Archive for the 'Art & Design' Category

20
Jul

A New Caravaggio?

Rome is abuzz with news about Caravaggio in the past weeks!  The Baroque bad boy — who died 400 years ago this month — has been in the spotlight for months as the Eterna marks the anniversary of his demise and capitalizes on an ever-growing fascination with the artist.  From February to June, fans flocked to the Scuderie al Quirinale to admire an exhibition of Caravaggio paintings brought from museums around the world; in June a team of scientists announced the discovery of a body that may be that of the artist; and just last weekend, the Borghese Gallery and three Roman churches stayed open all night to let Caravaggio fans admire his works on the 400th anniversary of the Italian Baroque artist’s death.

In the midst of all this excitement, the Vatican’s official newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano published a newly discovered painting thought (perhaps) to be by the artist.  The painting, found recently among the possessions of the Society of Jesuits in Rome, shows the martyrdom of St. Lawerence, depicting a semi-naked young man, his mouth open in desperation with one arm stretched out as he leans over flames.

Scholars have been quick to point out that the painting has not been authenticated.  Religious art historian Lydia Salviucci Insolera commented: “This is certainly a stylistically impeccable painting but we shouldn’t fall into the trap of claiming it as a Caravaggio at all costs.”  And other art historians  are likewise sceptical. Polo Museum director in Rome, Rosella Vodret, said: “It looks like a very beautiful and interesting painting but before we call it a Caravaggio, it needs to be more thoroughly checked out,” while Caravaggio expert and author of a book on the artist’s life, Stefania Macioce, isalso  unconvinced: “I’ll wait until I get a chance to look at it close up but from the photos I’ve seen it looks to be a thousand miles away from the maestro.”

23
Jun

Diving into the Underworld

Pluto-and-Persephone-3

Anyone who loves Rome is probably passionate about the city’s #1 baroque artist, Gianlorenzo Bernini.  And anyone who loves Bernini will be absolutely delighted by this ad for 3M cushion wrap!

In an effort to demonstrate the extreme softness of cushion wrap, the Creative Juice ad agency in Bangkok hooked 3M up with a series of images that animate Bernini’s Pluto and Persephone.  At the top of the sequence, Pluto, god of the underworld, springs to earth, seizes the lovely Persephone, and commences to take the goddess to Hades and make her his wife.  As they make their downward journey, the immortal couple engages fearlessly in some acrobatic diving, clearly assured that 3M will cushion their landing and allow them to assume the pose in which Bernini placed them.

We spotted this one on I Believe in Advertising.

Advertising Agency: Creative Juice\Bangkok\TBWA, Bangkok, Thailand
Chief Creative Officer: Thirasak Tanapatanakul
Executive Creative Director: Thirasak Tanapatanakul
Copywriter: Taya Soonthonvipat
Producer: Witsawut Nuchpoom
Art Director: Dasima Ongsiriwattana/Thirasak Tanapatanakul
Illustrator: Surachai Puthikulangkura/Supachai U-Rairat
Photographer: Surachai Puthikulangkura
Other Credits: Production House Producer: Somsak Pairew

09
Jun

Ron English for Absolut Wallpaper

Guernica-Xray-2

Ron English, a well-known painter whose work has been exhibited in galleries and museums worldwide, recently took to the streets of Rome, painting an X-Ray Guernica on the wall of the refrigerator at the ex-Mattatoio or slaughterhouse in Testaccio.

English  is  considered to be one of the seminal figures in the ever-growing culture jamming movement — he has priated over a thousand billboards over the last twenty years to replace existing advertisements with his own hand-painted subvertisements.  Now, however,  he’s working alongside Absolut Vodka in a project called Absolut Wallpaper that aims to restore and enhance degraded areas of Italian cities.

Guernica-Xray-3

English painted the composition in a live performance on Saturday 29 May.  He then went on to do another Absolut Wallpaper in Milan on 3 June, paying homage to Andy Warhol’s Double Elvis in that composition.

You can check out the Milan photos on English’s website which is also the source of the images shown here.Guernica-XRay

17
May

Stick-On Madonna & Child

Madonna-Sticker

A stroll through Trastevere led us to this lovely piece of street art stuck on a wall just off Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere.  We don’t know who does these Madonna & Child stickers–perhaps the same person who stencils a similar image around town–but we think it’s pretty excellent.

And it makes us wonder a bit why Raphael didn’t think of giving the Baby Jesus green hair and a pink halo.

16
May

Constantine Rocks!

Constantine-Headphones

We’ve been spending a lot of time on Roman buses and trams in the past few weeks and nothing makes us happier than when we zip past one of these Radio Globo ads that have appeared streetside throughout the Eterna.

Radio Globo claims to be the local radio station that is most listened to in Rome.  In fact, the station is so popular that even the colossal Constantine tunes in now and then.

04
Apr

The Vatican Gives Us a Virtual Sistine Chapel

Sistine-1

We thought it was amazingly cool when Second Life opened their virtual Sistine Chapel and we could fly around the building and examine it paintings from a vantage point that just couldn’t be achieved on an in-person visit.

Now, however, the Vatican has trumped Second Life by posting its own high-resolution, interactive, virtual tour of the  Sistine Chapel.  It takes a bit of practice with the mouse or touchpad and the controls in the bottom left corner of the chapel to figure out how to move around, but once you’ve got the hang of it, it’s great!

Whether it’s the paving of the floor or Michelangelo’s hand of God in the ceiling above that’s of interest, you’ll be able to zoom right in and get a high-resolution look.

Click over now. This is pretty fab.

Sistine-2

15
Mar

Wine & Jazz at the Centrale Montemartini

Centrale MM

One of our favorite museums in Rome, the Centrale Montemartini (click here to read more), has announced a new program that sounds just divine.  Starting on Friday 9 April, the museum will offer live jazz and tastings of local wines curated by the Enoteca Regionale Palatium between 8pm and 10pm.

They’re kicking things off on Friday 9 April and Saturday 10 April with a performance by the Stefano Di Battista jazz quartet.

Programming continues through May and early June with the following performances:

Except for the special concert on 15 May, the tickets for the concerts/wine tastings are €7 and can be bought in advance (starting on 30 March) at the ticket window of the Centrale Montemartini from Tuesday – Sunday from 9:00am to 6:30pm.

07
Mar

Michelangelo Hits the Extreme Makeover Market!

Be-Born-Again

Admittedly, we don’t know that much about this ad.  We found it on an Italian blog and fell instantly and madly in love with it.  It’s fabulous.  It couldn’t be better.  It makes us happy.

Of course, it’s not so terribly unusual for Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam scene to be recycled into advertising.  In just the past years, the divine maestro’s most famous work has been used to push an artists’ award and Peugeot scooters — to name just a few of its appearances in advertising.

But, without a doubt, this is our all-time favorite.  It was put up by Dr. Kim, a plastic surgeon, theoretically in the building in which he works.  The tagline at the bottom of the ad says “Be born again.  Dr. Kim, Plastic Surgeon, 3F.”

Be-Born-Again-Duplex

04
Mar

17th Century Crown Rediscovered

Crown

In 1685,  Vittoria della Rovere (portrait on the right), the Grand Duchess of Tuscany and the wife of Grand Duke Ferdinando II commissioned a gem-studded gold crown that she donated to the Carmelite nuns of Borgo Pinti in Florence as a symbol of her devotion to a new canonized saint, Maria Maddalena dè Pazzi, famous for her spiritual ecstasies.

That crown, embellished with 412 diamonds, 114 rubies, and 80 emeralds, was thought to have been lost–hidden away during the Napoleonic raids of the early 19th century–but it  has been recently rediscovered in a convent in Florence, according to Piero Pacini, a scholar of Santa Maria Maddalena dè Pazzi, who has published photographs and an article about the crown in Medicea. Rivista interdisciplinare di studi medicei, an academic journal devoted to the study of the Medici family.

The crown for the saint was made by Giovanni Comparini  and Giuseppe Vanni–the two goldsmiths that most often had the privilege of serving the Medici family in the 17th century–and cost 1800 scudi.  It was begun in the summer of 1684, when Vittoria della Rovere, along with her goldsmiths, paid an unexpected visit to the Carmelite convent at Borgo Pinti and ordered the nuns to show her all the jewels that “belonged” to the saint.  The Grand Duchess told the nuns that she intended to use the jewels to have a crown made for the saint and the project was completed in 10 months.  For about two centuries after the crown was finished, it displayed to the saint’s faithful devotees on occasions when the saint’s incorruptible body was exposed and venerated.

04
Dec

The Discovery of the Laocoon Revisited

Laocoon

Brace yourselves folks!  This is just the kind of discovery that makes us dance with delight here in the Compound:

In a recent article in the Italian paper, Il Messaggero, archaeologist Rita Volpe announced that new archival research has revealed the find spot of the famous Laocoön sculpture, now in the Vatican Museums.  We’ll start with the back story.

The ancient sculpture emerged from the ground on January 14, 1506, when a farmer named Felice De Fredis, while digging in his vineyard on the Esquiline Hill, uncovered nine fragments of ancient marble statuary. Word of the discovery quickly reached Pope Julius II and he promptly dispatched the architect Giuliano da Sangallo (perhaps accompanied by Michelangelo) to inspect the new discovery.

Though ancient sculptures were regularly pulled from the ground in Renaissance Rome, this find proved to be of extraordinary interest.  Almost immediately, the fragments were identified as being from the Laocoön, a sculpture that had belonged to the Roman Emperor Titus, and that was known to Renaissance humanists because it received the highest of praise from the first-century writer, Pliny the Younger, in his volume, The Natural History (XXXVI, 37):

…the Laocoön, which stands in the palace of the Emperor Titus [is] a work to be preferred to all that the arts of painting and sculpture have produced.

Finding the Laocoön was a dream come true for well-educated Renaissance artists and patrons who were intent on restoring Rome to its ancient glory.  At the very moment in which the idea of “Rome Reborn” was being made manifest in art and architecture projects citywide, the Laocoön emerged from the earth, further fueling the Renaissance dream of returning Rome to its former grandeur.

By March of 1506, Pope Julius II managed to procure the sculpture for his own antiquities collection, and in July of the same year he triumphantly transported the sculpture through the streets of the Rome.  Throngs of citizens lined the streets and showered the Laocoön with flower petals while the Sistine Chapel Choir heralded the sculpture’s journey to the Belvedere Courtyard of the Vatican Palace. Without a doubt, the Laocoön was the find of the century.

So where does the new research suggest that the sculpture was found?  Recent archival work suggests that the location is now occupied by nuns, the Suore di San Giuseppe di Cluny, and is at Via Mecenante 35A.

The Messaggero article is here.




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