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Posted on Jun 24, 2013 in Artists | 0 comments

Canaletto and Venice: where imagination and reality work hand in hand

Canaletto and Venice: where imagination and reality work hand in hand

There are certain cities in the world that live in the collective imagination through the medium of various artistic forms such as painting, photography and cinema. Some examples would be New York as immortalized in film, or Paris as recreated by the Impressionists, or Venice as evoked by Canaletto. In this article, we will discuss the latter pairing, and attempt to understand the Venice that emerges from the works of Giovanni Antonio Canal, the artist’s full name. Let’s begin with a statistical figure: the number of his paintings on display in his city are relatively few when compared to those housed in U.S. and British museums. The reason is simple. From the 1700s onwards, these works represented breathtaking mementos of what was known as the Grand Tour. His canvases were acquired by rich tourists as a way of bringing home with them something of Italy, particularly paintings of its famous monuments. Canaletto’s landscapes were undoubtedly highly prized. When did Canaletto begin to paint his city of birth? It was...

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Posted on Jun 17, 2013 in Artists, Masterpieces | 0 comments

Raphael and the Portrait of a Young Woman (La Fornarina): the great beauty

Raphael and the Portrait of a Young Woman (La Fornarina): the great beauty

There is a scene in Paolo Sorrentino’s latest film, The Great Beauty, in which the main character is able to gain access to some of the most beautiful buildings in Rome at night, thanks to the help of a friend. One of these buildings is Palazzo Barberini, and, in a dream-like scene, the main character walks in front of Raphael’s Portrait of a Young Woman (La Fornarina), glancing at it with an enigmatic smile. This was certainly not a random choice by Sorrentino to include this painting in a film whose main theme is beauty. When looking at Raphael’s various masterpieces, what strikes you is their beauty and proportion, the equilibrium between the figures on the canvas and the rhythmic modulation of colors, his remarkable ability to organize form in space and to make the whole piece seem solemn and composed. Ultimately, what emerges from his works is their ease, simplicity and immediacy, but particularly their gracefulness and beauty. Raphael’s gracefulness emanates from his efforts to conceal artifice, but...

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Posted on Jun 12, 2013 in Artists | 1 comment

Giovanni Testori: the Boxers cycle, the art of defeat and redemption

Giovanni Testori: the Boxers cycle, the art of defeat and redemption

Some artists are gifted with an eclectic talent, capable of expressing itself in various creative outlets. This is certainly true of Giovanni Testori (1923-1993), novelist, poet, playwright, art critic and painter. He is one of the most important Italian cultural figures of the 20th century. The theme of Roserio’s God, his debut novel, concerns the amateurish cycling races in post-World War II Italy. His style of prose, expressionistic and agitated, makes the book pulsate with life, which many attribute to Testori’s original creative passion – painting. Therefore, in this article we will discuss Testori the painter, starting with his cycle dedicated to boxers. These are rather large canvases, depicting boxers as they rest and in defensive stances, concentrating on the fight or grappling with defeat, which are striking for the material softness of the brush strokes. Even the bodies at rest seem to be alive, explosive, the muscles contracting; they seem almost to be painted sculptures that leap out of the two dimensions of the canvas. In a certain sense, these...

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