Questioning Pietro da Cortona in the Johnston Collection?

The Johnston Collection is a secret place  in the east side of Melbourne.


If you decide to visit this place in order to prevent disturbing the neighborhood, a tour parties come to collect you at a Melbourne hotel and you are transported to the house where the Collection is on show, in a bus that belongs to the Johnston Collection.


The Collection is the work of one man, William Johnston, who died in 1986, leaving everything to a Trust, who delegate professional staff looking after the Collection.

Pietro da Cortona (in the manner)
Presentation of Christ Child , 1635
The Johnston Collection

The Collection is made up of paintings, antiques, curiosities and several different pieces that represent the various passions of this man, who loved beautiful things ad collected them.

   
Between these works there is a painting, subject of my lecture in late May and now an article recently published on The World of Antiques & Art (Issue 81). 


In the past this work was attributed to Pietro da Cortona, but I have my doubts! 
So if you want to know more, get the magazine and go on page 84.


Note: If you like Pietro da Cortona and you want to see some of his most famous ceiling works, go to visit Palazzo Barberini in Rome and Palazzo Pitti in Florence.


Buona lettura!!


A presto!


Simona

My obsession for Caravaggio...master...precursor of the Baroque....all over the world!!!

How many lecturers? conferences? Talks....but it is not enough...I have a real obsession for Caravaggio,  master painter, equal in skill and influence to artists such as Michelangelo Buonarroti, Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael.

Caravaggio, Saint John the Baptist

Caravaggio died 1610, just over 400 years ago. Last year Italy has celebrated this anniversary with  exhibitions across many different cities included Rome, at the Scuderie del Quirinale, and so museums in a number of Italian cities have exhibitions detailing his work, along with newly published books, DVDs, film and video documentaries about his life and legacy.

Caravaggio, Calling of Matthew
San Luigi dei Francesi

And this is not enough!!! About half of these paintings hang in museums in Italy: almost every Italian region has an art museum with one or more Caravaggio paintings on display!!! obviously Rome is an exception!! Just considering San Luigi dei Francesi, Santa Maria del Popolo, the Galleria Corsini, the Galleria Borgheseand so on.....

                       

Many other works may be found throughout Europe, in London, Paris, Saint Petersburg, in Russia and Toledo, in Spain.....Caravaggio’s paintings are also accessible across other continents, such as the United States, where you can see some interesting works such as the Crucifixion of Saint Andrew in the Cleveland Museum of Art in Ohio

                    

 or Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy at Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Connecticut, or the Conversion of the Magdalene at the Art Institute of Detroit in Michigan or the Musician at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and many many more.....

.....if you have a passion for Caravaggio....travel around the world and visit these amazing artworks!!!

A presto!

Imagine a night at the museum!!!

Still in holiday in Italy???!! Tonight there is a wonderful initiative, promoted by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage...Martedi' in Arte....between 7pm and 11pm the main museums of Italy will be open for free to the public to enjoy the artistic beauty of this country.

So...if you are in Italy in this current moment and you want to spent a different night, go and enjoy!!!

Here the list of the museums that participate to this initiative:

CAMPANIA


- Scavi e Teatro Antico di Ercolano, Corso Resina, 5 - Ercolano (NA)
- Palazzo Reale di Napoli, Piazza del Plebiscito, 1 - Napoli (NA)
- Museo di Capodimonte, Via Miano, 1 - Napoli (NA)
- Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, Piazza Museo - Napoli (NA)
- Museo di San Martino, Largo San Martino - Napoli (NA)
- Scavi Vecchi e Nuovi di Pompei, Villa dei Misteri, 2 - Pompei (NA)
- Reggia di Caserta e Complesso Vanvitelliano, Via Douet 2/a - Caserta (CE)




LAZIO


- Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Viale delle Belle Arti, 131 - Roma (RM)
- Terme di Diocleziano, Via Romita, 8 - Roma (RM)
- Crypta Balbi, Via delle Botteghe Oscure, 31 - Roma (RM)
- Museo Nazionale Romano – Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, Largo di Villa Peretti, 1 - Roma (RM)
- Palazzo Altemps, Via di S. Apollinare, 44 - Roma (RM)
- Pantheon, Piazza della Rotonda - Roma (RM)
- Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica in Palazzo Barberini, Via Quattro Fontane, 13 - Roma (RM)
- Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica in Palazzo Corsini, Via della Lungara, 10 - Roma (RM)
- Museo e Galleria Borghese, Piazzale Scipione Borghese, 5 - Roma (RM)
- Museo Nazionale di Castel Sant’Angelo, Lungotevere Castello, 50 - Roma (RM)
- Villa d’Este, Piazza Trento, 1 – Tivoli (RM)




LOMBARDIA


- Museo di Palazzo Ducale di Mantova, Piazza Sordello – Mantova (MN)
- Pinacoteca di Brera, Via Brera – Milano (MI)
- Cenacolo Vinciano *, Piazza S. Maria delle Grazie – Milano (MI)
(* l'apertura è prevista con le stesse regole di conservazione e tutela, cioè 25 persone per gruppo ogni quarto d'ora fino ad esaurimento dei posti. La prenotazione è gratuita ma obbligatoria tramite il Call Center 0292800360)




PUGLIA


- Castello Svevo, Piazza Federico II di Svevia – Bari (BA)




TOSCANA


- Cappelle Medicee, Piazza Madonna degli Aldobrandini - Firenze (FI)
- Galleria degli Uffizi e corridoio Vasariano , Via Della Ninna - Firenze (FI)
- Galleria dell'Accademia, Via Ricasoli - Firenze (FI) il 26 ottobre apertura dalle ore 20.30 alle 0,30
- Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Piazza Pitti - Firenze (FI)
- Galleria Palatina e appartamento Palazzo Pitti, Piazza Pitti - Firenze (FI)
- Museo del Bargello, Via del Proconsolo - Firenze (FI)
- Museo San Marco, Piazza S. Marco - Firenze (FI)
- Palazzo Davanzati, Via Porta Rossa - Firenze (FI)




UMBRIA


- Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria, Corso Vannucci - Palazzo dei Priori – Perugia (PG) con apertura dalle 20.00 alle 23.00




VENETO


- Galleria "Giorgio Franchetti" alla Ca' d'Oro, Cannaregio, 3932 - Venezia (VE)
- Gallerie dell'Accademia, Dorsoduro Campo della Carità, 1050/a - Venezia (VE)

Jan Nigro: a New Zealand artist

Jan Nigro is a New Zealand artist with an Italian surname, because her husband Gerry Nigro had an Italian background. She is a wonderful artist and she still likes to paint at the age of 90!!! I met her when I went to New Zealand for the first time more than 10 years ago and since then we like to spend time with her whenever it is possible and she is not too busy. 

this is Jan at Easter 2010

 my son drawing with Jan's colors on her table while she is signing one of her works

and Jan with my daughter and some of her works on the background

Some of Jan's artworks in her studio/apartment

A long time ago I have published a small article on her and her artworks on the NZ Art Monthly. This is a copy of the article:

A passion for life, art and artworks: Jan Nigro

November 2008

I met Jan for the first time about ten years ago when I came to New Zealand for a visit; unaware that this country was going to be my home one day.

Her passion, touch, work/life experience has always fascinated me. From the first time I visited her modern apartment in Takapuna - where she used a room as her studio to paint - I have been impressed by her approach to art; to the way she paints and the passion she puts into her representations, through the use of colour and images.

Jan has produced a huge amount of artworks during her lifetime. All of them are singular and touch different themes, but more than anything I believe she has a message to convey.

Probably because she is one of the first female New Zealand artists to break the rules and the role of women in the society of the time I thought it was important to express my acknowledgement to a person like her. Jan's experiments and passions have pushed other artists to try something new for themselves. Her life is so full of colour, her painting full of honesty and with such a large body of work devoted to the naked form - it is through this theme of her career that I have been able to recognise her as one of the most extraordinary New Zealand woman artists.

The human figure has been, and most probably continues to be, the greatest and the most important source of inspiration for Jan due to the fact she has revolutionized the way to look at a nude work as a theme to study and from which to learn.

In the late 1940s Jane moved to Australia with her husband Gerry, from whom she got the surname, Nigro, which is obviously of Italian origin. They spent a period of time in Melbourne, where she had her first solo woman exhibition.

The works of the late 1940s showed something new and brave for a provincial New Zealand mindset, which wasn't yet ready to accept female nudity and the consequences of such a subject choice. At that time New Zealand was a still a 'closed' country where perhaps some the sensual influences of European art hadn't yet arrived.

A new world was emerging for Jan as she developed her skills and displayed these early productions. Painting was her passion and probably the only job that could make her happy - even if she had to work through some difficult periods.

La Toilette was painted in 1949, and together with other works of hers are in the collection of international art galleries today, such as the National Gallery of Victoria and the Auckland Art Gallery. I don't know who this nameless woman in La Toilette was. The inspiration probably came from one of her models as happened in many other artworks during her lifetime. The woman represented looks to me like a confident woman caught in a moment of intimacy, pensive as she prepares for bathing.

And this was only the beginning of this type of theme, which has recurred through her career. She created many artworks related to the theme of the Bathers, including an exhibition of the late 1980s, which included Lovers and Bathers painted in 1986. It represents a stunning new example of painting, because here Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet are warmly showing their love in the foreground; in the middle ground two hot pink nude females embrace while behind them a group of people watch from afar while continuing on with their lives. Here is clearly stated the passion for the human form, their human condition and what love can be, without discrimination or critique. And what else can be said? The images speak for themselves - love can be shown in various ways.

In Jan's career the Friday Drawing Group became an important routine in her life: some of her models were Suzy, Veronica and Yani, who Jan depicted in 1989. In comparison to all of the other models this one seems more reserved, yet wants to model. In Yani there is vitality and audacity, sitting there posing for them, the group who draw on Fridays. Jan sees in her another strong woman, independently minded and naked but with no intention of showing off her attributes, these are secrets - kept only for the right person.

Obviously Jan has produced an extended selection of artworks during her career. Nevertheless in my personal opinion she has to be acknowledged and acclaimed for being a pioneer and an example to many other New Zealand women artists. Jan is someone who has always worked hard to demonstrate her abilities, beliefs and capacity to the prevaling society which has become increasingly won over to her viewpoint as her career has progressed.