Transfer of Pontormo’s Visitation: a new beginning at the Palazzo Pretorio Museum

What happens when a masterpiece of Renaissance art has to be moved for safety reasons? Pontormo’s famous ‘Visitation’, a treasure of Florentine art, has to be moved for safety reasons. The need to preserve the work, due to renovation work at the church of San Michele in Carmignano, has led to the decision, agreed between the Diocese of Pistoia and the Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio of Florence, to temporarily move the work to the Museo di Palazzo Pretorio in Prato.
In this post I tell you about the challenges and opportunities of this transfer.

The transfer of Pontormo’s Visitation

Continue reading

A new work by Mantegna discovered in Venice: the mysterious painting found at the Correr Museum

You know when a lost work of art is, quite by chance, rediscovered and this starts to trigger a series of questions that open up new horizons?
That’s what happened recently at the Museo Correr in Venice, when an unknown work by Andrea Mantegna, one of the greatest Renaissance artists, re-emerged from storage.

In this post, I tell you about this exceptional discovery and explain how this find might change some things we thought we knew about Mantegna.

New work by Mantegna discovered in Venice

Continue reading

Life and works of David Seymour: master of photography and chronicler of the 20th century

Venice, Italy, 1950 © David Seymour/Magnum Photos

Have you ever wondered who is the creator of the famous photograph taken in Venice, the one showing in an almost surreal way a gondolier arriving at an ‘Esso’ filling station on the Grand Canal?
This iconic work was taken by David Seymour, also known as ‘Chim’, back in 1950.

This image is part of a larger project that Seymour dedicated to post-war and reconstruction Europe, full of stories to tell. The life and works of David Seymour offer a fascinating look at the 20th century, through the eyes of a man who lived and documented some of the most significant moments in recent history.
In this post, I want you to discover Seymour, a man whose lens captured as much the beauty as the tragedies of his time.

Life and works of David Seymour: master of photography and chronicler of the 20th century

Continue reading

May 3, 1808 by Goya

img 3 maggio 1808 Goya

Have you ever wondered what Goya’s painting May 3, 1808 represents and what its significance is?
Art has the power to capture historical moments and make us reflect on them, and this painting is a snapshot of a tragic and unforgettable moment in human history.
Let’s find out together what it represents and some interesting facts.

May 3, 1808 by Goya: what it represents and interesting facts

Continue reading

Capitoline Museums: how to get tickets online

The millenary history of the Eternal City can be seen not only by strolling through the streets of the historic centre – in itself an open-air museum – but also by entering the museums of Rome, which are numerous and scattered throughout the city. From the best known and oldest, such as the Vatican Museums, the Palatine Gallery or the Capitoline Museums, to the smaller and lesser known ones. These include the Museum of Rome in Palazzo Braschi, created in 1930 out of the Museum of the Empire and now housing more than 120,000 objects including works of art, documents, photographs and prints, or the Napoleonic Museum, a testimony to the relationship between the Bonaparte family and Rome, born from the collection of Giuseppe Primoli, a descendant of Napoleon Bonaparte.

The works in the Capitoline Museums

Continue reading