As one wanders through the great piazzas of Italy — the Piazza della Signoria in Florence, Piazza San Pietro in Rome, and the Piazza San Marco in Venice — one cannot help notice the magnificent facades of government buildings and churches, the impressive works of sculpture in marble and bronze, and… the pigeons. They have […]
To the Director of the Hermitage, ArtWatch International and many students of the Art Students League of New York write this letter of gratitude to you after having seen Rembrandt’s amazing painting, “Portrait of Baertje Martens” c.1640. The preservation of this painting is a delight to those of us who recognize Rembrandt’s style of delicate […]
The restoration of an outstanding work of art is rarely a simple matter, either physically or ethically. If the object in question is comparatively huge, is made of metal and stands in the open air, then any inherent problems it faces can prove very difficult to solve. And if nationalist politics become tangled up in […]
For more than 500 years Andrea del Verrocchio’s bronze statue of David has been safeguarded indoors in the city of Florence. One of the masterworks of the Italian fifteenth century, this exquisite four foot tall (126cm) bronze is currently in the Bargello, which includes among its collection both of Donatello’s Davids and Michelangelo’s Bacchus. At […]
Is it possible to find fault with an exhibition that presents nearly 120 drawings by Leonardo da Vinci to an art-hungry public on both sides of the Atlantic? The exhibition, “Leonardo da Vinci, Master Draftsman,” generously support by Morgan Stanley, has been widely praised by leading instruments of the media, with not one but two […]
La proposta del Comitato si caratterizza per la richiesta di ritirare il previsto inserimento di funzioni abitative all’interno del complesso, espressa attraverso specifiche deliberazioni e che sta prendendo corpo con la progettazione condotta dalla Fondazione Michelucci, incaricata dall’Amministrazione per tale specifico scopo. Tale decisione risulta però contrastante con la storia, la funzione ed il significato […]
Most alarming is the proximity of the demolition work, only a few feet away, to rare and superb examples of Italian religious pictures from the 14th and 15th centuries located in the Enamel Room: a Coronation of the Virgin by Paolo and Giovanni Veneziano, Madonna and Child with Saint Lawrence and Julian by Gentile da […]
Whether or not the paintings needed to be cleaned is certainly one issue of great importance, but even more problematic is the fact that the subjects of the paintings chosen for an overhaul are “beautiful women.” Never mind that this position is decidedly in opposition to all modern sensibilities that respect feminism – but more […]
Art lovers as well as art professionals should welcome the role of art diagnostician Maurizio Seracini with respect to the Uffizi Gallery’s Adoration of the Magi by Leonardo da Vinci. In point of fact, last year a group of forty-five Renaissance art historians from six countries headed by the late Sir Ernst Gombrich publicly called […]
The Uffizi Gallery in Florence has announced its plans to restore Leonardo da Vinci’s Adoration of the Magi. It is to be the final phase in the restoration of the triad of the master’s works in the museum: the Baptism of Christ, a painting produced by Andrea del Verrocchio’s workshop with contributions by Leonardo, was […]