True or false: Michelangelo, Modigliani... and Goya on tour
In this issue:
Goya at Pontedera before taking the flight to the Hermitage!
Is it Michelangelo? Are we on the verge of a new discovery?
Modigliani true or false?
Elegance from the East, insights from old porcelain. Indianapolis Museum of Art.
Goya at Pontedera before taking the flight to the Hermitage!
From June 15th to August 10th , thePALP(Palazzo Pretorio di Pontedera) will host the exhibition "Goya and Guido Reni. Art Treasures at the Palp". Two intense self-portraits of Goya, one of 1771 and the other of 1782 will be shown to the public after years of specialist study, accompanied by the diagnostic campaign conducted by Art-Test. The scientific data will be given great relevance and the results will be exposed to the audience who will so be invited to participate in the discovery of these intriguing works of art.
These works, after this Tuscan preview, will be exhibited, together with other paintings of the Spanish genius, in 2018 in St. Petersburg at the Hermitage Museum. In Pontedera, the two portraits will also be joined by a painting by Guido Reni, "Susanna and the Oldies", that belongs to the artist's mature age.
The exhibition is promoted by the Pontedera Culture Foundation
(http://www.pontederaperlacultura.it/la-fondazione/ or https://www.facebook.com/PontederaperlaCultura/) and the municipality of Pontedera.
Is it Michelangelo? Are we on the verge of a new discovery?
Art-Testhas been called to shed light on the matter in a small church near Florence
Who painted the "Pietà di Marcialla"? The issue has been debated for many years, but only on last 9th of May the first analyses were carried out on the wall painting in Santa Maria a Marcialla, a small church on the Florentine countryside.
Despite its remote location, the painting is of remarkable quality and some scholars believe it to be the work of Michelangelo Buonarroti. So finally the Municipality of Barberino Val d'Elsa decided to investigate the claim, by promoting objective studies conducted with scientific devices. Art-Test Florence, in charge of the investigations, during the first survey could confirm the presence of many incisions to be connected with the transferring of the preparatory drawing onto the wall and, moreover, the existence of some "pentimenti" concerning e.g. the lower arm and the left leg of Christ. Furthermore, new details emerged from a first careful examination of the painting, e.g. the depiction of a city walled with towers, located between the Good Thief and Our Lady.
Much more needs investigation. It is not yet clear, e.g., which pictorial technique was used to perform the work, i.e. if is it a real "fresco" or not. Moreover, based on the analyses made so far, it is not certain whether it was painted only by one hand or more painters contributed. This first diagnostic campaign was only the first act of the full scientific campaign that awaits this painting. The town of Barberino Val d'Elsa, by the will of its Mayor Trentanovi, shall support the next studies meant to fully understand the genesis of the work, the adopted art techniques , the material composition of the painting and the possible overlay of more versions. Eager to find out more? So are we! We will keep you up to date!
Modigliani true or false?
The Genoa scandal or How to stop the never-ending sequel of false Modi’?
Carlo Pepi, the renown Modigliani expert, on Facebook condemns "the indecent, unpunished proliferation of fakes" at the exhibition on Modigliani currently running in Genoa: "One third of the paintings is false" one can read on major national newspapers. The curator replied, "We have given our lawyers the task to protect in every way, the moral and material image of the organizers of the exhibition and of the curator". But it’s an uphill battle. The paintings of Modigliani are generally worth millions of euros. In New York the “Nu Couché”, realized in 1917-18, was knocked down for over 157 million euros, the second highest figure ever made for an artwork at an auction. And also for this reason they have been largely falsified, thanks also to figure such as Christian Parisot, a would-be expert, former chairman of the “Amedeo Modigliani Institute”. Now they will have to respond to the prosecutor's office in Genoa (although the offense is only a violation of the code of cultural and landscape assets) that will use experts to confirm the authenticity of the works. But who and how can you authenticate a work of art?
By Italian law the expertise, i.e. the judgment on the authenticity of the value of a work of art by a deceased artist, is just as an expression of the constitutionally recognized right to free expression of thought. So, just an opinion. When it comes to recognizing a false, it’s always better to rely on science. As also Marc Restellini, curator of the Modigliani raisonné Catalog about to be published, states, that in order to prove that the Genoa paintings are false "we have all the scientific evidence". Beware!
Art and Science are close in many ways. "Elegance from the East, insights from old porcelain" (Indianapolis Museum of Art, till 22nd October) explores the popularity and variety of Chinese porcelain objects made for export to Western consumers in the 17th and 18th centuries. Chinese artists customized their traditional forms and decoration for European and American commercial tastes. This exhibition reveals the effects of these efforts to translate consumer demand from half a world away.
Like "Chemistry of Color" and "What Lies Beneath", also on view, this exhibition relates science to art. Guest curator Shirley M. Mueller, MD, connects the past to the present and illustrates, through neuropsychological insights, the similarity of human feeling and motivation across time.
