u/ArtBobby

Created in 1501 by Pinturicchio and his workshop towards the apex of his fame (in between his frescoes in the papal apartments for Alexander VI and his work in Siena on the Piccolomini library and much more), these are truly marvellous works of art that merit a close, prolonged look. But that’s precisely what the folks in charge of admissions to this church are keen to avoid which is simply disgraceful. Pinturicchio deserves far better. And so, of course, do you!

*Find out why we can’t share one of our own photos in this essay: https://ideasroadshow.substack.com/p/on-the-ground.

We discovered this beautiful, smallish (60 × 47 cm) artwork in Palazzo Vitelli alla Cannoniera in Cità di Castello. Take a look at how the wings of the angels are folded upwards. Read about the (very) good, the bad and the ugly in Italian museums based on our experiences of visiting numerous museums in Tuscany and Umbria this summer. A shining example of a museum that does an excellent job is Perugia’s Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria. Here is the essay: https://ideasroadshow.substack.com/p/on-the-ground

Watch an illustrated video podcast with art historian Sally Cornelison, Syracuse University, about the paintings and architecture of Italian Renaissance artist, author, and architect Giorgio Vasari (1511-74) that can still be found in his hometown of Arezzo, links here: https://ideasroadshow.substack.com/p/in-situ-and-in-awe - if you'd like, I can add the YouTube and Spotify links in the comments.

⛪ Particular emphasis is placed on the Romanesque church of Santa Maria della Pieve, where the newborn Vasari was baptized on 30 July 1511 and whose interior he renovated from 1560 until his death in 1574, when he was buried at the foot of its high altar.

1. Self-portrait of Giorgio Vasari, 1560-64, High Altar, Badia of Sts. Flora & Lucilla, Arezzo
2. Loggia Piazza Grande, Arezzo, designed by Giorgio Vasari, 1570-93.
3. The High Altar and tomb monument created by Giorgio Vasari in the Badia delle Sante Flora e Lucilla in Arezzo.

In The Art of Looking Closely: Fra Angelico's Divine Light I've written about my very personal encounter with Fra Angelico's divine light being in close proximity to his illuminating Annunciation in Cortona. Gabriel’s radiant wings and shimmering gold were designed to reflect candlelight to remind worshippers that this was more than a painting - it was an invitation to contemplate the mystery of the Incarnation. Even though we saw the painting with far from perfect museum lighting, we were able to be able to be alone with this masterwork and get up quite close to see the incisions in the gold that create this remarkable effect.

Angelico painted at least five Annunciations, three on panels - one for the Convent of San Domenico in Fiesole (c. 1426, now in the Prado), one in San Giovanni Valdarno (1430-32), one in Cortona (1433-34) - and two in fresco some years later for the Convent of San Marco in Florence. Fra Angelico’s Cortona Annunciation was commissioned by Giovanni di Cola di Cecco, a cloth merchant, for Cortona’s San Domenico church. The panel was once thought to be the first of Angelico’s Annunciations – a belief no longer widely adhered to – but it is without a doubt one of his most sublime creations.

Are you familiar with the iconography of the Annunciation and the differences between the Annunciations by Angelico? And have you seen any of his Annunciations?

***Read the essay here: https://ideasroadshow.substack.com/p/the-art-of-looking-closely

Take a look at these 2 versions of Jan Van Eyck's Saint Francis Receiving The Stigmata - which one is real and how can we be certain? You can now watch a new video podcast with Carina Popovici, the founder of Art Recognition, a global leader in AI art authentication. In this wide-ranging conversation Carina talks about how the very public art forgery scandal of Wolfgang Beltracchi, who spent years successfully passing off his paintings for lost creations of famous artists, pointed her towards a way to significantly improve artistic authentication practices by harnessing rapidly evolving AI technology in combination with cutting-edge art historical scholarship.

YouTube: https://youtu.be/2sVN3WMdhAQ

🐢 This week's Exploring Art History essay is about the 'contrade' of Siena and the power of belonging. The contrade are a unique feature of life in Siena and our increasing familiarity with their symbols and meaning deepened our experiences during last week’s visit to this magical city. Find out about their history and relevance today.* Read here: https://ideasroadshow.substack.com/p/the-contrade-of-siena

Magdalene is portrayed following ancient iconography with her long hair worn loose while holding the container of ointments that she would use on Jesus’ body in the Sepulchre. The expression on her face is priceless and the colour tone of her skin and blushes on her cheeks are very realistic.

The Saint is positioned within a classical-style Renaissance arch embellished by a frieze decorated with small palm trees. 🌴 There is still a bit of blue of the background visible but there are no traces left of the gold of her halo.

I am in Arezzo right now where I've taken these photos. We will be making a film about this fresco and other artworks in Arezzo. You're invited to join my newsletter here: https://ideasroadshow.substack.com/.

Symphony in White, No. 2: The Little White Girl, James McNeill Whistler, 1864

For Whistler – an artist whose works spanned a wide range of genres, from a Courbet-inspired realism to Anglo-Japanese interior design to his compellingly meditative nocturnes – art was not a vehicle for social justice, or moral elevation or personal development. The goal of art, all art, was simply to create beauty. Read more in Modern Frustrations: Tutto brutto, of which this is an excerpt: https://ideasroadshow.substack.com/p/modern-frustrations

Watch an illustrated video podcast with Jill Burke, Professor of Renaissance Visual and Material Cultures at The University of Edinburgh, discussing her extensive research on the development of the nude in the Italian Renaissance from both an art-historical and a socio-cultural perspective. Find out about how many artists of the time found men more beautiful and proportional to model for them than women and how that affected the art we admire today. The conversation also examines changing beauty standards for women during the Renaissance related to the newly fashionable statues from Antiquity. This video podcast is illustrated with many images to highlight the wide range of artworks under discussion, here it is: https://youtu.be/5tLubAF_X2Y

Giotto elected to do something the likes of which had never before occurred in the entire Christian artistic tradition: replace the conventional Star of Bethlehem in his Adoration of the Magi with a vividly depicted comet.

Comets had occasionally made an appearance in artworks prior to Giotto, such as the famous apparition in the Bayeux Tapestry, where a comet mesmerized a gaping crowd of Englishmen – a clear foreshadowing of the upcoming Norman invasion that would soon result in Harold II’s imminent defeat. Read more here: https://ideasroadshow.substack.com/p/starry-starry-night

From Pope Leo XIV’s Magnifica Humanitas:  “We must… avoid the ‘Babel syndrome’, namely the idolatry of profit that sacrifices the weak, a uniformity that neutralises differences, and the pretence that a single language—even a digital one—can translate everything, including the mystery of the person, into data and performance.”

It is interesting how many artworks Pope Leo XIV mentions in this document, here are more examples:

“Authentic culture and art preserve this spark, resisting the normalization of evil. For this reason, certain works have taken on an almost prophetic significance: Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony can be seen as a desire for unity; Guernica as a denunciation of dehumanization; [the novel] Schindler’s List as a call not to consign the past to oblivion.”

Images: Pieter Bruegel’s Tower of Babel, 1563, and Guernica by Pablo Picasso, 1937.

From Pope Leo XIV’s Magnifica Humanitas:  “We must… avoid the ‘Babel syndrome’, namely the idolatry of profit that sacrifices the weak, a uniformity that neutralises differences, and the pretence that a single language—even a digital one—can translate everything, including the mystery of the person, into data and performance.”

It is interesting how many artworks Pope Leo XIV mentions in this document, here are more examples:

“Authentic culture and art preserve this spark, resisting the normalization of evil. For this reason, certain works have taken on an almost prophetic significance: Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony can be seen as a desire for unity; Guernica as a denunciation of dehumanization; [the novel] Schindler’s List as a call not to consign the past to oblivion.”

Image: Pieter Bruegel’s Tower of Babel, 1563.

Galileo was strongly disparaging of the contemporary trend of “illusionistic art”.. His disdain for such perspectival illusions was very much of a piece with his irritation at Tasso’s continual allegorical bombardment throughout his poetry, where nothing was what it seemed and so much was forced to somehow represent something else.

**Read more in Aesthetic Judgements: https://ideasroadshow.substack.com/p/on-aesthetic-judgements

Read a playful piece about Gothic architecture, sculpture and art.
Excerpt: "At least the term “Gothic sculpture” has some sort of relative coherence associated with it, if one simply regards it – as is often the case – as a way of collectively describing stylistic aspects of the statues found on the exterior of the great Gothic cathedrals. But the problem, of course, is that such sculptural styles changed considerably during such a long time period. Those on the Chartres Cathedral created in the mid-12th century, for example, are naturally quite stylistically different from the ones placed on Siena’s Cathedral a century and a half later."

Here is the essay: https://ideasroadshow.substack.com/p/gothic-gobbledygook

This question is thoughtfully explored in an essay called Probing the Boundaries: Exploring Illustration (https://ideasroadshow.substack.com/p/probing-the-boundaries). Illustrations can be found in medieval manuscripts, satirical caricatures, promotional posters, illustrated books, political propaganda, advertisements, comic strips and social media. We don't stop and look at them like we do with art in a museum, we 'absorb' illustrations but they often hide messages that have a strong influence on us. There is also a link in this piece to an illustrated (!) video podcast with well-known illustrator and scholar D.B. Dowd.