Tag: 16th century art

Beyond Disegno: Professional Identity and Material Experimentation in mid 16th-century Italian Portraiture – Dr. Elena Calvillo

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Beyond Disegno: Professional Identity and Material Experimentation in mid 16th-century Italian Portraiture Dr. Elena Calvillo, Associate Professor of Art History, University of Richmond Date: 5:30-7pm, 17th August 2017 Venue: Lecture Theatre C (Room 124), Old Arts Building, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Vic, 3010 More info here: https://events.unimelb.edu.au/events/9214-beyond-disegno-professional-identity-and-material-experimentation-in-mid-16th-century By 1531, the Venetian artist Sebastiano del Piombo had resettled in Rome after the Sack, received a lucrative sinecure as the keeper of the papal seals and won acclaim for his method of painting in oils on stone supports. Two decades later, Agnolo Bronzino produced a series of portraits on tin supports while working for Cosimo I de’ Medici. This lecture examines the ways in which their innovative use of materials in portraiture contributed to both the painters’ and patrons’ identities, and how it made claims of originality and invention that might otherwise…

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New Book | Representations of Renaissance monarchy Francis I and the image-makers

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New book Representations of Renaissance monarchy Francis I and the image-makers by Lisa Mansfield from the University of Adelaide. About the book Representations of Renaissance monarchy analyses the portraits and personal imagery of Francis I, one of the most frequently portrayed rulers of sixteenth-century Europe. The distinctive likeness of the Valois king was widely disseminated and perceived by his French subjects, and Tudor and Habsburg rivals abroad. Complementing studies on the representation of Henry VIII, this book makes a dynamic contribution to scholarship on the enterprise of royal image-making in early-modern Europe. The discussion not only highlights the inventiveness of the visual arts in Renaissance France but also alludes to the enduring politics of physical appearance and seductive power of the face and body in modern visual culture. Coinciding with the five hundredth anniversary of Francis I’s accession, this book will…

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Exhibition | An illumination: the Rothschild Prayer Book and other works from the Kerry Stokes Collection | Ian Potter Museum of Art

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A new exhibition opening at the Ian Potter Museum of this Art provides an opportunity for Melbourne audiences to see art from the Kerry Stokes Collection, including the famous Rothschild Prayer Book. The exhibition is curated by Emeritus Professor Margaret Manion and brings together paintings, stained glass, polychrome sculpture and other art dating from between 1280 and 1685. Mr Stokes has built his collection of illuminated manuscripts over the past forty years, though many of the works included in this exhibition, such as the Pieter Breughel the Younger painting Calvary (1615), are more recent acquisitions stimulated by his recent purchase of the Rothschild Prayer Book (c. 1505 – 1510 ) in early January 2014. The Rothschild Prayer Book is a masterpiece of Flemish Renaissance art and it is considered one of the finest illuminated manuscripts in private hands. It was…

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News | NGV winter exhibition ‘Masterpieces from The Hermitage: The Legacy of Catherine the Great’

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The NGV has announced this year’s Melbourne Winter Masterpiece exhibition will be ‘Masterpieces from the Hermitage: The Legacy of Catherine the Great’. From one great empire to another – last year we took in the Royal Collection of the Hapsburg’s of Spain in ‘Italian Masterieces from the Prado‘, this winter we look to Russia and the  collection of Catherine the Great. The Hermitage holds one of the most important collections of European Art and one of the largest collections of art anywhere in the world. This exhibition will highlight the collection as it was drawn together by Catherine the Great. She founded the Hermitage in 1764, but she had begun to collect pictures from the moment she ascended to the throne in 1762. The works coming out for this exhibition range in date from artists who would have been ‘old…

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Exhibition Review | Pontormo and Rosso Fiorentino at Palazzo Strozzi and Baccio Bandinelli at The Bargello: an appreciation | Esther Theiler

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Pontormo and Rosso Fiorentino: Diverging Paths of Mannerism and Baccio Bandinelli, Sculptor and Master (1493-1560) Reviewed by Esther Theiler Palazzo Strozzi and the Bargello have provided not only welcome respite from the heat in Florence this summer but also rewarding opportunities for appraising the threads of influence of Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Michelangelo as they metamorphosed into the style most often characterised as mannerist. The curators at the Palazzo Strozzi have made a considered decision to call this style the “modern manner” rather than mannerism, in accordance, they believe, with sixteenth century usage (even though the English language version of the exhibition still uses ‘mannerism’). Pontormo and Rosso Fiorentino: Diverging Paths of Mannerism is the first exhibition since Pontormo and Early Florentine Mannerism (a 1956 exhibition also held at Palazzo Strozzi) to bring together a substantial canon of work…

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Melbourne Portrait Group Seminar | Adam Bushby, ‘El Gran Turco: Ottoman Turks in Venetian painting, 1453-1571′

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Ottoman Turks often appear in Venetian painting between the Turkish conquest of Constantinople in 1453 and the defeat of the Turkish navy by the Holy League at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571. The relationship between the Republic of Venice and the Ottoman Empire is typically understood through commercial trade, naval battles and religious differences. This paper examines the representation of Ottoman Turks in Venetian painting, including portraiture, identifying a trend of increasingly negative representations, and discussing the extent to which pictorial changes reflected political and commercial changes in the Mediterranean. Venue: Dulcie Hollyock Room, Ground Floor, Baillieu Library (Building 177), University of Melbourne, Parkville (map). Date: Monday 11 August, 6:30pm.

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Exhibition Review | Italian Masterpieces from Spain’s Royal Court | Katrina Grant

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Italian Masterpieces from Spain’s Royal Court, Museo del Prado Reviewed by Katrina Grant The exhibition runs until until 31st August 2014 at the NGV International, St Kilda Rd. This exhibition tells two stories. The first is the story of Italian art from Raphael to Tiepolo and the second is the story of Spanish engagement with Italian art over this period. The exhibition highlights the close artistic relationship between Italy and Spain in the Early Modern period. It includes paintings that were directly commissioned by the Spanish Royal family from such artists as Titian, as well as works collected a century or more after they were painted, such as the Holy Family by Raphael. There are also works by artists who travelled to Spain to undertake commissions in various royal residences. And, of course, there are paintings by a number of…

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Exhibition Review | Veronese: Magnificence in Renaissance Venice | David Packwood

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Veronese: Magnificence in Renaissance Venice David Packwood Veronese: Magnificence in Renaissance Venice is on at the National Gallery, London, 2014 until the 15th June 2014. It was written,  then, on my page in the Book of Fate that at two in the afternoon of the sixth day of June in the year 2014 that I, along with a friend, should attend an exhibition of Paolo Veronese for the first time within the hallowed halls of the London, National Gallery. “Veronese” is no longer just a name to me, or a reproduction in a book, or a digital image floating on a computer screen. In this exhibition I begin to grasp the man behind the banquets, the purveyor of large altarpieces, the manufacturer of political allegories- the man who unwittingly gave birth to a school in which the best pupil was…

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Symposium | Italian Masterpieces from Spain’s Royal Court, Museo del Prado

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The National Gallery of Victoria is holding a public symposium to coincide with its upcoming exhibition Italian Masterpieces from Spain’s Royal Court, Museo del Prado. The symposium will include local and international experts on the art of the period. Each paper will delve into the main themes of the show. Date: 1:30 – 3:30pm, Friday 16th May, 2014 Venue: Clemenger BBDO Auditorium, NGV International, 180 St Kilda Road Bookings:  Ph +61 3 8662 1555, 10am-5pm daily or Cost $35 Adults / $28 Members / $30 C / $15 S (includes light refreshments, bookings essential) Website: http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/whats-on/programs/public-programs/symposium-italian-masterpieces-from-spains-royal-court,-museo-del-prado  Program ‘The father of the Prado is Titian’: Italian Renaissance painting at the Museo del Prado | Speaker Miguel Falomir Faus, Head of Italian & French Painting Department (after 1700), Museo del Prado, and guest co-curator While the Prado opened its doors in 1819, and is thus contemporaneous…

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Lunchtime Talk | Marketing and Dürer connecting business and the arts – Louise Box | Ian Potter Museum of Art

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Durer Woodcut

Marketing and Dürer connecting business and the arts Louise Box Louise will share some of her recent research on the Albrecht Dürer woodcuts held in the University of Melbourne’s print collection. Linking book and print history, she will also discuss how these sixteenth-century art objects can be compelling learning and teaching tools for business students. Louise Box has combined a corporate career with arts research and arts board roles and currently works in executive education at Melbourne Business School. Her research interests include prints, illustrated books, links between business and the arts, and collecting and display practices. Louis Box  is an alumna of the Attingham Trust Study Programme (historic houses and collections, UK) and the Bodleian Libraries Centre for the Study of the Book Summer School (Oxford), she has completed postgraduate studies in Arts Management (University of Auckland) and Art…

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News | NGV 2014 Winter Masterpieces Revealed

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Italian Masterpieces from Spain coming to Melbourne Mark Shepheard The National Gallery of Victoria today announced the 2014 Melbourne Winter Masterpieces exhibition: Italian Masterpieces from Spain’s Royal Court, Museo del Prado. This follows hot-on-the-heels of last year’s Portrait of Spain exhibition at the Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane (and also at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston) and again reflects the Museo del Prado’s new—and very welcome—initiative to broaden access to its holdings and strengthen its international profile. Another Prado show, then, but completely different from the Queensland/Houston exhibition, and exclusive to Melbourne. The focus here will be on the Italian works in the Prado collection. For much of the period 1500-1800, Spain ruled large sections of the Italian peninsula and was also extremely influential at the Papal court in Rome. The breadth and quality of the Prado’s Italian holdings are…

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Lecture | Dr Arvi Wattel – Ferrarese Metamorphoses: sixteenth-century artistic transformations

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Ferrarese Metamorphoses: sixteenth-century artistic transformations Dr Arvi Wattel, University of Western Australia The artistic output of the Ferrarese painter Dosso Dossi’s decreased markedly after the death of his main employer, Duke Alfonso I. This reduction has long attracted comment, starting with Vasari, who suggested that Dosso had been able to retire in his old age as he enjoyed a pension provided by the Este duke. More recently, the decline in Dosso’s production has been credited to a change of taste at the court of Alfonso’s son, Ercole II, who apparently tended towards the classical as exemplified in the work of Giulio Romano at the neighbouring court of Mantua. This talk will focus on the often cited “paradigm shift” in Ferrarese art in the era of Alfonso I and Ercole II, touching upon contemporary debates of imitation and art vs. nature. Date: Thursday 22 August…

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Art History Seminars at Melbourne University | Semester 2

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The program for art history seminars at the University of Melbourne for semester 2  is below. All seminars are held in The Linkway, John Medley Building, 4th floor (running between the East and West Towers), between 1-2 pm. All welcome. August 7              Anthony White | University of Melbourne Folk Machine: Fortunato Depero’s Cloth Pictures 1920-1925   August 21            Susanne Meurer | University of Western Australia Johann Neudörffer’s “Nachrichten” (1547): calligraphy and historiography in early modern Nuremberg   September 11   Gerard Vaughan | Professorial Fellow, University of Melbourne Museum Culture Today: Possibilities and Inhibitions   September 25   Toshio Watanabe | The University of the Arts, London Forgotten Japonisme: taste for Japanese art in Britain and North America 1910s – 1960s   October 9            Penelope Woods |  Centre for Emotions, University of Western Australia The Intentionality of Spectatorship: Emotions in…

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Joseph Burke Lecture | Possessions and sacred signs in the art of Lorenzo Lotto (1480-1556) | Paul Hills

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Possessions and sacred signs in the art of Lorenzo Lotto (1480-1556) Paul Hills, Courtauld Institute of Art Active in northern Italy in a period when the function of sacred images was challenged by reformers, Lorenzo Lotto (c.1480-1556/7) was a painter who was inventive in recasting religious imagery. This lecture will argue that Lotto’s career sheds a vivid light on the shifting relation between authorship, ownership and devotion in Early Modern Italy. Moving between religious subjects and portraiture, Lotto suggests an enfolding of the self within the dwelling place of garments. All manner of textiles, including fashionable clothes and furnishings, are displayed as tokens personal possession, yet at the same time Lorenzo Lotto discovers domestic equivalents ­– in towels, handkerchiefs, and shawls ­– for the vestments of religious ritual. Paul Hills studied the History of Art at the University of Cambridge…

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Lecture | Paul Hills ‘Varieties of Venetian Colour: Titian and Veronese’

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Varieties of Venetian Colour: Titian and Veronese Professor Paul Hills, The Courtauld Institute of Art Venetian painters of the Renaissance are celebrated above all others for their colour and for their handling of the medium of oil paint. This lecture explores how Titian embodied this aesthetic both in his religious images and in his mythological nudes. Typically his corporeal colour engages the sense of touch as well as sight. The younger master Paolo Veronese responded to Titian’s colorism but also departed from it. The son of stonecutter from Verona, he responded to the new fashion for whiteness in the architecture of Palladio. I will argue that shifts in colour preference in sixteenth-century Venice may be related to changes in material culture, such as those brought about by the influx of silver from the New World. Paul Hills studied the History…

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