remarked on the price of the ticket for admission to t...Read more...
The alleged risk of closing the Apuan marble quarries: here's how things really are
In recent days, we have read dozens and dozens of articles with almost apocalyptic tones about the alleged imminent closure of marble quarries in the Apuo-versiliese area, articles in which the destruction of the local economy and the loss of thousan...Read more...
Del Medico Palace: we officially deny the claims attributed to us by the Tyrrhenian
Last February 27, an article appeared in the Carrara chronicle of Il Tirreno, entitled Palazzo Del Medico unbound, in which it was reported that we had been reporting "for some time that work was beginning inside the historic Palazzo del Medico in Al...Read more...
Good practices in museums: the exhibition on nineteenth-century Bologna at the Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna
We often talk about what museums should do to be more engaging, attract a larger and more diverse audience, vary their cultural offerings (and not only, someone will add). We were in Bologna earlier this month where we saw an excellent concretization...Read more...
Adopt a painting with us: Windows on Art for the National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome
From today until February 28, Finestre sull'Arte is launching an initiative in support of the National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome: in collaboration with theAssociation of Friends of Modern Art in Valle Giulia, our site is in fact adhering to the A...Read more...
The Reggia di Carditello is finally ours: some impressions
It is this morning's news that the Reggia di Carditello as of today belongs to all Italians: Minister Massimo Bray announced it late in the morning on Facebook,ANSA typed a few lines about the event at 13:08, and now the number of newspapers spreadin...Read more...
The printed editions of Cennino Cennini's Book of Art: interview with Giovanni Mazzaferro
We open 2014 on our website with an interview with Giovanni Mazzaferro, head of the Mazzaferro Library in Bologna, a collection specializing in art literature, consisting of some 1,800 volumes. Giovanni Mazzaferro, who holds a degree in Economic Hist...Read more...
Merry Christmas to all with a special gift!
Hello everyone!!! Today is Christmas, and in addition to wishing you, as we have already done with our newsletter and Facebook page, a very merry Christmas and happy holidays (as well as the best for 2014), we would like to tell you that Santa Claus ...Read more...
Alessia Peretti and marble. An exhibition to tell the story of the Apuan Alps.
We have often spoken on our website about the Apuan Alps, the environmental disaster behind them, and all the problems affecting the Carrara marble industry. The essence of our lands is now told in an exhibition by a young and interesting local art...Read more...
Facebook Art Week 2013 concludes.
Also coming to an end this year is The Art Week on Facebook, our initiative to share and promote art on the social network par excellence, which in 2013 reached its second edition, during which we once again invited Facebook users to include, as thei...Read more...
Florence, A Year in Art 2014: all scheduled exhibitions
The press conference in which all the exhibitions of Firenze 2014 Un anno ad arte, the review that for several years has been held in the museums of the Polo Museale Fiorentino and that also this year offers a program of the highest level, ended ...Read more...
Facebook Art Week returns
After the great success of the 2012 edition, our initiative The Art Week on Facebook is back again this year, with an unchanged goal from last year: to fill the most popular social network of the network with works of art for a week! Participating...Read more...
Art bingo
Since it is Sunday and we are now almost in the Christmas mood, we bring you the game of the winter: art bingo. Do you know how to play bingo? It works the same way: only instead of filling the folder with numbers, we put in the most trite and widesp...Read more...
Giorgio Vasari's Allegory of Patience on display in Florence
The Palatine Gallery of Palazzo Pitti in Florence is organizing an exhibition focusing on one of the most significant paintings in the Medici collections, the Allegoryof Patience, now kept in the Prometheus Room, and belonging to Cardinal Leopold de ...Read more...
As of today, Windows on Art podcasts are available in English!
After the experiment conducted in 2011, the year during which we had published four episodes of our podcast in English, we are now starting to reintroduce the English-language version of our podcasts, since the foreign audience of our website and Fac...Read more...
Why the portrait of Isabella d'Este is not by Leonardo da Vinci
Here we go again: another great masterpiece popped up out of the blue, again by a great artist (this time Leonardo da Vinci), has jumped into the headlines after Sette magazine published a few days ago, on October 4 to be exact, an article in which i...Read more...
Help African children by discovering art history
Today Windows on Art is launching a great new feature: the art history course, with which anyone will be able to discover the entire great history of Italian art from the thirteenth century to the early nineteenth century. The course is divided into ...Read more...
An encouraging sign for our appeal against the "rental" of cultural property
Despite the fact that Minister Bray has not yet responded to the appeal against the measure on unexposed cultural heritage contained in the Simplification Bill, an appeal we launched on these pages on August 1, and which you can still sign by clickin...Read more...
"One lives thanks to the Art of the Past": interview with Paolo Salvati
In the world of contemporary art, which is often difficult, provocative, and oblivious to tradition, there are artists who try to take a different path, one that looks to the old masters to revisit them in a modern key. One of these artists is master...Read more...
Appeal to Minister Bray: NO to renting out our cultural property. Sign it too!
The Simplification Bill approved by the Council of Ministers last June 19, as all art enthusiasts know, contains a measure that envisages the possibility of state-owned cultural assets being taken out of Italy to be granted to foreign countries upon ...Read more...
Seven (bad) clichés about Italian art
Anyone with the slightest interest in art history has come across one of these seven cl ichés about Italian art at least once in their life. Seven bad myths that often recur on the pages of newspapers or in the mouths of politicians and that it is...Read more...
Thinking at the Museum: the story of Rosita | Stories of youth and culture
Today's protagonist of Stories of Youth and Culture is Rosita Cacciali, she is from Roccabianca (in the province of Parma), and she calls herself "the soul" of "Il Mondo Piccolo" Museum, a museum dedicated to the Parma plain between the 19th and ...Read more...
Creating a cultural center for exposure and knowledge: Stefania's story | Stories of youth and culture
The appointment with our Stories of Youth and Culture initiative opens with the story of Stefania Lorandi, a young South Tyrolean woman who, together with two partners, wanted to create almost from nothing a cultural center consisting of a museum wit...Read more...
Stories of youth and culture
In the coming days, the Windows on Art blog will feature posts that are part of an initiative we have called Stories of Youth and Culture. Culture, in our country, is made up of many gears, and often many of these gears are not talked about: but with...Read more...
What happened to the hundred Caravaggio drawings?
It had been heralded as a huge discovery, by some it had even been called the discovery of the century: the famous (alleged) one hundred Caravaggio drawings, which were the art-historical "case" of the summer of 2012, and to which we at Windows on Ar...Read more...
Windows on Art turns four years old!
It was April 29, 2009 when we, Ilaria and Federico, published the first, pioneering installment of Windows on Art, dedicated to Guido Cagnacci, one of our favorite artists. We had never recorded a podcast before (and we could hear it!), we had never ...Read more...
February 22, 1943 - February 22, 2013: 70 years since the conviction of Hans and Sophie Scholl
Exactly seventy years ago, on February 22, 1943, the siblings Hans and Sophie Scholl and their friend Christoph Probst were executed by the Nazi regime in Munich, following a very quick trial. All were very young: they were just, respectively, 24, 21...Read more...
On the Monte dei Paschi di Siena affair and the future of culture in the city. Interview with Roberto Renò
The recent events involving Monte dei Paschi di Siena cannot fail to interest even those who love art or those who work in art, due to the fact that the bank, through its Foundation, used to subsidize a good part of the city's cultural life: restorat...Read more...
Florence 2013, A Year in Art
On Thursday we received from the Press Office of the Polo Museale Fiorentino the program of Firenze 2013 - Un anno ad arte and since we at Finestre sull'Arte have often taken part in the Un anno ad arte initiative by visiting the exhibitions proposed...Read more...
ExhibitionsINmostra takes second place at the 2012 eContent Awards!
Our partner site MostreINmostra(www.mostreinmostra.it) won second place in the eCulture and Heritage section at the eContent Awards Italy 2012 (just like us at Windows on Art in 2009!), the award given annually to quality websites. This is an award o...Read more...
Facebook Art Week: the final review
Our Facebook Art Week initiative ended yesterday, and so it is time to take stock of this small virtual event that transformed the most famous social network into a more beautiful and more cultured place for a week.In fact, we spurred Facebook users ...Read more...
Art Week on Facebook
We are kicking off the Facebook Art Week initiative today: from Dec. 2 to Dec. 9, we invite Facebook people who love art in all its forms to post their favorite artwork as their profile picture. Our ambitious goal is to fill Facebook with works of ar...Read more...
Carrara and the hydrogeological risk
Third appointment with the series on the environmental problems of the Apuan Alps, and today in particular we want to focus on the hydrogeological risk of the city of Carrara and surrounding areas(Massa, Ortonovo, Sarzana... ). We have all seen the d...Read more...
Appeal for the Giuliano Briganti Library at the museum complex of Santa Maria della Scala, Siena
Following the placement of librarian as well as art historian Azelia Batazzi and secretary Katiuscia Girolami on layoff, the Giuliano Briganti library in Siena, housed in the premises of the Santa Maria della Scala complex in Siena, has had its openi...Read more...
Water pollution in the Apuan Alps.
We resume our series on the environmental problems of the Apuan Alps related toCarrara marble extraction by talking today about how mining affects the health of the water in the Apuan Alps. Ours is an area rich in water: rivers, streams, brooks, many...Read more...
Save Villa Massoni in Massa
In Massa, a provincial capital city in Tuscany as well as the former capital of a prosperous duchy in ancient times, there is a residence, Villa Massoni, also known as Villa di Volpigliano (after the name of the area of the city on which it stands) t...Read more...
Antonio Natali's lecture for the presentation of the new Uffizi
A lecture with guest speaker Antonio Natali, director of the Uffizi Gallery, was held on Wednesday, September 19, at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, during which the art historian illustrated the new Uffizi layouts by talking about the new ha...Read more...
On the risk of closing Santa Maria della Scala in Siena: interview with Giulio Burresi
It was only a few days ago that the Santa Maria della Scala Museum Complex in Siena was reportedly at risk of closure. This is an ancient hospital with a history dating back thousands of years, which preserves within it valuable artistic testimonie...Read more...
Battle of Anghiari: summary of the five-year search for the lost Leonardo
The news is recent: the mayor of Florence Matteo Renzi, in a polemical letter sent to the minister of culture, has suspended work on the search for the Battle of Anghiari, the work by Leonardo that would be found under Giorgio Vasari 's Battle of Mar...Read more...
How to attribute a drawing (by Caravaggio and otherwise): interview with Francesca Cappelletti
After the enthusiastic tones of the first hour have died down and it is possible to reason with a somewhat cooler mind, we at Windows on Art decided to get an expert opinion on the issue of the hundred Caravaggio drawings. Therefore, we reached out t...Read more...
RAI Arte interview with Luca Morosi of MostreINmostra
We inaugurate the section of Finestre sull'Arte dedicated to interviews with an interview that ... we did not do, but the RAI Arte portal, and in particular an interview with Luca Morosi, creator of the portal MostreINmostra(www.mostreinmostra.it). M...Read more...
Caravaggio's drawings: reasons to doubt
The discovery would be of the truly sensational kind: about one hundred drawings by Caravaggio discovered in one fell swoop in the Peterzano fund of the Castello Sforzesco in Milan. We will not dwell much on the details of the alleged discovery bec...Read more...
-
Entrepreneurs and art patrons of today's Tuscany: who they are and what they do
Federico Giannini, Ilaria Baratta - 16/04/2024 -
On the Tiber floodplain in Valtiberina, in the landscapes beloved by Pliny the Younger
Redazione - 14/04/2024 -
Rome, the route to discover ten of Gian Lorenzo Bernini's most famous works
Redazione - 11/04/2024 -
The labyrinth of Trauttmansdorff Castle: a green maze at the foot of the Alps
Redazione - 09/04/2024 -
Portrait of a patron between Rome and the Apuan Alps: cardinal Alderano Cybo
Fabrizio Federici - 05/04/2024 -
A park of works made with flowers. The contemporary garden of the Montellori Farm.
Federico Giannini - 31/03/2024
Most read of the month
- Miart 2024: how much do the works cost? Our selection of 15 works, with prices
By Ilaria Baratta - published on 12/04/2024 alle 20:25:56 - 0 Commenti - In the beginning was the egg
By Noemi Capoccia - published on 31/03/2024 alle 11:51:52 - 0 Commenti - Journey through the workshops of the Opificio delle Pietre Dure in Florence
By Federico Giannini - published on 07/04/2024 alle 11:58:18 - 0 Commenti - On the maternity sculpture in Milan: a technical committee should give technical opinions
By Federico Giannini - published on 10/04/2024 alle 21:14:55 - 0 Commenti - "This is how we will transform the Imperial Forums." Labics interview on the new promenade
By Noemi Capoccia - published on 04/04/2024 alle 16:45:01 - 0 Commenti - The Franceschini reforms: a review ten years later
By Adriano La Regina - published on 27/03/2024 alle 00:22:52 - 0 Commenti - Masolino's Year at the Dawn of the Renaissance. What the Empoli exhibition looks like
By Federico Giannini - published on 14/04/2024 alle 16:23:04 - 0 Commenti - Venice Biennale 2024, here are the first photos of the international exhibition
By Redazione - published on 16/04/2024 alle 21:54:05 - 0 Commenti
