Florence, presented the 31st International Biennial of Antiques. Among the stars: Bernini, Canaletto, Beccafumi and Lucio Fontana

The presentation of the 31st edition of the Biennale Internazionale dell’Antiquariato, to be held at Palazzo Corsini in the heart of the Tuscan capital from September 21 to 29, was held in Florence. The stands that will be set up inside the historic palace will feature 77 galleries (including 16 new entries) from all over the world specializing inhigh-end antiques: as in every edition, they will attract buyers from every corner of the globe, including private collectors, museum directors, curators and superintendents. Among the novelties, the Decorative Arts or Design Prize, worth 25 thousand euros, possible thanks to the sponsorship of Ronald S. Lauder: it will be awarded during the Biennale and will allow the restoration of decorative art works belonging to the public heritage. Another novelty, will be the first edition of Florence Art Week: a week of events, exhibitions, conferences, meetings, performances that will involve all Florentine galleries with openness also to contemporary art. Among the events of note: a selection of works by Gilberto Zorio and Enzo Cucchi at the Poggiali Gallery, an exhibition that will combine Renaissance works with contemporary works by Michelangelo Pistoletto, Anish Kapoor and Daniel Buren, realized by Bacarelli Antichità in collaboration with Galleria Botticeli and Galleria Continua, works by RAM and Thayaht from Frascione Arte, the opening of the historic halls on the piano nobile of Palazzo Antinori, a selection of the second half of the 20th century “according to Roberto Casamonti” at the Roberto Casamonti Collection, an exhibition of vintage motorcycles on Sept. 21 organized by the boutiques on Via Tornabuoni, and finally free admission for all residents of the Florence metropolitan area from 1 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 29.

And again, in the alcove of Palazzo Corsini, the public will be able to see the exhibition Universo Bardini, an exhibition project curated by David Lucidi entirely dedicated to the “prince of antiquarians” Stefano Bardini, a protagonist of collecting between the 19th and 20th centuries. The exhibition will also count on important loans from Museo Bardini: these are the works that most represent Stefano Bardini’s exhibition aesthetic as a careful collector. There will also be loans from private collectors and antique dealers.

The layout of the thirty-first edition will be curated by Matteo Corvini (great emphasis will be given to the chandeliers designed by Carlo Scarpa and made by Venini, from the former Teatro Comunale in Florence, which will be placed in the two entrances with the collaboration of the San Patrignano high craftsmanship workshops) and will allow the public to see a selection of more than five thousand works, among which there will also be real “stars.” For painting, there will be a view of the Redentor of Venice, oil on canvas by Canaletto (Venice, 1697 - 1768), which will be exhibited by Galleria Dickinson; Matteo Lampertico, on the other hand, will bring to Florence the 1716-18 oil on canvas Siface before Scipio l’Africano by Giambattista Tiepolo (Venice, 1696 - Madrid, 1770); Galleria Salamon will present a tempera on panel with a gold background(Madonna and Child Enthroned among Six Saints) recently identified by one of the leading art scholars of the late Middle Ages, Angelo Tartuferi, as a work by Florentine painter Ventura di Moro (Florence, 1399 - 1486), dated c. 1430; Galleria Orsi will exhibit an oil on panel with Holy Family with St. John by Domenico Beccafumi (Siena, 1486 - 1551); Galleria Marletta will bring an oil on canvas with original frame(Venus Educator of Love) by Pelagio Palagi (Bologna, 1775 - Turin, 1860), from the second decade of the 19th century; a tempera on panel with St. Peter Martyr in his cell conversing with three virgins (Agnes, Catherine and Cecilia) by Antonio Vivarini (documented in Veneto 1440 - 1476/1484), a work from about 1450 notified in 2006, will be on display in Enrico Frascione’s booth; the oil on canvas The Philosopher by Dirck van Baburen (Wijk bij Duurstede, c. 1595 - Utrecht, 1624), dated c. 1618-19, will be exhibited by Nicholas Hall; again, the Antonacci-Lapiccirella gallery offers a double portrait by Giovanni Boldini (Ferrara, 1842 - Paris, 1931), on the front a Woman with Hat and on the reverse a Seated Nude Woman, c. 1905.

As for sculpture, BIAF will see a bronze Bust of Urban VIII Barberini from 1658 by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (Naples, 1598 - Rome, 1680), brought by Galleria Orsi; Longari Arte Milano, on the other hand, has selected a 105-centimeter-diameter marble tondo depicting the Madonna and Child and St. John by Benedetto da Maiano (Maiano, 1442 - Florence, 1497), a hitherto completely unpublished work and the subject of a careful attribution study by Francesco Caglioti, one of the foremost experts on Renaissance sculpture; the Galleria Botticelli Bacarelli will exhibit a Carrara marble St. Charles Borromeo by Ercole Ferrata (Pellio Intelvi, 1610 - Rome, 1686); again, Carrara marble statues of Elisa Bonaparte Baciocchi Le voy and Felice Pasquale Baciocchi Levoy made in about 1809 by Lorenzo Bartolini (Savignano di Prato, 1777 - Florence, 1850) will be exhibited by Lullo Pampoulides.

For 20th-century Art we will see a Self-Portrait of Clouds by Giorgio De Chirico (Volos, 1888 - Rome, 1978), from 1948, which will be exhibited by Tornabuoni Arte, while a Mattinata sul mare, oil on canvas by Giulio Aristide Sartorio (Rome, 1860 - 1932), from 1929, will be found at Galleria Berardi. Space will also be given to contemporary art with a work by Daniel Buren (Boulogne-Billancourt, 1938), Peinture et collage sur papier (1964) and one by Michelangelo Pistoletto (Biella, 1935), L’alto in basso, il basso in alto (1977) brought by Galleria Continua; while Dickinson will present a 1964-65 Spatial Concept by Lucio Fontana (Rosario, 1899 - Comabbio, 1968).Arte Povera will be represented at BIAF by the works of Gilberto Zorio (Andorno Micca, 1944) offered by Galleria Poggiali, including Vulcano per purificare le parole (Vulcan to purify words ) from 1983, an emblematic work starting with its title that sums up the artist’s conceptual poetics. Representing the art of drawing will be notable works including a pastel on paper from 1893, titled Aligi, by Francesco Paolo Michetti (Tocco da Casauria, 1851 - Francavilla al Mare, 1929), brought by Galleria Berardi.

And again, among the many pieces of furniture: a pair of panelled and inlaid door and drawer cabinets, with a white Carrara marble top, walnut shaft inlaid with bois de rose, rosewood, maple, green-stained maple, boxwood and other essences from 1787, by Giuseppe Maggiolini (Parabiago, 1738 - 1814), will be on view at Piva & C.; while Robertaebasta will display a console table in Ferrarese walnut burl with two under-top drawers and brass ferrules by Gio Ponti (Milan, 1891 - 1979) from the 1930s. Finally, a space dedicated to jewelry and collectibles: Deborah Elvira will present an alamaro (chest joy) in gold, enamel, emeralds and pearl made in 17th-century Spain, while Peter Finer will present a wood and steel flintlock rifle made by Michele Lorenzoni, marked with the monogram of Ferdinando III de’ Medici, grand duke of Tuscany.

“My dream,” said Fabrizio Moretti, secretary general of the BIAF, “is that the BIAF can bring to light all those works that are important documents of art history, thanks to the passionate commitment of all its gallerists, thus becoming a point of reference for the art market but also for a wider public in Italy and beyond.” Moretti also spoke about the new Florence Art Week: “a movement that takes off from the Biennale and will make the whole city and its guests participate in the art week. It will involve some of Florence’s Museums but also the most prestigious artisan realities, the Art Galleries of Via Maggio and Via de Fossi, the historic art shopping streets, as well as the boutiques of Via Tornabuoni and Ponte Vecchio, which will propose unusual events open to collectors and the general public.”

“Only on quality can we build a cultural offer that is not devoid of economic aspects as well,” stressed Florence Mayor Dario Nardella. “Florence is the city where philanthropy was born, where modern collecting was born, where we can say that the roots of the modern art market were born. We have to defend the art market, the transparent one, the legal one, the one that protects and safeguards culture, we have to fight severely the illegal market, because it is the illegal market that casts a shadow over the whole great world of the art trade that does not deserve the prejudices that still exist, exist in the world of intellectuals, in institutions and among legislators, we must distinguish the market that is good for our collectors, for the economy, that pleases and makes Italy appreciated in the world, from those practices that exploit cultural goods that have nothing to do with the universal right of every individual to enjoy the beauty of a work of art.”

For all information about BIAF you can visit the official website.

Florence, presented the 31st International Biennial of Antiques. Among the stars: Bernini, Canaletto, Beccafumi and Lucio Fontana

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