INTERVIEWS TO THE CONSERVATION WORLD: JOYCE TERRENI
REFLECTIONS:
A painting by Titian appears at auction, reattributed after diagnostics and restoration
The bust of Nefertiti must remain in Berlin, according to the Germans
BRAFA SPECIAL :
Touring the Bruxelles' fair, that is letting antiques down
Coup de Coeur: the choices of Anna, Emanuela, Marine
JCHC: IN VITERBO, THE EXHIBITION "FAKES. FALSIFICATION IN ART FROM ANNIO TO HOMER"
JOYCE TERRENI
interviews to the conservation world
Restorers have a beautiful job.
Not easy, but beautiful.
With us they certainly share passion for raw materials that translate into art.
And they know the matter, in ways that sometimes overlap, sometimes complement that of scholars or of diagnosticians.
Their point of view adds always something new
Art and, in particular ,sculpture have always been Joyce Terreni's passion.
How can resist the charm of an object that has passed from hand to hand to land in yours?
A PAINTING BY TITIAN IS FINALLY CORRECTLY ATTRIBUTED, THANKS TO DIAGNOSTICS AND RESTORATION
Sometimes the big international auctions present sensational works, which arrive to update and modify the knowledge of the “catalog” of the greatest painters of the past.
During the Sotheby’s auction at the end of January 2023, among a Rembrandt, a Sebastiano del Piombo and a possible Self-Portrait by Pontormo (which set the record for this painter, 10 million dollars), an Ecce Homo by Titian was sold for $2.1 million (including fees).
Its previous result was $206,250 at Christie’s New York in October 2019, but at that time the painting featured the attribution to Titian’s studio, a worse state of conservation, and the title Christ as Man of Sorrows.
THE BUST OF NEFERTITI MUST REMAIN IN BERLIN, ACCORDING TO THE GERMAS
Whose are the works kept in museums? Whose is the bust of Nefertiti, or as in Germany they like to call it, their “Mona Lisa”?
“All the cultural assets from other regions of the world do not belong to us, they are here illegally,” said in a interview Saraya Gomis, the undersecretary of the Berlin State Office for Equal Treatment and Against Discrimination.
But not many seem to think alike, at least for the moment. Despite the fact that Germany has recently agreed, for example, to return to Nigeria 1100 objects (not all ) stolen during their colonial raids of the country, the bust of Nefertiti, “The beautiful woman has arrived“, will remain in Berlin, where it is visited by about half a million tourists a year.
All new techniques for conservation and diagnostics, free to read
The 3 volumes of the conference proceedings Florence Heritech 2022, "The Future of Heritage Science and Technologies: Design, Simulation and Monitoring, Materials Science and ICT and Digital Heritage" have been published. The conference, held in Florence last spring, focused on the use of innovative technologies and methods for the analysis, management and conservation of cultural heritage.
The volume that presents all the works selected for the "Materials Science" section of Florence Heri-Tech is perhaps the most interesting when it comes to diagnostics and the development of new materials and methods for the conservation and restoration of cultural heritage. The volume also covers new trends: biotechnology, nanotechnology, custom materials and physical technologies.
MORE CONTEMPORARY DESIGN AND LESS OLD MASTERS AT BRAFA
If BRAFA (Brussels, 29/1/22, 5/2/23), being the first art and antiques fair of the year, could help test the waters for the state of the art of the sector, the result would be only moderately positive.
The theme chosen for this year edition was Art Nouveau, since in 2023 we celebrate the 130th anniversary of the inauguration of the Tassel hotel by Victor Horta, in Brussels, the first significant building of this style.
But the most conspicuous presence among the 130 exhibitors and more than 10,000 objects was that of contemporary design, with huge and captivating stands, while the presence of antiques appears to be in conspicuous decline, with very few galleries presenting exclusively “Old masters” . The fair seems to want to let go of this sector which was the reason for its birth almost 70 years ago.
Reading between the lines of the press releases and taking the pulse with some exhibitors, this year the sector seems to be suffering, and no sensational sales of important pieces have been announced, even though they were present there.
The couple portrayed is more or less my age and my husband’s, 56 years old for the man and 54 for the woman, and it was exciting to be mirrored in two people who lived five hundred years ago.
While walking through the corridors of the Belgian BRAFA 2023 fair, I had my “coup de coeur” for this work: small but worthy of being exhibited in a museum. It attracted me immediately for its particularity. It is a meticulous wax model, a miniature copy, but 3D, of the Marriage of the Virgin by Raphael, now kept in Brera.
Marine: a coup de coeur for poetry and technique of "Light on Light"
«Light on Light» from its title, created between the years 2019-2020, turns out to be a very delicate work first of all for the materials used by the artist, and then for the optical and poetic analysis that the viewer can make.
JCHC - The Journal of Cultural Heritage Crime is an online newspaper. The first in Italy, where the facts that daily see our cultural heritage threatened, violated and subject to crimes find space.
JCHC is service information, it promotes activities to combat crime and supports those who are engaged on a daily basis in the protection and enhancement of our cultural heritage.
The Art-Test newsletter will host in every issue an article from this innovative and prestigious magazine.
A very rich source for those who love our cultural heritage
JCHC: IN VITERBO THE EXHIBITION "FAKES. FALSIFICATION IN ART FROM ANNIO TO HOMER"
A few more days to visit the exhibition which delves into striking cases of fakes, artworks which have also ended up in the collections of some major museums worldwide
In Viterbo, in the Valle Faul Cultural Center, in the newly redesigned spaces of the former municipal slaughterhouse the exhibition, Fakes. Forgery in art from Annio to Homer is open. Based on an idea by Vittorio Sgarbi, the exhibition offers the opportunity to discover some striking cases of forgeries and twists and turns in the history of art.
