Ancient art - Finestre sull'Arte

Thorvaldsen's "Victorious Venus" is on display again after years in storage and is being exhibited at a hotel

For years, it remained in the storeroomsof the Accademia Nazionale di San Luca, hidden from public view. Now, Bertel Thorvaldsen’s (Copenhagen, 1770–1844) *Venus Victorious* is once again on display in Rome following restoration, though n...
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Women's bodies, a battleground for rape and violence: Can art break the culture of possession?

*Susanna and the Elders* is not simply a painting; it is more of an omen. Artemisia Gentileschi painted it for the first time in 1610, without knowing that shortly thereafter, at just 17 years old, she would be raped. On May 6, 1611, she was, in fact...
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Cosimo III as a Roman Emperor: Lorenzo Merlini’s Rediscovered Masterpiece at the BIAF

There was a visual contrast of great scenic and narrative impact that greeted anyone who, in the final years of the 17th century, crossed the threshold of the main hall of Villa Rondinelli-Vitelli in Fiesole: Awaiting visitors inside the hilltop resi...
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The enigmatic Renaissance Madonna of Magdala, removed in the 20th century from the hermitage of Cascio in Garfagnana, is now on the market

There is no trace of the composed reassurance found in much Renaissance art in the gaunt face of the Penitent Mary Magdalene that once stoodin the hermitage of Santa Maria Maddalena in Cascio, in Garfagnana. In this glazed terracotta sculpture, the s...
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A "Amorino" by Perin del Vaga Resurfaces: It Is a Fragment of a Major Achievement for Andrea Doria

An extraordinary and rare drawing on paper by Perin del Vaga ( Piero di Giovanni Bonaccorsi; Florence, 1501 – Rome, 1547) has resurfaced on the market, brought to the Florence International Antiques Biennale by the Genoa-based gallery Goldfi...
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The Fire of the Underworld and Persephone's Body: The Abduction as Depicted by Padovanino

The changing of the seasons exists because Hades, the Lord of the Underworld, wanted a woman to love. But what young woman would agree to leave Earth to live in the Underworld forever? The solution was abduction, a recurring plot device in mythologi...
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The scandal surrounding Prince Poniatowski’s “antique” gems resurfaces at the BIAF

When, in 1832, the Polish prince Stanisław Poniatowski, grandson of the last king of Poland, published the second volume of the catalog raisonné of his vast collection of engraved stones in Florence, he included in the introductory pages a sta...
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Pozzuoli: Bradyseismic activity threatens church structures; safety measures are underway

Since August, the churches in Pozzuoli that were declared uninhabitable followingthe bradyseismic emergency have been undergoing safety measures to protect the works of art housed within them. This was announced by the Superintendence of Archaeology,...
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