Mandragora – förlag

This publication discusses a bronze Laocoön recently sold at Bonham’s. Its new owners attributed it to Giuseppe Piamontini (1663–1744) ‘because of its manufacture and its extremely close proximity to the Doccia model’, the model employed for a porcelain Laocoön produced in the factory set up by Carlo Ginori (1702–57) in 1737 at Doccia near Florence.Labelled as French and belatedly returned to Late Baroque Florence (but to the wrong artist), this magnificent group has finally revealed its identity. It is one of the incunabula of an ambitious young sculptor measuring himself with the sculptors of Ancient Greece and their great Renaissance followers of his native Florence. During the day he copied them in the Galleria degli Uffizi and in the streets of the city. At night he gathered together with other pupils of Foggini in the Borgo Pinti studio to study together. The prominent career to which Della Valle obviously aspired prompted his move to Rome. Della Valle helped us interpret the bronze correctly, interpret correctly its attribution in the Doccia models’ inventory and by extension understand better that document itself. But most important, our understanding of Florentine Late Baroque sculpture and of Della Valle’s art has acquired another firm point of reference.

Equipped with all you need to know on the history and traditions of the Chianti region, you will be guided on half-day or full-day drives out from Radda in Chianti and Gaiole in Chianti. Four itineraries with maps and commentary will lead you through historic sites and stunning landscape - with places to stop for an espresso, a leisurely lunch, an ice cream snack, some shopping, and a superb dinner.

The porcelain of Doccia made its mark on the history of artistic manufactory with its refined production inspired by antique masterpieces. Rich with illustrations, the catalogue was published to accompany the exhibition staged by the Museo Nazionale del Bargello, providing useful tools for visitors and readers, enabling them to reconstruct and examine the development of the artefacts of this particular production technique, in general, and specifically to trace the history of the Doccia manufactory's success. The essays included are divided into two parts: the first reconstructs the history of the manufactory opened by the Marquis Ginori in 1735 and the art produced in studios of porcelain. The second provides a series of case studies dedicated to the more interesting themes regarding the reproduction in porcelain of great ancient sculptures, as well as some more significant works realised by the manufactory, like the Tempietto of Cortona or the great Fireplace. The book concludes with a series of entries elaborating on the 17 works that were featured in the exhibition. Essays by Alvar Gonzales Palacios, Tomaso Montanari, Cristina Gnoni, Dimitri Zikos, Marino Marini, Cristiano Giometti, Cristina Maritano; Entries by Daniele Lauri and Maria Persona.

This monograph is the first title in a new series titled Opera Maestra, specifically focused on the work and itinerary of the artists who made history, from an unprecedented perspective. The series begins with Leonardo da Vinci, captured by the expert Marco Versiero.At the core the analysis is the specific soul, among the thousands of Leonardo's, that Marco Versiero wants to underline: his mirror-soul; namely, Leonardo's eye between Human and Nature. In other words, the eye that allowed the artist to mediate between his favourite dimensions (the human and the natural one), and allowed them to communicate with each other without cancelling themselves, but rather managing to reflect one in the other's light, like in front of a mirror.An essential biographical note introduces the reader to Marco Versiero's pages, enriched with 61 detailed pictures. The pictures, proposing not only a selection of Leonardo's paintings but also of his drawings, enhanced with comprehensive captions, tell the itinerary of the genius from the years of his apprenticeship in Verrocchio's workshop till the days of his maturity.

31 October 1737 Anna Maria Luisa de’ Medici, the Electress Palatine and last descendant of the grand ducal branch of the Medici, refused to stand by and watch the end of the dynasty that had marked the destiny of Florence for more than four centuries.She responded to the approaching Austrian rule by the House of Lorraine with a legal act under which all the assets that formed part of the Medici collections were bound to the city of Florence, establishing it definitively as a city of art.The protagonist of this book is the history of Florence, from its origins to that fateful day, narrated in the first person by the Electress Palatine herself, accompanied by her inquisitive and loyal servant Maria.

The Global Eye. Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese Maps in the Collections of the Grand Duke Cosimo III de’ Medici is the companion catalogue to the exhibition of the same name. For the first time, it presents all 82 ‘Castello’ maps in colour. The maps are so named because from the end of the 18th century until their transfer to the Laurentian Library in 1921 they decorated the rooms of the Medicean villa of Castello outside Florence.From 1667 to 1669, the young Grand Duke Cosimo III conducted his grand tour, which took him to various countries in Europe. While in the Low Countries on his first journey he purchased 65 maps and hand-drawn views of cities; on his second, longer trip he arrived in Lisbon, where he bought copies of maritime maps. The collection of maps and colonial vistas from Holland, Portugal and Spain provide us with insight into the shape of the world in the mid-17th century as well as information about the circulation of people and ideas.The catalogue describes and accurately analyses each map while providing details on the places shown and the contents of the legends and captions, when these are present. The essays discuss the history of the maps, from the time of their purchase by the grand duke to their arrival at the Laurentian Library.

The exhibition An Ancient and Honorable Citizen of Florence - The Bargello and Dante, sponsored by the Comitato Nazionale per le Celebrazioni del 700° Anniversario della morte di Dante Alighieri, is the result of the inter-institutional partnership between the Musei del Bargello and the Università di Firenze, and sees the collaboration between the Departments of Literature and Philosophy (DILEF) and of History, Archaeology, Geography, Art and Entertainment (SAGAS) of the University of Florence. The Bargello is Dante’s place par excellence in Florence: here you can find the oldest portrait of Dante, painted by Giotto and his work in 1337, a period during which the Divina Commedia was being spread throughout the city. The catalogue – rich with essays and extracts by numerous specialists – illustrates the complex link between Dante, his work and Florence, analysing the dense network of relationships between painters, illuminators, copyists and commentators, engaged in an unprecedented editorial and artistic enterprise. The volume is enriched with illustrations of the works on display and illuminated manuscripts, as well as a precious final photographic atlas of the murals in the Podestà chapel, which houses the poet’s portrait. Dante was very often a frequenter of the different rooms as a prior of the Bargello and in these same rooms he received both his sentence of exile, and his sentence to death (March 10, 1302). The reconstruction of the delicate relationship between the Poet and Florence assumes an importance that goes far beyond city borders, indelibly investing the history of Dante’s fortune and the way in which we still look at him and his work today.

Caravaggio’s Portrait of a Gentleman with a Ruff, which is a recent arrival in the Klesch Collection, has a short critical history. It also has a very limited history as regards the associated bibliography and media coverage, perhaps because the painting came to the fore prior to the social media explosion characteristic of recent years and, above all, at a time when today’s almost obsessive interest in Caravaggio was certainly not so developed. This interest has since expanded to incorporate all levels of communication, even the most widely popular. The Portrait first came to people’s attention in 1992 and despite the fact that the artist already exerted an appeal that few other painters could boast at the time, Caravaggio’s following was far removed from what it is today.Text in English and Italian.

In Florence, cassettai refers to the special group of street vendors who take their name from the drawer-like containers in which they display their wares. They have belonged to the association of the same name since 1909; today they are recognised as an important part of Florence’s historical and cultural heritage. They are both promoters and protagonists of a volume on the history of the illustrated postcard, in whose diffusion they have traditionally played an important role.The history of the postcard intersects closely with that of the art of the last two centuries, beginning with the emergence of photography. Over time, the postcard became an art form in its own right; it also had a hand in transforming communication, providing travellers with the opportunity of recording spontaneous impressions while forever capturing a picture of the visited site.Sponsored by the association of the cassettai, the volume offers a rich and varied overview of the illustrated postcard, which was once an extremely popular means of conveying messages through words and images. Still today, the postcard holds its own in a world dominated by more modern and rapid means of communication, while retaining its connection with a fascinating history, one imbued with culture, identity, beauty and romanticism.Text in English and Italian.

The catalogue brings all the paintings in the Galleria dell’Accademia di Firenze together for the first time. It is a straightforward, convenient tool, aimed at all types of users, particularly suitable for educational use, for a first approach to the museum’s paintings or for quick searches by experts or those who would like to become one.Arranging the paintings in alphabetical order by the names of the artists seemed to us to be the simplest and most natural criterion for anyone who was not already an expert. The catalogue includes the various names of the painters, and a brief biography introduces each artist. This is followed by the entry or, if there is more than one, the entries on the works by this artist in the museum collections, in alphabetical order by title. Each work is reproduced with a recent photograph.This volume constitutes an invaluable collection of data, essential for future studies and discussions regarding the paintings. The book is introduced by an exhaustive essay by Cecilie Hollberg, the Director of the Galleria.

Father Andrew, an artist and priest of the Archdiocese of New York, recounts his impressions during a peripatetic retreat in Tuscany some years ago, under the guidance of Timothy Verdon an art historian and Catholic priest. Timothy Verdon’s hope was to help the listeners open to the spiritual as well as aesthetic beauty of the buildings, sculptures and paintings seen and Father Andrew’s book tells that something of this sort happened, at least in his case. A Tuscan Résumé is an ‘inspired’ work, in response to the same Spirit that touched the architects and artists whose masterpieces Father Andrew describes.

The catalogue is the narrative guide for the exhibition held in the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana dedicated to cocoa – one of the most precious treasures from the New World – as described and narrated in Brother Bernardino de Sahagún’s work. According to Aztec mythology, cocoa has a divine origin, closely connected to the god Quetzalcóatl. Maps and archaeological, historical, artistic and artisan artefacts tell the story of chocolate, from the Mesoamerica of the Olmecs to the ‘bean to bar’ movement, a beacon of hope in respect to ‘the Other’.

For many years the artist Rachel Lee Hovnanian has been analysing the drifts of our hyper-technological and hyper-connected society. She presented at the 59th Venice Biennale, Angels Listening, an interactive exhibition featuring seven large-scale bronze angels staged around a silver confessional box, each figure rendered in silence with its mouth “taped” shut.Viewers were invited to participate by relinquishing their innermost thoughts, whether repressed due to fear of judgement or sheer inability, by writing them onto pieces of ribbon, placing these ribbons into The Cathartic Box, and ringing the awakening bell, a symbol of the role of the angels as mute listeners.At the end of each day all of the new messages were compiled onto prayer-like mats and dispersed throughout the exterior gardens for future visitors to encounter and share as a collective stream-of-consciousness.This book shares those messages. In listening to these stories, perhaps it is people who become the angels listening.

This is a colourful and entertaining survival kit for teenagers visiting (or living in) Florence. It was thought up, written and designed in collaboration with Amici Musei Fiorentini.

Florentine artists have represented Mary in every moment and event of her life: historical, meta-historical and legendary. Yet they have never been mere Madonnari / Madonna painters repeating conventional images, promoting traditional piety. In their hands, the typical subjects of Marian iconography have dilated, becoming occasions of profound, often mystical reflection. The painters and sculptors of Florence have presented God s mother as the 'all holy', but also as a human being and above all as a woman.This small book seeks to suggest, through specific examples, the depth and originality of their approach. It neither discusses every master and masterpiece (an impossible task), nor illustrates every Marian theme. It narrates and, in so doing, relates significant episodes in a process of research that has evolved across a thousand years: a process which in Mary painted and carved has shown Florence and the world the beauty of Christian faith and life.The book illustrates, among others, works by Giotto, Bernardo Daddi, Masaccio, Donatello, Fra Angelico, Filippo Lippi, Ghirlandaio, Botticelli, Filippino Lippi, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Andrea del Sarto and Pontormo.

Following the success of Magic Moments in Florence, Adriana Silvestri explores another of Italy's historic cities. Her kaleidoscopic images and subtle variations on a theme offer new perspectives on what, in the age of mass tourism, have become all too familiar sights, capturing the true essence of the "Eternal City." Her eye zeroes in on all kinds of small details, there are even the stray cats of the Colosseum and the Fori Imperiali, whose long shadows stand out against the purple of cardinals' robes and the white marble of classical Rome.

Beauty and drama come together in a true and compelling story set in the colourful, turbulent world of late-15th-century Florence. The talented son of a successful banker and the beautiful daughter of an influential patrician: their marriage seemed made in heaven, but they were both to meet untimely and tragic ends. This book tells the story of two forgotten protagonists of the Florentine Renaissance: Lorenzo Tornabuoni (1468-97) and his wife, Giovanna degli Albizzi (1468-88). Unpublished documents from family archives allow us to glimpse their daily lives, while poems and works of art offer insight into their notions of love, marriage, birth, death and hopes of eternal life. The contradictions of Italian Renaissance culture clearly emerge, such as the tendency to combine a highly principled intellectual life and aesthetic refinement with self-glorification and political ruthlessness. The author shows how life and art were completely interwoven in this period, and explains the significance of works of art by the likes of Botticelli and Ghirlandaio and their place in the lives of Lorenzo and Giovanna.

Works by Picasso, the great master of modern art, are presented in the exhibition in an effort to stimulate a reflection on his influence and interaction with such leading Spanish artists as Joan Miro, Salvador Dali, Juan Gris, Maria Blanchard and Julio Gonzalez: art reflecting on art and on the relationship between the real and the surreal, the artist's heartfelt involvement in the tragedy of unfolding history, the emergence of the monster with a human face, and the metaphor of erotic desire as a primary source of inspiration for the artist's creativity and world vision. Picasso and Spanish Modernity showcases works by Picasso and other artists, ranging from painting to sculpture, drawing, engraving from the collection of the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid. The works of art include such celebrated masterpieces as the Portrait of Dora Maar, Horse's Head and The Painter and the Model by Picasso, Siurana, the Path by Miro, along with Picasso's drawings, engravings and preparatory paintings for his huge masterpiece Guernica.Included are the biographies of all the artists featured: Pablo Picasso; Aurelio Arteta; Rafael Barradas; Maria Blanchard; Francisco Bores; Eduardo Chillida; Martin Chirino; Pancho Cossio; Leandre Cristofol; Salvador Dali; Oscar Dominguez; Equipo 57; Angel Ferrant; Pablo Gargallo; Julio Gonzalez; Juan Gris; Jose Guerrero; Antonio Lopez; Maruja Mallo; Manuel Millares; Joan Miro; Manuel Angeles Ortiz; Jorge Oteiza; Pablo Palazuelo; Benjamin Palencia; Alfonso Ponce de Leon; Alberto Sanchez; Antonio Saura; Jose Gutierrez Solana; Joaquim Sunyer; Antoni Tapies; Josep de Togores; Joaquin Torres-Garcia; Jose Val del Omar; Daniel Vazquez Diaz; Esteban Vicente.

The new edition of The Art of Cookery re-proposes the recipes of the Florentine culinary tradition, enhancing their simplicity, capturing their modern aspects, veering some of them towards an accuracy in the procedures to ensure that those who try the recipes – and then those who are lucky enough to taste them – will discover the presence and taste of each individual ingredient. All organised within the time frames of today’s schedules. We should not be scandalised if the procedures cemented in the historical memory of domestic walls are made faster through the use of the appliances now routinely used in the kitchen. So bring on the pressure cookers, mixers, blenders and immersion robots if they can help to free up a bit of time and a bit of happy effort in favour of imagination and creativity.Cooking with passion is a game that continually puts us to the test, with results that only our guests can judge.

From 22 September 2017 to 21 January 2018 Palazzo Strozzi will be hosting a splendid exhibition devoted to the art of the second half of the 16th century in Florence, the third and final act in a trilogy which began with Bronzino ISBN 9788874611546, in 2010 and was followed by Pontormo and Rosso Fiorentino ISBN 9788874612161, in 2014. Curated by Carlo Falciani and Antonio Natali, the show, and this accompanying book, explores the development of Florentine art in the second half of the century through the painting, sculpture, and draughtsmanship of such artists as Andrea del Sarto, Bronzino, Pontormo, Giorgio Vasari, Giambologna and Bartolomeo Ammannati. The exhibition will also provide a unique opportunity to celebrate the outstanding cultural and intellectual era that was marked by the Council of Trent and its Counter-Reformation, and by the figure of Francesco I de Medici, one of the most outstanding figures in the history of court patronage of the arts in Europe.

The fascinating and truly exceptional Portrait of a Lady in White Satin, which forms part of The Klesch Collection, offers Marco Tanzi the leading expert on 16th- and 17th-century Cremonese painting an opportunity to delve into some hitherto unknown aspects of the painter’s artistic production. Breaking away from the repetitive monotony of a celebration firmly rooted in an audacious biography that is more or less fictional, but above all anchored to some erroneous attributions that are traced back to Bernardino Campi, her first master.

This book of photography is the result of two great loves. A journey through the streets of Florence through a little girl’s eyes, so bright and full of joy.Windows and shop-windows act as if they were eyes too, capable of reflecting images of buildings and churches, so as to keep them inside, as well as in our memories or in our hearts.A sort of journey to discover and rediscover aspects, anecdotes and curiosities of this atypical city, where every street, even the narrowest one, tells a story.Text in English and Italian.

The volume takes the form of a refined collection of table settings used in the private residences of the most eminent Tuscan families. The narration complemented by images takes readers through a dazzling, multi-coloured world composed of precious pieces of porcelain, splendid silver objects and transparent crystals, in which the traditional and classical blend with design elements and modern tastes. What gives unity to the entire collection is undisputed taste and elegance.Author Claudia Pianetti Della Stufa is not only a sophisticated interpreter of mise en place but also a true enthusiast of the aesthetics of refined table settings in all their nuances. Her knowledgeable gaze accompanies readers through classical, contemporary and country chic arrangements.Text in English and Italian.

For the 550th anniversary of the birth of Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564) the Muscarelle Museum (Williamsburg, Virginia) hosted the exhibition Michelangelo: The Genesis of the Sistine, running from March to June, 2025. The exhibition was an extraordinary account of the master’s preparatory drawings for the Sistine Chapel frescoes, never before exhibited in America.Before his death, Michelangelo destroyed many of his sketches, including numerous studies for the Sistine Chapel. Those that have been saved remain significant and iconic, providing a window into his creative process, highlighting his initial plans and his extraordinary vision for the frescoes of the Sistine ceiling. They range from what may be considered the first schematic study for the Sistine ceiling, to the numerous sketches of faces, limbs, and whole figures depicted in various positions, appearing as preparation for the figures later frescoed.Thanks to rigorous scholarly research, this catalogue provides new insights into Michelangelo’s legacy, giving the reader an enriching and compelling experience.

At the end of 2024, more than 100 masterpieces were put on display at the Gallery of Modern Contemporary Art and the former Church of St. Ignazio in Arezzo, for an exhibition event with an international scope that represented the culmination of “Arezzo. The City of Vasari”, the program of events organised to celebrate Vasari in his hometown on the occasion of the 450th anniversary of his death. Unpublished works, monumental works and loans from some of the world's most prestigious museums and private collections such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Albertina Museum in Vienna and the Musée du Louvre in Paris, as well as national treasures held by the Uffizi Galleries in Florence and other Italian museums were included. The monumental works - which rarely leave their original locations represent some of the most significant masterpieces of Vasari’s artistic production. This catalogue was published to accompany the exhibition.