The Art of Rome
By Lucy Gordan Bernini’s Baldacchino (Photo, Wikipedia) Self-portrait by Gianlorenzo Bernini (1623), now in Rome’s Borghese Gallery. (Photo, Wikipedia) Gian Lorenzo Bernini was Cardinal Maffeo Barberini’s favorite artist. On his ascent to the papal throne in 1623 Urban VIII remarked, “It’s a great fortune for you, O Cavaliere, to see Cardinal [...]
By Lucy Gordan Tempesta’s Capture of Jerusalem in “Painting with Stone/Landscape and Architecture” (photo credit: Galleria Borghese) May 6, 1527 was a tragic day in the history of Rome. Angry at not having been paid, some 34,000 mercenaries of Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, many of whom were German followers of Luther known [...]
“And thou, Bethlehem, Ephrata... out of thee shall He come forth unto Me, that is to be the ruler in Israel.” — Micah 5:2 St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), the Church’s “Angelic Doctor,” wrote with remarkable breadth and detailed insight on thousands of questions pertaining to God, man and the Catholic faith. In his Summa Theologiae, he [...]
By Lucy Gordan Boy Bitten by a Lizard by Caravaggio. Prolonged through January 10, 2021 at Rome’s Capitoline Museums, is the temporary exhibition, Il Tempo di Caravaggio: Capolavori della collezione di Roberto Longhi, or The Times of Caravaggio: Masterpieces from the Art Collection of Roberto Longhi. I’ve already written three articles for ITV [...]
By Lucy Gordan Duccio Buoninsegna's Madonna Rucellai On June 2, 1946, Italy held a referendum to choose between remaining a monarchy or becoming a republic. This year the Government decided to commemorate this anniversary by reopening its state-owned museums after three months of lockdown. A few days before, at the reopening ceremony of Palazzo [...]
By Lucy Gordan The printer, Hieronymus Cock The Uffizi Galleries in Florence are a conglomeration of two museums and a public garden: the Uffizi itself (in a building designed by Vasari in 1560 for Cosimo I de’ Medici to accommodate the “offices” of Florence’s magistrates), the Palazzo Pitti (the Medici’s main residence across the [...]
By Lucy Gordan Inside the Vatican readers for certain know of Pope Francis’ two unprecedented acts to pray for the end to the coronavirus pandemic. The first was his unannounced pilgrimage on the afternoon of Sunday, March 15th, to the Basilica of St. Mary Major and to the Church of San Marcello al Corso; the second [...]
By Lucy Gordan Madonna del Granduca Raphael's self-portrait With over 70,000 advance ticket sales from all over the world and, as of this writing (in late February) no cancelations in spite of coronavirus, the mega show three years in the planning “Raffaello 1520-1483” was opened on March 3 by Sergio Mattarella, the [...]
So Caravaggio Escaped... To Naples By Lucy Gordan Nicola Malinconico’s Good Samaritan. Battistello’s Noli Me Tangere The recently-restored Young St. John the Baptist On May 29, 1606, during a brawl in Piazza Navona in Rome, the artist Caravaggio (1571-1610) murdered the pimp from Terni Ranuccio Tomassoni, who had VIP clients: [...]
By Lucy Gordan As there were many exhibitions worldwide in 2019 to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Leonardo Da Vinci’s death, 2020 will be Raphael’s turn. The “dio mortale,” as biographer Vasari nicknamed him, was born in the small central Italian city of Urbino in the Marches region, on March 28 or April 6, 1483 and [...]
