Author Travels

Cornelis van Haarlem, Dutch Golden Age painter and draughtsman, was one of the leading Northern Mannerist artists in The Netherlands, and an important forerunner of Frans Hals as a portraitist. There was the year 1594, and he painted an oil on convas (height 77.5 cm, width: 64 cm), writing on the left, monogram and date: CCH 1594. It was born …

“The Last Supper” is a mural painted on plaster, in tempera, chalk, glue and pitch. In Milan, around 1495, Leonardo da Vinci has embellished a large wall (460 × 880 cm), in the former refectory of a convent, adjacent to the sanctuary of Santa Maria delle Grazie. What you see, you are inspired by a Gospel passage of John, the …

The “Birth of Venus”, is not only a tempera painting on linen canvas, a result of the creativity of 172 × 278 cm. Around 1485, Sandro Botticelli realized that wonder for the Medici villa of Castello, but now you can see in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, as an icon of the Italian Renaissance. When you observe that painting, the …

In the iconography of the late lamented of the dead man, it is always expected the presence of the “painful”, characters that are beside. This is what happens even in the “Dead Christ”, a picture of the size of 68 × 81 cm, one of the most famous paintings by Andrea Mantegna, where the Virgin Mary, along with St. John …

The “Melun Diptych” is a painting on wood, probably made around 1450 for an altar of the cathedral of Melun, attributed to Jean Fouquet http://meetingbenches.com/2015/08/jean-fouquet-14201481-french-painter-the-master-of-panel-painting-and-manuscript-illumination/ The origin of royal impulse, it was a desire to Charles VII, to perpetuate the memory of Agnes Sorel, his mistress. The diptych – from whom is also the small portrait of the artist, preserved …

“Flagellation of Christ” is a painting made around 1450 by Piero della Francesca http://meetingbenches.com/2016/02/piero-della-francesca-14161492-italian-painter-a-myth-through-the-centuries/ That painting, made with the technique of tempera on panel, is preserved in the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche in Urbino, hosted in the Palazzo Ducale (extraordinary princely residence of the fifteenth century, commissioned by Duke Federico da Montefeltro, lord of Urbino). http://www.guideurbino.it/en/default.aspx After the apartment of …

“La Fornarina” is an oil painting on wood, made by Raffaello Sanzio nearly five centuries ago. To admire that fruit of artistic creativity, you have to go to Rome, in the Palazzo Barberini National Gallery. That painting was preserved by Raphael in his studio until his death. For the identity of the model, imagine a girl named Margherita Luti – …

Until June 26, 2016, you will not need to go to St. Sepulchre, to stay a little beside Piero, but you’ll have to go to Forli – to the Museums San Domenico – to admire the art exhibition “Piero della Francesca – on a Survey myth”. An absolutely wonderful opportunity, a real appointment with the “king” of Renaissance painting. Walking …

Thank you for having accepted my invitation to travel. This weekend, I return with great joy – with you – in places particularly dear to me, on a route that winds through the rolling hills of Central Italy, the birthplace of the Italian language and where it was created its flag flag. We will move at a speed of only …