Ancient art

Perugia Foundation acquires the Albertini Collection: 1749 valuable parchments from the 14th-15th centuries

The Albertini Collection, a nucleus of 1,749 parchments and documentary covers of Perugia origin dating from the 14th and 15th centuries, was presented today at theState Archives inRome's historic headquarters of Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza. The collectio...
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The pictorial cycle of the Hall of Constantine at the Vatican Museums restored. A decade-long intervention

The long and complex restoration of the pictorial cycle of the Hall of Constantine, the largest of Raphael's famous Stanze, at the Vatican Museums has been concluded. The work, which began in March 2015, began on the east wall, where the majestic sce...
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Parma, restoration of six important baroque statues at Teatro Farnese begins

A major restoration and enhancement project concerning six figurative stucco sculptures, originally part of the decoration of the Teatro Farnese, a masterpiece of European Baroque, was presented in Parma this morning. The intervention, started in May...
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Monumental canopy of the basilica of Sant'Anna in Santa Flavia in Palermo restored

Work has been completed on the restoration of the monumental canopy of the Soluntine basilica of Sant'Anna in Santa Flavia, in the province of Palermo. The artifact, an imposing wooden structure built at the end of the 18th century, was the subject o...
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UK blocks the exit from the country of an important Rubens sketch

The United Kingdom has blocked the release of an important oil sketch by Pieter Paul Rubens that is in danger of leaving the country. The work was valued at 8.4 million pounds (about 9.8 million euros), and the blocking measure will give a U.K. galle...
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Fiesole, Beato Angelico's Crucifixion returns to view after major restoration

After a long and delicate conservation operation, Beato Angelico 's Crucifixion is finally back on view in the Convent of San Domenico in Fiesole (Florence). The work, of extraordinary artistic and spiritual importance, underwent a maintenance restor...
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Siena Cathedral opens to exclusive dawn visits with claviger

There is a moment, every day, when Siena Cathedral opens its eyes to the world, when light filters through the spires and caresses the polychrome marble of its facade: it is dawn, and it is at that suspended hour, when the city still sleeps and the n...
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Royal Palace of Caserta, restoration of the Diruto Temple and the House of Swans kicks off

Restoration work has begun at the Royal Palace of Caserta on the Temple of Diruto and the House of Swans, two symbolic architectures of the Vanvitellian complex's English Garden. The project, overseen by the Autonomous Museum Directorate of the Minis...
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Caravaggio, monitoring campaign begins on Contarelli Chapel masterpieces

Operations to monitor the state of conservation of the three famous Caravaggio canvases in the Contarelli Chapel inside the church of San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome have begun. TheCentral Institute for Restoration (ICR) in Rome announced this today t...
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Another specimen of Guido Reni's David pops up in France.

A specimen of the famous David with the head of Goliath by Guido Reni (Bologna, 1575 - 1642), the best-known examples of which are preserved in the Uffizi and the Louvre, has surfaced in France . The Gazette Drouot, a French antiques newspaper, broke...
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A recently discovered work by Artemisia Gentileschi ends up at auction at Sotheby's

Going up for auction at Sotheby's in London on July 3 is Artemisia Gentileschi's David with the Head of Goliath, one of the most recent additions to the painter's catalog. The work has been known to scholars for some time, and had risen to headlines ...
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Immaculate Conception from the school of Francesco Solimena, stolen in 1978, returns to Capodimonte

TheCarabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage has returned to the Capodimonte Museum and Real Bosco theImmaculate Conception, a valuable 18th-century painting attributed to the school of Francesco Solimena, the most representative pa...
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Spain, restored Pedro Berruguete's Annunciation, masterpiece of Renaissance artist

A masterpiece by Pedro Berruguete, one of Spain's greatest Renaissance painters, is being revived thanks to careful restoration. It is theAnnunciation, a work currently housed at the Museo de Bellas Artes in Bilbao (Basque Country, Spain), where it h...
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Artemisia Gentileschi, the work saved from the Beirut explosion on display at the Getty in Los Angeles

On the heights of Santa Monica, within the spaces of the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, a never-before-seen fragment of Italian art history finds its place. From June 10 to September 14, the California institution presents the exhibition Artemisia's St...
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How was the Parthenon illuminated in ancient times? New research rewrites the history of the Greek temple

How was the Parthenon illuminated? A distant question that has fascinated scholars for centuries finds new answers thanks to research published by theUniversity of Cambridge. The study, led by Juan de Lara(University of Oxford and University College ...
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Brescia, frescoes in the chapel of St. John the Baptist in San Salvatore restored

In Brescia, restoration of the frescoes in the chapel of St. John the Baptist in San Salvatore, the Lombard basilica attached to the women's monastery of San Salvatore, a UNESCO heritage site in Brescia and, since 2011, part of the serial site "The L...
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