Lost Leonardo’s work to be auctioned by Christie’s for $ 100M

Pubblicato il 12 Ottobre 2017 da Genni

Images from Christie's Auction House

Recently attributed to Leonardo Da Vinci, Salvator Mundi is a painting of Christ as the Saviour of the World. Leonardo painted the subject for Louis XII between 1506 and 1513. The work of art shows Christ giving a benediction with his raised right hand and crossed fingers while holding a crystal sphere in his left hand. The painting disappeared from 1763 to 1900, when it was purchased by British collector Francis Cook, 1st Viscount of Monserrate. The picture had been damaged by previous restorations and for this reason its paternity was unsure.

Leonardo's Salvator Mundi

In 1958 Cook’s descendants sold the painting at an auction for £ 45. Since then it has undergone various restorations until it was authenticated as a painting by Leonardo da Vinci and was exhibited in London’s National Gallery during the Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan exhibition from November 2011 and February 2012. Painted during the same timeframe as The Monna Lisa, this painting is rightly considered the Holy Grail of old master paintings, since for a long time it was known to exist and had been much sought.

Leonardo's Salvator Mundi

Sold in 2013 to Russian collector Dmitry Rybolovlev for $ 127.5 million, it will now be sold on November 15th by Christie’s in New York. Bids are expected to top $ 100 million.

 

Pubblicato in Breaking news, Masterpiece's of Tuscany, Tuscan art, Tuscany | Contrassegnato , , | Lascia un commento

16th-Century Art in Florence: among Michelangelo, Pontormo and Giambologna

Pubblicato il 5 Ottobre 2017 da Genni

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On at Palazzo Strozzi in Florence until January 21st, 2018, is the impressive exhibition  Il Cinquecento a Firenze. Tra Michelangelo, Pontormo e Giambologna, a showcase of over 70 masterpieces from the 16th century.

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On show works of art by artists such as Michelangelo, Giorgio Vasari, Bronzino, Pontormo, Rosso Fiorentino, Giambologna and Bartolomeo Ammannati and Santi di Tito.

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This was the period of the Counter-Reformation and the Council of Trent. In Florence Francesco I de’ Medici was continuing his father’s, Cosimo I, patronage of the arts, supporting artists and founding the Accademia della Crusca, as well as building the Medici Theatre. This was an age of particularly outstanding cultural and intellectual talent.

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Open every day, including holidays, from 10 am to 8 pm, on Thursday until 11 pm. Full price ticket costs 13 Euros.

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Pubblicato in Art exhibitions in Tuscany, Art in Florence, Exhibitions in Florence, Florence, Tuscany | Contrassegnato , , , , , , , , , , | Lascia un commento

Escher on display at Palazzo Blu, Pisa

Pubblicato il 20 Settembre 2017 da Genni

M.C. Escher, Eye, 1946 © the M.C. Escher Company B.V.-Baarn- the Netherlands

From October 13th to January 28th, 2018, Blu, the art and culture Palace in Pisa is hosting an Escher exhibition in organization with the Escher Museum of The Hague.

M.C. Escher, Drawing hands, 1948 © the M.C. Escher Company B.V.-Baarn- the Netherlands

The exhibition will be a complete representation of all the astonishing and hypnotic masterpieces of this great Dutch graphic artist, with the help of some peculiar exhibition solutions, especially designed for this show, as well as of various multimedia technologies.

M.C. Escher, Stars, 1948 © the M.C. Escher Company B.V.-Baarn- the Netherlands All rights reserved

The exhibition is an opportunity to not only explore the fascinating and overwhelming world of Escher but also to retrace his stages of creativity, focusing in particular on his many trips to Italy in the 1920s and 1930s, which deeply marked his style.

M.C. Escher, Sky and Water II, 1938 © the M.C. Escher Company B.V.-Baarn- the Netherlands

Not only did he visit various towns in Tuscany, Florence, San Gimignano, Volterra and Siena, but he even got married with Jetta Umiker, a Swiss woman like himself attracted to Italy, in Viareggio on the Versilia Coast, just 20 km north of Pisa.

M.C. Escher, Relativity, 1953 © the M.C. Escher Company B.V.-Baarn- the Netherlands.

Although he remained an established landscape interpreter, Escher also decided to deepen his exploration of the horizons of visual illusion with the use of geometric compositions and the creation of “impossible” structures. Visitors will therefore find a selection of over a hundred masterpieces which will be divided into nine sections: Faces, Animals, Objects and Reflections, Geometries and Rhythms, Landscapes, The Artist, Imaginary Architectures, Nature, Self-Portraits.

M.C. Escher, Hand with Reflecting Spehere, 1935 © the M.C. Escher Company B.V.-Baarn- the Netherlands

Open from Monday to Friday from 10 am to 7 pm and on Saturday and Sunday from 10 am to 8 pm.

M.C. Escher, Belvedere, 1958 © the M.C. Escher Company B.V.-Baarn- the Netherlands

Pubblicato in Art exhibitions in Tuscany, Art in Pisa, Exhibitions in Pisa, Pisa, Tuscany | Contrassegnato , | Lascia un commento

Human fragility and enduring art: Urs Fischer in Florence

Pubblicato il 2 Settembre 2017 da Genni

Big Clay

Swiss-born artist Urs Fischer is exhibiting in Piazza della Signoria, Florence, from September 22nd to January 21st. Coinciding with the opening of the Florence International Biennial Antiques Fair which will be on from September 23rd to October 1st, the world-wide known square will be hosting a 12 metre high aluminium statue entitled Big Clay. The statue is meant to be a metaphor of  the simplicity and primordial aspect of the human gesture that moulds shape; for this reason, the artist’s fingerprints are to be found on the surface of the work.

The Rape

After having melted at the Venice Biennale of 2011 a wax statue copy of Giambologna’s The Rape of the Sabine Women, whose original  stands in the Loggia dei Lanzi in Florence’s Piazza della Signoria, for this exhibition Fischer will create two wax figures of Francesco Bonami and Fabrizio Moretti, the curators of the event. These will be positioned in Piazza della Signoria, between the replicas of Michelangelo’s David and Donatello’s Judith and Holofernes and left to slowly consume themselves during the event, symbols of human finitude.

Urs Fischer

Certainly Fischer’s combination of monumentalism and playfulness, totemism and the burlesque is perfect for that theatre of art and politics which Piazza della Signoria represents.

Big Clay

Pubblicato in Art in Florence, Art in Tuscany, Events in Florence, Exhibitions in Florence, Exhibitions in Tuscany, Florence, Tuscany | Contrassegnato , , | Lascia un commento

Lucca celebrates its Feast of the Cross

Pubblicato il 28 Agosto 2017 da Genni

Luminara di Santa Croce

The Festa della Esaltazione della Santa Croce, Feast of the Cross, is the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Lucca’s main festivity. The feast commences during the vespers on September 13 and proceeds for the entire day of the 14th. This event is well renowned above all for its nocturne candlelight procession called La Luminara.

02 Holy Face of Lucca

The particular emphasis on this celebration is due to the millennial worship of the Holy Face of Lucca, the venerated wooden crucifix preserved in Lucca’s Cathedral. Medieval legend has it that the crucifix was sculpted by Nicodemus, who assisted Joseph of Arimathea to prepare Jesus’ body for burial, and specifically dates its arrival in Lucca to AD 742.

Luminara di Santa Croce

Actually, the present Holy Face is an early 13th-century copy of an original ascribed to the circle of Benedetto Antelami. The original had apparently been ruined beyond repair by relic-seeking pilgrims. However, its presence in Lucca is only securely documented around about 1100. What is certain is that the procession to celebrate the Holy Face was first mentioned on September 14th 1118. Around this date the festivity became Lucca’s main celebration, and the participation of town-dwellers between the ages of 14 and 70, was made compulsory.

Luminara di Santa Croce

The procession follows the original itinerary the relic covered when it was brought to Lucca from Luni, also known as the “percorso miracoloso”, the ‘miraculous path’. Originally, in fact, the Holy Face was deposited in the Church of San Frediano to be worshiped. The following day, however, the Cross was mysteriously discovered in a kitchen garden next to the Cathedral of San Martino. This event was interpreted as a precise indication of the Holy Face’s will and since then the relic hangs in Lucca’s Cathedral.

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So if you’re travelling around Lucca in the middle of September we highly recommend you come see the procession. A rare opportunity to witness a millenary tradition in a suggestive atmosphere with thousands of candles decorating the surrounding buildings and borne by the participants themselves.

 

Pubblicato in Events in Lucca, Lucca, Tuscan churches and cathedrals, Tuscan traditions | Contrassegnato , | Lascia un commento