3.) Italian Paintings
Italian Style Paintings
An Italian Holiday Tradition
Gli Zampognari In the days before Christmas, from the mountains of the Abruzzo, the Matese and the Sannio, the zampognari come down to the cities to add their sonorous magic to the spirit of the coming Holiday. By tradition they come in pairs, in traditional garb: the senior member plays the zampogna (a kind of [...]
The Nativity Scene in Italian Art – 2
In Naples, where the most elaborate creations eventually took place, we have a record of a Presepe given by Queen Sancia to the Poor Clares in 1370. Development was subsequently rapid, with artists such as Giovanni and Pietro Alemanno and Giovanni da Nola. The Presepe became mobile, based on wooden sculptures crafted to scale. Artisans [...]
Le Scuderie del Quirinale in Rome
Some of the most acclaimed art exhibits to have taken place in Rome in recent years have been held at the Scuderie del Quirinale. These have included works from quintessentially Italian artists, such as Antonello da Messina and Giovanni Bellini, as well as international collections on loan from from their permanent homes. Such were the [...]
The Venetian Gondola in Italian Art
The Venetian gondola evolved over many centuries from a strictly utilitarian conveyance to its present status as an artistic symbol of the city of Venice. As an iconic image of Venice, it is often represented in contemporary posters and immediately recognizable for its graceful shape emblematic value.
Italian Painting – The Later Masters in Venetian Art
No account of Venetian art would be complete without at least a quick summary of the works of Giorgione, Titian, Veronese, and Tintoretto. Giorgione was a major contributor to the development of the Venetian Renaissance although he was short-lived and therefore not prolific. One of his most famous pictures is titled The Tempest, c. 1508. [...]
Italian Painting – The Early Masters in Venetian Art
The scope of my talk this evening will be limited to Venetian Renaissance painting, a field that is rich with masterpieces as well as six renowned artists of the Venetian School. They include Paolo Veneziano (before 1300 – ca. 1360), Giovanni Bellini (ca. 1426 –1516), Giorgio Barbarelli da Castelfranco known as Giorgione (ca. 1477 – [...]
Italian Art – Post-Renaissance Paintings, Mannerism in Italy
The term “mannerism” is applied to an Italian artistic movement of the 16th century, which drew its inspiration from the maniera (or the style) of the great artists who worked in Rome during the preceding years, particularly Raffaello and Michelangelo. The age of the maniera begins with the death of Raffaello in 1520, and it [...]
Italian Art Exhibition – Original Paintings, Tuscan and Venetian Landscapes
Come attend an Italian wine tasting and enjoy the Italian art by Angelica Di Chiara, on exhibit at Ristorante Il Cedro in Menlo Park. The artist will be on hand to answer your questions and demonstrate her technique. Al Fabrizio will entertain with the melodic music of his mandolin. The exhibit/wine tasting is on Wednesday [...]
The birth of modern art in Italy – Giotto and Cimabue
How Modern Italian Art Was Born Slowly and painfully, over several centuries, Western Europe began to pick herself up from the ruins of the Roman Empire in the 10th century. During this period the Eastern half of the Empire was still relatively intact, and it was culturally and artistically far advanced over the West. What [...]
The Brera Pinacoteca – a Treasure Trove of Italian Paintings and Sculptures – 1
Close to the Teatro alla Scala, a short walk up Via Giuseppe Verdi (which soon becomes via Brera) one finds one of the richest repositories of Italian art on the peninsula, rivaling the Musei Vaticani in Rome and the Galleria degli Uffizi in Florence both in the extent of its collection and in its artistic significance. This is a brief history of the Brera Pinacoteca.
The Brera Pinacoteca – a Treasure Trove of Italian Paintings and Sculptures – 2
Unlike the great Italian museums in Rome, Florence, Naples, Torino, etc., the collectionism practiced by the Brera museum had its roots, not in the aristocratic collectionism of the Italian Renaissance, but in the political collectionism of the State, a Napoleonic idea whose roots go back to the ideals of the French Revolution.
