Italian Renaissance and Baroque Art

The domain of the sublime is vast, and in any period hard to define. In this essay, I attempt to explore the concept of the sublime in relation to seventeenth-century landscape painting, mainly from Italy. I have chosen some key works through which to explore aspects of the baroque passion for the stupendous and terrifying, in such phenomena as volcanoes, storms, the jagged peaks of mountains, and the crash of waterfalls, as well as in the prodigies and monsters associated with a dark and still-mysterious natural world. These works evoked emotions of wonder, mystical rapture, and horror or fear, which would only later be categorized as sublime. My concern here has been to contextualize these emotions, to suggest the strains of thought and feeling which contemporary viewers brought to them, and which suggest how the sublime was exper ienced in a pre-Burkian era. 1 Classical Sources of the Seventeenth-Century Sublime The major source for the sublime in the seventeenth century was an anonymous treatise on rhetoric titled On the Sublime, probably written in the mid first century CE. It was long thought to be written by Longinus, and I shall here use this traditional name and association. For Longinus, the sublime was a rhetorical phenomenon, a quality of writing that expresses great thoughts in rich and emotionally powerful words and images. It uplifts the soul, and through its intensity and expression of vehement passion sweeps audiences off their feet in amazement, transporting them with wonder. 2 Longinus associates his " godlike authors " through metaphor, with the violence of the elements and with soaring beyond " the boundaries by which we are circumscribed. " 3 His instances of sublimity are predominantly drawn from the elemental forces of nature: from the violence of shipwrecks and battle, from immensity and energy, and he admires those writers who can create terror, who can make the hearer feel that they are " moving in the thick of the danger. " 4 The orator had the power to create a lifelike image, causing an overwhelming and visceral shock in his audience, and most of Longinus's examples of such images are associated with terror.

A MOST HAVE FOR THE ART HISTORIAN!

Dopo la pubblicazione del primo tomo, che raccoglie il patrimonio architettonico e artistico del Fondo Edifici di Culto di 129 luoghi di culto presenti in Piemonte, Veneto, Liguria, Emilia Romagna, Toscana, Marche, Umbria e Abruzzo, L' ERMA in collaborazione con il Ministero dell' Interno prosegue l' opera con il secondo tomo che conterrà il patrimonio artistico-culturale di Roma e del Lazio. Gli edifici di culto raccolti in questo secondo tomo sono 191 di cui 120 sul territorio laziale e 71 nella capitale. Tra i più importanti edifici a Roma ricordiamo Sant' Andrea al Quirinale, Sant' Andrea della Valle, Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, la Basilica di SS. Giovanni e Paolo al Celio, Santa Maria del Popolo, Santa Maria in Aracoeli al Campidoglio, senza però tralasciare tutti gli altri edifici di culto con i loro relativi patrimoni artistici presenti sul territorio romano e laziale.

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Il Corpus Del Fondo Edifici Di Culto è una prestigiosa enciclopedia costituita da 4 volumi, di assoluto valore scientifico in cui saranno illustrati, attraverso delle schede e per mezzo di foto a colori di alta qualità, tutti gli edifici di culto facenti parte del patrimonio del Fondo Edifici di Culto del Ministero dell' Interno e tutto il patrimonio artistico-culturale in essi contenuti; il patrimonio del F.E.C., è costituito da oltre 730 edifici di culto di grandissimo pregio storico, architettonico, artistico e culturale, dislocati su tutto il territorio nazionale aperti al pubblico e concessi in uso gratuito all'Autorità Ecclesiastica ma gestiti dal Fondo Edifici di Culto, amministrato dalla Direzione Centrale per l' amministrazione del Fondo Edifici di Culto del Ministero dell' Interno. L' importanza dell' opera sarà messa in risalto dalla elegante veste editoriale dei 4 lussuosi volumi imperdibili per gli studiosi del settore ed i collezionisti.

R iconsiderato criticamente solo da pochi de-cenni dopo secoli di oblio, Michele Desubleo si è rivelato come un artista non solo di eccel-lente livello, ma anche di grande fortuna collezioni-stica 1. Il pittore di origine fiamminga, tra l'altro, oltre ad importanti pale d'altare, fu autore colto e sopraf-fino di squisiti quadri 'da stanza' che fin dall'inizio entrarono in alcune tra le più importanti collezioni private, soprattutto romane (Giustiniani, Colon-na), fiorentine (don Lorenzo de' Medici), bolognesi (Ghislieri, Zambeccari, Calderini, Davia), parmensi (Farnese, Boscoli), testimoniando come fosse arti-sta assai ambito quand'era ancora in vita (muore a Parma nel 1676). Tanto più sorprende il sostanziale silenzio critico successivo, opportunamente squar-ciato dall'acribia critica odierna, che mi pare possa essere in gran parte imputato al giudizio ambiguo ma sottilmente astioso di Malvasia, che non riusci-va a inserirlo del tutto nell'ortodossia reniana. Le parole "degno scolaro e imitatore del signor Guido […] se non quanto gli piacque di più caricare, e dare più forza ai colori" (nelle Pitture di Bologna, 1686) colgono perfettamente l'autonomia del fiam-mingo anche dagli altri collaboratori della bottega di Reni ma al tempo stesso la restituiscono in chia-ve negativa 2. Al contrario, il successo commerciale del maestro, testimoniato da un discreto patrimonio personale, come risulta dai due testamenti redatti nel 1668 e 1672 conservati presso la Soprintenden-za per i Beni Artistici e Storici di Parma e trascritti e pubblicati integralmente dal sottoscritto nel 2001, è confermato anche da una nutrita (ma non sorpren-dente, vista l'importanza del pittore) serie di copie coeve da sue opere, purtroppo talvolta confuse con gli originali, che configurano le invenzioni di De-Le copie e le derivazioni come paradigma di fortuna storica: il caso di Michele Desubleo Alberto Cottino subleo tra le più replicate dei pittori della scuola bolognese (ovviamente dopo quelle Reni e Guerci-no). In questa sede si tenterà di mettere a fuoco per la prima volta questo importante aspetto, artistico e sociologico al tempo stesso, per mettere un po' d'ordine in una materia finora sfuggente ai fini di una sempre più corretta ed emergente collocazio-ne del pittore nell'ambito della storia della pittura italiana del Seicento. Nella citata monografia ave-vo pubblicato alcuni documenti riguardanti il mal-noto Giuseppe Fava (Ugozzolo, Parma, 29 maggio 1611-dopo il 1668), amico ed erede (almeno nella prima versione del testamento) di Desubleo e per quello che sappiamo pittore specializzato in copie dalle opere parmensi del fiammingo, alcune delle quali collezionate dagli stessi Farnese a Palazzo del Giardino: ad esempio la perduta copia eseguita da Fava della pala di Desubleo già in S. Maria Bian-ca a Parma, oggi conservata a Palazzo Sanvitale, è citata in un inventario di Palazzo del Giardino del 1680, forse per documentare un'opera commissio-nata dagli stessi Farnese per l'importante chiesa. Di Fava oggi non si conosce nulla di sicuro, nonostante alcune ricerche che avevo tentato di effettuare all'e-poca, ma è assai significativo che Desubleo avesse un amico-verosimilmente un allievo-'autorizza-to' a produrre copie dalle sue opere parmensi più significative, segno di notevole apprezzamento col-lezionistico. In realtà i suoi dipinti furono copiati fin dall'inizio della sua carriera e il caso probabil-mente più eclatante è quello di Conversano, dove sono state recentemente scoperte tre derivazioni di diverso formato e livello qualitativo del Riposo nella fuga in Egitto, capolavoro giovanile del maestro da poco ritrovato, che avevo reso noto qualche anno fa 1. Michele Desubleo, Riposo durante la fuga in Egitto, c. 1640. Già Londra, Galleria Robilant Voena.

In April 1604, the Italian painter Caravaggio, believing that he had been slighted, threw a platter of artichokes at the head of waiter in a Roman tavern. This essay examines this curious episode through the lens art history, food history, and of social mores in seventeenth-century Rome, considering the history of the artichoke, Caravaggio’s polemical naturalism, and contemporary attitudes to his art and behavior.

A painting in the Parisian collection of the Prince of Conti, sold in Paris in 1779 is identified with one portrayed on a photograph sent to Bernard Berenson in 1916.  The article traces the history of its owners and critics between those two dates, and examines critically the claim that it formed part of the ill-fated collection of King Charles I.

M.C.Cozzi, S. Guido, G. Mantella, "La Madonna di Ognissanti. Un dipinto di Battistello Caracciolo: la tecnica, il restauro e un'ipotesi interpretativa tra devozione e storia", in "La Madonna di Ognissanti di Battistello Caracciolo. Una riscoperta per il restauro" a cura di S. Guido, G. Mantella, Roma 2014, pp. 21-57. ISBN - 9788898455232

Ambrogio Figino’s late-sixteenth century portrait of the future saint Carlo Borromeo (1538-84) has long been revered for its subtle naturalism. Art historians place its fictions within a certain stylistic timeline, and beholders prize the work’s ability to capture the spirit of its pious sitter. Yet this portrait simultaneously participated in a different register of value. Borromeo passed away in 1584, precisely as the legal process of becoming a saint was being revived and revised in the name of Catholic reform. In this world of church bureaucracy, Borromeo’s portraits functioned first and foremost as measurable proof. Their ubiquity and multiplicity proved the power of his cult, and their intercessory efficacy was carefully calculated. Borromeo’s legal trial for sainthood is filled with stories of devotees supplicating before his likenesses and pressing his portraits to ailing body parts in hopes for a cure. Artistic concerns of quality fall away in these thousands of pages of quantifiable evidence. This paper argues that rubrics of artistry and cultic value did, however, collide in late sixteenth-century Italy. From this vantage point, the new impulses of church reform are seen to increase the authority of the artwork and its maker. 

**note: for a link to the full article, get in touch at gharpster@gsu.edu**

Erratum: Federico Borromeo is Carlo Borromeo's cousin, not his nephew.

John Cabot University’s Master of Arts (MA) in Art History fosters professional mastery of the materials and methods of art history with emphasis on first-hand research in the museums, monuments, and archaeological sites of Rome. The degree can be completed in approximately fifteen months of full-time study.

The program has a dual focus: the acquisition of technical skills for primary research; and the analysis of visual cultures of Rome and the Mediterranean from antiquity to the present, with critical perspectives on their worldwide impact. Accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, John Cabot University's MA is the first US-accredited graduate degree program in art history taught entirely in Rome.

Applications are currently begin accepted for Fall 2018. Application deadlines:
° Late Decision I: June 1st
° Late Decision II: July 31st (available only to applicants who do not require a visa to study in Italy)

To apply: http://www.johncabot.edu/master-art-history/default.aspx
For further information: graduateadmissions@johncabot.edu

SUMMARY (ENGLISH)
Waszlavik László:
THE RAPHAEL'S CODE SYSTEM
Hidden Madonna-legends in Raphael's works
The history of astromithological and tarot-based representation of Mary

As a result of several years of intensive research, an interesting painting cryptographic technique  has been discovered in Western Europe. It can be identified in almost unchanged form from the middle of the seventh century to almost present day. The discovery of the method used by Raphael was the result of the discovery of the coding system of a Hungarian painter Csontváry. The research in this regard was finalized  for the 2019 Csontváry centenary, when, in addition to describing an eight-point aggregated astral mythical code system, we were able to identify "secret" stories, including imprints of complete literary works - they are discovered  in dozens of pictures by the painter.
Researching the history of the method, suspicions were raised about Philipp Otto Runge, the founding theorist of German romantic painting, he intensively used five or six points of the eight-point Csontváry code. In addition to the "wraparound zodiac" present  in Csontváry's works, in Runge's  works the seven-planet system is also detected in almost every image. The system is presented in such a way that each planet fell strictly in line with the planet's exil and domicil zodiac signs.  Actually, this is a hidden line system, which "supports" the stories "masked" in his paintings. The same "exil-domicil" system was identified with Raphael, who used the exil-domicil axis in his  Madonna's paintings to display the  Christogram of Constantine the Great (we also identified this  secret Christogram with Csontváry). The earliest display of this "EDM" (EDM=exil-domicil  and monogram) system, also used by Raphael,  can be found on the "Encaustic Virgin" of St. Catherine's Monastery in Sinai, as well as later on the Madonna depiction of the Book of Kells. This system is present in the Italo-Byzantine style, the Proto-Renaissance and the Renaissance (this is also discussed in the book).
Half of the ten discussed Madonna paintings by Raphael also contain secret stories. Three of them tell the story of the legend of Mary in Italy (Legend of the Loretto, Legend of the  Madonna della Madia, Legend of foundation of Francavilla), and one is telling the story of the Old St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Raphael's very last painting (Transfiguration) and his self-portrait are also created  in  "EDM-system".
The book also brings some  examples of EDM from the Renaissance till the present day (Rubens, Rembrandt, Menyhért Tóth). It also covers the parallel, tarot-symbolic Heschyan-Byzantine system of Madonna depictions. This is believed to be Egyptian-Coptic and may branch out from the Astro-mythological EDM line at the Sinai Monastery.
From the comparison of coding systems, it can be seen that Runge and Csontváry can be considered as the modern developers of the EDM system. The basis of all such secret coding is a symbolic alphabet (Triple Circle of Animals) described by the Hungarian astro-mythological school in the mid-1980s. This alphabet is rigidly converging the Mediterranean and Chinese Zodiac and the Chinese 28-element Lunar Mansion cycle.
This alphabet and its dialects has been identified in all genres of folk-sacral culture. It can be traced throughout the steppe from China to the Black Sea, from where it has shifted to Western Europe - the method of Western coding is therefore based upon this . Of particular value is Raphael's use of EDM, who may have been the first to hide complete stories in his works.
Traslation by Antal Dezső
Author - gwaszlavik@gmail.com

WONDER WOMEN: SOFONISBA ANGUISSOLA, LAVINIA FONTANA AND ARTEMISIA GENTILESCHI
A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF RENAISSANCE AND BAROQUE SELF-PORTRAIT PAINTING BY FEMALE ARTISTS

by Rosa Lena Reed Robinson

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
Master of Arts in Art History at
Studio Art Centers International
Florence, Italy

2017


This  thesis is focused on the self-portrait painting practice by three female artists from the Renaissance and the Baroque periods: Sofonisba Anguissola, Lavinia Fontana, and Artemisia Gentileschi. Chapter I introduces the self-portrait as it developed specific to the Renaissance and in relation to a Greco-Roman classical ideal. The chapter focuses on Renaissance concepts of art and the very role of the artist. Chapter II studies the numerous self-portraits of Sofonisba Anguissola, the first great Renaissance female artist to have an international career. The artist’s self-portraits both became a foundation for those of later female artists and self-consciously expressed the new elite status achieved by this Lombard artist of noble lineage who worked as court portraitist for the Spanish monarchy. Chapter III examines the self-portraits and innovative identity self-portraiture of Lavinia Fontana of Bologna. It is demonstrated how her two early self-portraits built on the precedent established by Sofonisba, and yet, are of somewhat greater iconographic complexity. While in her maturity the artist developed self-portraiture into the identity self-portrait through the subject of Judith and Holofernes. Within her treatments of the theme in some examples she put herself into the figure of Judith and in others into Judith’s maid Abra. Lavinia Fontana’s final masterpiece, the improbable painting Minerva Dressing done at the end of her extensive career was likewise arguably an identity self-portrait. Minerva Dressing constitutes the first female fully nude figure painted by a female artist. Chapter IV focuses on Artemisia Gentileschi. This thesis designates the artist’s Pommersfelden Susanna and the Elders as both Artemisia’s first exact self-portrait and the first female full-length nude self-portrait painted by a female artist. The work is also an identity self-portrait. This chapter continues with a discussion of both versions of Artemisia’s infamous Judith and Holofernes (Capodimonte/Uffizi). Both works are arguably exact self-portrait paintings and identity self-portraits. Artemisia’s Allegory of Painting in London, often referred to as a self-portrait in scholarship, is suggested a perhaps better understood as an ideal identity self-portrait rather than a literal self-representation. The Allegory of Painting is considered together with other attributed self-portraits and portraits of the artist. A major theme in Chapter IV is the transition from literal self-representation to allegorical and ideal portrayal of the self. This thesis suggests that, as the artist’s career advanced, Artemisia Gentileschi did continue to paint both the exact and the ideal self-portrait. Finally, in the Conclusion, the legacy of the self-portraits of the Wonder Women, to adopt a phrase from Giorgio Vasari, is considered in reference to future female artists such as Elisabetta Sirani, Angelica Kauffmann, Elisabeth Vigée Le-Brun and Paula Modersohn-Becker.

“The Twin Aviary Pavilions of the Farnese Gardens on the Palatine: Roman Antiquity, the Levant, and the Architecture of Garden Pavilions.” Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome vol. 59/60, 2014/15, 361-398.
This paper investigates the architecture of the aviary, an important component of early modern villas and gardens in Italy. Investigation into the origins of the Farnese aviaries’ architectural form reveals the genealogy of their design – a combination of a cubic block with an ogival roof, the former derived from the classical tradition and the latter from the Levant, highlighting the merging of the classical tradition and the influence of Ottoman culture in the architecture of Baroque Rome. In the mid-sixteenth century, the aviary was still a rustic structure with more emphasis on the utilitarian than the aesthetic, and not much attention was paid to the ornamental aspect of its exterior appearance. It is from the turn of the seventeenth century that a radical change is observed in its architectural form. From around 1600, aviaries began to invade the realm of high design, and the most prominent architects of the time came to be involved in their planning and execution. With its embellished exterior, the aviary was brought into foreground of the garden as an iconic feature of the patron’s self-representation.

This publication is probably  the first text made in the first decade of XXI century that focus completely its interest on the chapel first belonging to the Confraternity of the Holy Sacrament fully decorated by Bernardino Luini. It's also the first and only publication that through a search done into the Diocesan Archive of Milan that unveils that probably there was an additional image probably painted by Gaudenzio Ferrari  (a note reported those words "alia icona " made by the hand of certain "Gaudentium , Ecce Homo") and gone lost (the information was found by reading the pastoral visit done under the ministry of  bishop Visconti  defined as  "Visitatio ecclesiae collegiatae S.Bernardi propre […], October 1682, MISCELLANEA CITTA’ E PIEVI, VOL XX, (s.n.), october 1682"). This thing wasn't reported in 2014 catalogue of the show fully devoted to Bernardino Luini. It's also here reported an interpretation made going tight to the Stato della confraternita del …, a 1652 publication that is the main documentary source for comprehending the history of such important pictorical cycle in which is reported the name of the author (Bernardino Luini) and some information by which it seem that the painter had been warned not to represent some particular saints and saints patrons as S.Sebastian , Saint Roch, or Saint Agustin .  It was followed and supported by some  texts (and paratexts connected to the space of the church) the  former identification of the saints in the foreground as pope Leone Magno  and the milanese bishop Saint Natale (one of the titular saints of the church) . The first one, dressed as a bishop , or a doctor of the church,  on the contrary of the majority of the Saints Ambroise made by Luini, do not held a whip on his hands, but stands over and in front of some the rests of some symbols of the passion (as one of the wooden axes  of the holy cross ,the crown of thorns and  the nails) mostly evident with the piety fixed at the center of the composition. The other prelate do not clearly have a flaming heart , or cross in his hands wrapped into the fire  (the orange color used to paint a small area close to a limb of the saint is the same of the clothes of a figure close to the religious figure, standing close, behind  him) and do not clearly shows  that particular cross on his vestments that is commonly related to Saint Anthony Abbot that is as Saint Sebastian a "healing " saint , or a Saint that , dealing to the information given by Sacco, Luini should have had avoid to paint . The woman in the background holding a child with a bird assumes the identification of a woman holding an innocent, or the a personification of a Rachel that is emitting a lament,  a planctus that remembers the one kept of the Lamentations of Jeremiah, and also some verses of the O vos omnes, probably giving an account of an text nowadays  lost (with a conclusion similar to the one  reported  by Pamela A. W Stewart in 2016 ) or of some parts developed into  ludus de passione. The only mistake probably  made on the interpretation of the group of pictures  was the one of considering a small detail , a synthetic drawing  kept into a renaissance cooper clasp , as representing a small image of  Saint George and the dragon. Probably matches    a commonly diffused iconography of the resurrection kept by some XVI century  bronze plaques made across northern Italy and France , not requiring to the painter to be obliged in being aware of a  not so usual source as a  late antique ivory plaque with a Moses that is entertained in  springing the water from a stone with a small stick (an image that can clearly be assumed in Milan, for example ,  by a sarcophagus held close to Saint Maria deli Miracoli in San Celso complex).The text was mentioned into the publication of 2016 Bernardino Luini in San Giorgio al Palazzo published by Rossella Accardo and Veronica Gabriele ("Bernardino Luini in San Giorgio al palazzo)  by the publishing house Industrie Grafiche Geca of San Giuliano Milanese.

In this paper the covering of the breasts of the Charity statues Bernini designed for two sepulchral monuments at Saint Peter's is reconsidered from the perspective of a campaign of censorship that took place in the nineteenth century. It has been assumed that both statues were already covered at the end of the seventeenth century. From their unveiling onwards, Bernini's statues evoked strong reactions, being discussed in terms of affection and desire, and related to sexual arousal. Even though contemporary sources suggest strong responses occurred, these cannot be directly linked to a covering. Drawings and prints, as well as travel accounts, inform us that both Bernini's Charity statues must have been covered in around 1850. Though moral concerns played a role, the campaign of covering to which both statues fell victim must be regarded primarily from the perspective of church politics.

Between the first decade of the 1600s and the early eighteenth century, the small town of Pontinvrea was a feudal property of the Invrea family, which formed part of the Genoese aristocracy and provided the Republic with four Doges. While the palazzo of the marquesses has been stripped of all its painted furnishings, three busts relating to Invrea commissions have survived in the town’s two churches, two of which are of extraordinary quality in spite of having remained unknown to scholars until now. Through a reconstruction of relationships with contemporary artistic and cultural contexts, an updated review of archival and documentary sources and rigorous stylistic comparison, the busts of Antoniotto and Francesco Invrea senior are here ascribed to the sculptor Jacopo Antonio Ponzanelli (1654-1735), the finest pupil of Filippo Parodi, thus once again highlighting the central role of the Genoese school in the art of Baroque marble sculpture.

Le immagini riprodotte nel volume sono tratte dalle Cinquecentine, conservate, in gran parte, nella Biblioteca Universitaria di Pisa (vedi il sito):
http://amicibup.wordpress.com/

Nella prima metà del Cinquecento, in concomitanza con la rinascita edilizia della Roma farnesiana, si assiste a un crescente interesse del grande pubblico per i monumenti dell'antichità. Vengono tradotti i testi antiquari degli umanisti, come quelli di Biondo Flavio, e i tipografi commissionano i volgarizzamenti di opere più specificatamente dedicate alle testimonianze architettoniche di Andrea Fulvio e di Bartolomeno Marliani, seguite dai libri delle antichità stesi in volgare e da eruditi e da artisti (Andrea Palladio). Queste guide di Roma ritrovano i modelli nella scrittura squisitamente tecnica delle traduzioni di Vitruvio e, in particolare, dell'opera di Sebastiano Serlio che propone un nuovo genere di trattato architettonico contenente elementi testuali e linguistici innovativi: il disegno affiancato dal commento illustrativo essenziale espresso in moduli sintattici non complessi. Oltre a segnare l'acclimazione di soggetti classici eruditi in volgare, la grande fortuna delle guide di Roma contribuisce alla diffusione nella lingua d'uso non solo dei vocaboli aulici ma anche della nuova testualità di scritto d'arte e del lessico specifico di tecniche artistiche (architettura in primis).

Sir Denis Mahon' s studies on 17th-century Italian art are an unquestionable asset for international scholarship. Four years from his passing, the nature and development of Mahon' s long work survive as memories that Italy is called to acknowledge and cherish as a prized possession. From the 1930s onwards - with only a short break during the war - Mahon constantly visited cities, museums, art exhibitions, scholars, collectors and antique dealers in Italy. Few foreign art historians have followed the events related to Italian art history as closely as Mahon - from the point of view both of ongoing research and management of the country' s cultural heritage, including restorations. The passing years in no way weakened his interest or ability to acquire information, explore matters and benefit others through his advice. Behind all this lies Mahon' s remarkable commitment to his profession as an art historian. This aspect, however, is part of Italy' s heritage and the present exhibition is designed to celebrate it. Indeed, the exhibition springs from Mahon' s own plans. In the last years of his life, Mahon had been planning an exhibition to present some of the exemplary cases that had marked his career as a scholar. What has now taken the form of a respectful and heartfelt tribute was originally conceived as a further assessment, which would extend the method that Mahon had followed as a beacon throughout his life: the viewing and comparing of paintings.

Il contributo analizza le presenze lombarde della galleria di pitture del ministro plenipotenziario di Maria Teresa a Milano, conte Carlo Firmian, politico e diplomatico di rango e uomo di insaziabili curiosità culturali, che ne fanno uno dei grandi collezionisti dell'Europa illuminista. In questo contesto riveste un ruolo di prim'ordine il filone leonardesco, stimolato dal noto Venanzio de Pagave, dominato da una "Leda stante" attribuita dal de Pagave allo stesso Leonardo e qui ipoteticamente identificata con la copia della collezione Johnson del Philadelphia Museum of Art. Firmian possedeva, inoltre, una "Maddalena" attribuita a Luini qui identificata con la bellissima penitente di Giampietrino in collezione padovana, e la famosa "Madonna di Menaggio" di Luini oggi al Louvre, di cui si ricostruisce l'itinerario collezionistico. Tra le opere del Seicento lombardo, si segnalano un'importante allegoria politica del tardo Giulio Cesare Procaccini, "La pace che frena la Guerra" oggi al Louvre, rintracciata nella collezione milanese settecentesca del "Questore Olivazzi", e tre quadri del Cairo barocco. L'''"Artemisia" è approdata alla Pinacoteca Civica di Pavia, mentre il "Tobia e Tobi" è qui identificato con quello commissionato all'artista nel 1657 dai milanesi fratelli Porro.
Appassionato di paesaggi e vedute, Firmian colleziona anche una coppia di fantastiche "Grotte marine con pastori e pescatori", già identificate dall'autrice con i due discussi pendants divisi tra il Museo di Belle Arti di Budapest e una collezione privata. Secondo la tesi qui argomentata, le due "Grotte" Firmian sarebbero state dipinte a Firenze intorno al 1705 da Alessandro Magnasco in collaborazione con il paesista e animalista tedesco attivo a Roma Philipp Peter Roos detto Rosa da Tivoli, e costituirebbero una preziosa testimonianza del soggiorno fiorentino del Roos, finora ignoto agli studi.

NOTA: Nel ben noto catalogo della mostra di Magnasco del 1996, l'autrice ha segnalato il testamento e l’inventario post mortem di Firmian con il "Catalogo delle Pitture, e Sculture" della sua collezione (1782 e '83), sconosciuti agli studi e da lei rintracciati nel fondo Notarile dell'Archivio di Stato di Milano. Questa preziosa scoperta è stata oggetto di una miserabile rapina, compiuta sotto gli occhi di tutti.

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WARNING: Under copyright law, as well as a fundamental norm of ethics, any use of this published paper – copy, citation, abridged version etc. – is not authorised without mentioning adequately the source.

Giorgio Vasari racchiude entro la cornice dell’«introduzzione» alle «Vite» una solida e documentata trattazione tecnica, in cui l’attività dei rappresentanti delle tre arti viene descritta in una prosa caratterizzata dall’andamento ordinato e conciso, nonché dal lessico specialistico e univoco, ripartito fra le denominazioni di materiali, strumenti e singoli procedimenti adottati per «lavorare» e «condurre a perfezzione» un’opera d’arte. L’autore della storia degli artefici munisce così il lettore di strumenti per recepire e giudicare la complessità e la difficoltà del lavoro condotto nelle officine e nei cantieri, determinando i «verba» e le «res» su cui poggerà l’impianto dell’opera di storico e di «pratico»: dalla pittura alla scultura al «lavoro di quadro» degli architetti.

Questo contributo intende mettere a fuoco le diverse declinazioni dell’avversione per il Barocco di Adriano Cecioni (Fontebuona, 26 luglio 1836 - Firenze, 23 maggio 1886). Attraverso un’attenta lettura degli Scritti sulla scultura dell’artista fiorentino, sarà possibile verificare il ruolo giocato dalla negativa categoria di ‘barocchismo’ nella definizione delle nuove scuole regionali sorte all’indomani dell’Unità d’Italia. La problematica acquista grande rilievo, perché, da un lato, si colora di molteplici sfumature stilistiche, geografiche, politiche e morali e, dall’altro, permette di ripercorrere temi essenziali del generale disegno estetico di Cecioni (su tutti, i precedenti bartoliniani) come dell’intero sistema delle arti dell’Ottocento (il dibattito su ‘natura’, ‘vero’ e ‘reale’; il recupero della tradizione quattrocentesca; la protesta antiaccademica).

Per molti anni si è creduto che Il Palazzo Santa Croce di Palermo fosse frutto di un unico intervento di "ammodernamento" ed ampliamento contemporanei di una "vecchia " Casa per mano di due diversi architetti che si alternarono nella conduzione del cantiere dal 1756 fino al 1764 almeno.
In realtà dall'esame di documenti e con l'avvio del cantiere di restauro  è apparsa un’altra realtà per l’effettiva constatazione un precedente cantiere di "aggiornamento" settecentesco, mentre quello che configurò definitivamente il palazzo dal creduto l’unico, fu in realtà il suo “proseguimento” nel tempo, e non solo nello spazio, di quel progetto originario intrapreso molto prima.
La correzione cronologica non è per nulla secondaria rispetto, soprattutto, alla possibilità di circoscrivere le personalità in grado sull'Isola di concepire, tanto precocemente, un palazzo dalle forme caratteristiche di uno stile particolare se non addirittura “personale,” ma anche per la possibilità di una certa ricaduta sulle conoscenze attuali rispetto all'architettura palermitana del XVIII secolo.
Da qualche tempo avevamo rassegnato già un resoconto nel nostro precedente volume, non senza indicare alcune direzioni per una nuova ricerca cui ci sentivamo ormai obbligati, avendo intravisto una speciale complessità negli eventi costruttivi che ne determinarono la facies definitiva.
Oggi possiamo dire di aver convalidato quelle intuizioni con l’addizione di riscontri diretti, ma all'epoca bisognò ammettere che, nelle more della disponibilità – che auspicavamo – di altre prove certe, che sapevamo concrete, ma ancora irraggiungibili, difficilmente la comprensione delle origini dell’edificio si potesse spingere oltre. Contemporaneamente non credevamo di poter accedere così presto a fonti tanto innovative e ritrovare una quantità di notizie di grande interesse che meritano di essere rese note con l’aggiunta di un altro capitolo alla storia.
Le nuove acquisizioni provengono direttamente dall'archivio Trigona di Sant'Elia, comprensivo di quello di Casa Celestri, resoci disponibile eccezionalmente dall'Archivio di Stato di Palermo.
I ritrovamenti, oltre a riconsegnarci l’eccezionale rivelazione di documenti e disegni di formidabile interesse, confermano definitivamente le ipotesi formulate, ben oltre le stesse, e aiutano a ricostruire una più corretta successione delle fasi murarie decisive, fin dall'impianto cinquecentesco, facendo intravedere lineamenti di scenari suggestivi che coinvolgono i veri artefici dimenticati di questo singolare, ma paradigmatico Palazzo palermitano.

This paper examines the inter-relationality of the pregnant terms 'baroque' and 'superabundance'/ 'excess' and 'materiality' when applied to the south of Italy. In order to shed light on what is already at play in that potent conjunction of 'the south', 'the baroque', and 'superabundance', this essay explores the way in which three ostensibly distinct discourses − the art historical figuring of the baroque, the architectural figuring of decoration (as distinct from structure), and the discursive power of meridionalismo − enmesh in relation to southern baroque art and architecture. Suggestively nestled into and emergent from these inter-articulations are slippery matters of gender and sexuality. Animating them all, but obscured from view, is the figure of excess, a disorderly and undisciplined, barely discernible, but threatening, female figure that all three discourses at once depend on and work to render obscene.

This study focuses on three paintings--which I understand as of-the-spirit yet tangible--from Artemisia Gentileschi's and Elisabetta Sirani's early-to-mid-seventeenth-century bodies of artwork. These two Italian artists received wide-spread acclaim during the Baroque era, from approximately 1600-1750. The style of their three paintings, rich, earthy and thought-provoking, is exemplary of the dynamism of the era; Artemisia and Elisabetta portrayed these works' female protagonists, the biblical figures Susanna and Judith, in a way emphasizing the basic humanity of each. The pictures show the two subjects caught in mortal danger. The biblical  narratives that inspired the paintings finish the trajectory of the women's actions by means of a close association with death and love of God. The painted images' revelation of the seventeenth-century penchant for the heroic female appeals to modern scholarship. Additionally, the seeming coupling of contraries, Beauty and violence, begs for an explication of these characteristics that are particular to the three images. For these reasons I have chosen the artists and their paintings for my investigation. The artists remind us observers that the subjects of the artworks are remarkable for their strength of character. More importantly, the three pictures that I highlight from the above artists' oeuvres project a "spirituality of Beauty," which inspired the artists and has continued to inspire observers--to apprehend Divine Beauty.