Botticelli o John Travolta?

A proposal for Botticelli (at auction)

“In the past century, and at the beginning of this one, dealing with Botticelli would have seemed madness”, wrote Symonds, a great scholar, specialist of the Italian Renaissance, in 1877. And in 1895, Bernard Shaw followed, among others: “Today ten acres of Carracci, Giulio Romano, Guido, Domenichino and Pietro da Cortona, would not buy an ounce of Botticelli, Lippi or Giovanni Bellini”. And in fact it was only at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries that there was an abundant traffic of Botticelli, at gradually increasing prices – and of course also of fakes, including documented ones by Joni.
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(Anna Pelagotti)

Modigliani for all

Never have paintings raised more doubts of authenticity than those attributable to Amedeo Modigliani.

Even when they are signed, with flawless provenance, doubt lingers.

For years, a painting was accepted as authentic only if accompanied by the expertise of very few “connoisseurs”, very often without any scientific dossier or, if existing, only self-referential.

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(Emanuela Massa)

It's Brexit, my dear

January 1 2021 marks not only the beginning of the new year, which hopefully will be better than the horrendous 2020, but also the beginning of a new era for Great Britain which, after 47 years, has left the European Union. This means that the UK is now a “third country” for the EU.

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(Chiara Martine Menchetti)

Procida Italian Capital of Culture 2022

Procida Capital of Italian Culture almost seemed to be an oxymoron. An island, a territory, albeit full of history and tradition, that is very small and on top of it, lays in the middle of the sea. To apply to the competition, knowing that the beautiful postcards with Procida unrivalled landscapes, that have been used by the most renowned brands for years, would not be enough, seemed a gamble. Also because the competition did not require to rattle off own virtues and dowry only, but to go further: to propose a vision of culture that was more attentive to the evolution of human relationships and the environment. 

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(Emanuela Massa)