Lately I’ve noticed a trend that I like very much: the bookshop/library, contemporary design, cafe/restaurant. I mean really, this combines everything I love best! This week I had the fortune of finding two examples of …
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Resources in Art History - technical info, student projects, bloopers, study guides.
A renaissance art historian’s guide to Florence through its history, monuments, and people.
“Fuori Porta” literally means outside the city gates. Anywhere outside Florence!
An art historian’s approach to the monuments of the eternal city.
Featured region! art, sea, mountains, islands, shopping, hiking, culture… Tuscany has it all.
I don’t normally write reactionary pieces, but this bit of news has me frothing at the mouth. This Prof. Vito Franco from the pathology department in Palermo has taken to diagnosing illnesses in famous Renaissance works of art. He presented his findings at a conference in Florence in early January, but has not published a paper about them. He’s been in many major newspapers for this, most in Italian but also in the Times. Amongst his findings: Caravaggio’s Sleeping Cupid has rheumatoid arthritis, Mona Lisa has high cholesterol, Piero della Francesca’s Madonna del Parto has a thyroid problem, Parmigianino’s Madonna of the Long Neck has Marfan’s syndrome… and Michelangelo’s Night is a transsexual, or man with fake breasts. Like we haven’t heard that one before! Read the full story »
At a conference on the use of internet by libraries, archives and museums that I attended the other day (live blog here), Elena Farinelli brought up an interesting fact: if you search “Biblioteca Firenze” on …
Here’s another pre-trip research post from Robert Kimberly, who likes strange things, and apparently also likes small cars.
As an American, huge cars are almost a birthright. My first cars were a 1950 Mercury …
I don’t normally post “retweets” as blog posts, but this is the funniest thing I have read in a long time - an article in The Onion about a “mediocre trattoria” in Florence that parodies …
Some art has gotten too big to hang on a wall. Perhpas due to a new feeling for nature, some artists prefer the countryside to the city for the display of their works, and fields …
Guest post by Robert of Neon Poisoning, who is looking for weird things to see in Florence.
At Milan’s Palazzo Reale is the first major retrospective in Italy dedicated to the American artist Edward Hopper (1882-1967), the famous realist painter. This show moves to Rome in February so if you cannot see …
This Saturday Jan 16 2010 is a very special PREVIEW night at Le Murate. If you’re in or near Florence, plan to swing by and check out this new space. Well, not so new space… …
We have a new guideline for accomodation when traveling: stay where you eat. This differs from “eat where you stay” in a clever inversion that fully excludes the dreaded hotel restaurant.
A few months ago we …
This video was made by a Syracuse University Florence student, Remi Evans. It was her final project for a course called Masterpieces of Renaissance Art, a favourite of students for many years, taught by the …
This weekend Florence was graced with a slight dumping of snow and the coldest temperatures we’ve had here in years. The city was spared the most of it, while in the hills people have been …
I recently met Jody Mattioli, a young artist who designs and hand-makes the most exceptional metal objects. I was struck by the originality of his sole wine rack in particular (see photo), and think it …
This Fall (until late Jan 2010), Palazzo Strozzi offers two important exhibits on realism and art. The major show “Art and Illusions - Masterpieces of Trompe l’Oeil” has received a lot of attention from the …
Raphael’s “Woman with Unicorn” is one of 48 works from Rome’s Borghese Gallery on their way to Japan, where they will stay 6 months at the National Museum of Modern Art in Kyoto and the Metropolitan Musem of Tokyo …
The contest ended Sept 27th with a few good entries sent in just under the line. We got essays from four countries and contributions in all categories except “Art… that Travels!”. I guess that one …
Folks! my comprehensive book review of Jane Fortune’s “Invisible Women” is now online and in the paper! Read the article in The Florentine and see below to win your own copy!
Short summary: Invisible Women is …
