Bollettino d'Arte, Preview fasc. 47–48, s. VII, luglio–dicembre 2020 (original) (raw)

MARIA ANTONIETTA RIZZO Two more Sarcophagi of the Spouses from Cerveteri: previously unpublished fragments found among old site records and recent discoveries During rescue excavations on Caere’s (today’s Cerveteri) burial grounds, supervised by the Author in the role of inspector for what was then the Soprintendenza dell’Etruria Meridionale, some fragments of two terracotta sarcophagi were found. NICOLA BUSINO New considerations on the four–sided portico of Capua Cathedral on the Volturno Recent ongoing research in Capua has brought to light several elements associated with the foundation of the town on the banks of the River Volturno. The town was set up by the Longobard élite in the mid ninth century. Some lines of research in particular sprang from the re–examination of existing documentation of the four–sided portico of Capua Cathedral. It forms part of an Episcopal complex which has been left substantially uninvestigated, given that it was entirely reconstructed after Second World War damage. ORAZIO LOVINO The Renaissance in “Terra di Bari”. New reflections on Maestro d’Andria and Tuccio d’Andria, at a crossroads between Naples and Liguria One of the most fitting pictorial incidents in “Terra di Bari” during the second half of the fifteenth century, if not the whole figurative panorama of what’s known as the southern Renaissance, is made up of the works of the Maestro d’Andria. VERUSKA PICCHIARELLI News about Perugino and his atelier: Two previously unpublished preparatory drawings for the Adoration of the Shepherds by Monteripido The paper centres on two preparatory drawings with Shepherds related to the circle of Pietro Vannucci, known as “il Perugino”. The pieces, previously unknown to art historians, match the characters in a fresco of the Adoration of the Child. This was stripped from the convent of San Francesco al Monte in Perugia, and is now housed in the Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria. BEATRICE CACCIOTTI Copies, mutuations and diffusion of old fashioned portraits during the early Renaissance: the codex h–I–4 in the Escorial library Codex h–I–4 in the Escorial library contains 142 drawings of mythological, biblical and historical characters. The latter range from ancient times up to the period contemporary to when they were drawn. Most are accompanied by a brief biographical description. The codex was bequeathed to the Escorial by Phillip II. It had come into his possession in about 1541, from the Lanuza family, whose coat of arms shows up on the cover. LORENZO PRINCIPI More about Alessandro della Scala from Carona: his work in Portugal and new reliefs on a Marian theme The paper systematically discusses traces of Alessandro della Scala’s work in Portugal, taking into account a copious series of reliefs, three of which from Setubal. For the first time the works that make up this group have been written about and systematically published. ENRICO COLLE A “table of joys” for Francis I de’ Medici The tabletop was part of the collection of Hugh Richard Arthur Grosvenor, Duke of Westminster. The statuary marble base is inlaid with semiprecious stones. The geometrical pattern is typical of works of the kind manufactured in the second half of the 1500s. It had belonged to the Lorraine Medici collection and to the Royal House of Savoy: the court administration then sold it to William Blundell Spence. Recently, its original inventory numbers came to light, handwritten on the underside.Thanks to these numbers, confronting them with the contemporary archive documents, the story of the tabletop became clear. Going back through the years it had been accurately registered in all the Lorraine Medici inventories from the time of Francesco I de’ Medici, who had it placed in the Casino di San Marco, his town house in Florence. GIULIA CERIANI SEBREGONDI A Doge on the scaffolding: the account books for the construction of Palazzo Donà dalle Rose in Venice. Further considerations This paper is the second part of a contribution to this same editorial collection, published in 2019. It is devoted to the construction of Ca’ Donà dalle Rose in Venice, between 1610 and 1612. This was the palace that Doge Leonardo Donà had chosen to build as his family house. From an analysis of the building site accounts (receipts and account books) housed in the private family archives, as well as contemporary treatises from the Veneto region, and comparisons with a few other sporadic sources, it’s been possible to piece together in detail the construction techniques and materials used to build the palace. In an overall reconstruction of the evolution of the Donà building site this paper concentrates on the masonry, plastering, guttering and flooring. PATRIZIA TOSINI Baldassarre Croce in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, a gift for Pedro Fernàndez de Castro, Viceroy of Naples, and his wife Catalina de la Cerda y Sandoval The paper presents two previously unpublished frescoes. They were painted in 1610 by the Bolognese artist Baldassarre Croce in Palazzo dei Canonici attached to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. The paintings are mentioned in documents, but were thought to have been lost. They depict two canonical stories associated with the veneration of the Liberian Basilica. One was dedicated to the Procession of Pope Gregory I with the icon of Salus Populi Romani to put an end to the plague of 590. The other is the Foundation of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore by Pope Liberius. ADRIANO AMENDOLA Giovanni Alto is not Giovanni Grosso. New considerations on the Swiss Ciceroni from Lucerne and Giacomo Lauro’s “Antiquae Urbis Splendor” Starting from Francesco Villamena’s two engraved portraits, the author was able to resolve the question of the identity of two Swiss guards, Giovanni Alto and Giovanni Grosso. They were among the most famous Ciceroni of Baroque Rome, still remembered and long debated by scholars. Using heraldry it’s been possible for the first time to distinguish Alto from Grosso, who have often been taken as the same person. An analysis of Alto’s Stammbuch, housed in the Vatican Library and the discovery of his unpublished will has made it possible to better understand the story behind Giacomo Lauro’s Antiquae Urbis Splendor. GIANLUCA PUCCIO In the steps of Padre Resta in the Capodimonte drawings A series of photographs of the so called “Collezione borbonica” in the Capodimonte museum has come to light in the archives. They date to the mid 1960s and provide a chance to reconstruct the original appearance of many of the drawings, before being subjected to a radical restoration that unfortunately led to them being detached from their original supporting sheets. The photographs show that about 250 of them were mounted inside a frame in ANNA MARIA RICCOMINI Two artists at the Mausoleum of Augustus: Joseph Nollekens and Pietro Ronzoni The paper analyses a drawing thought to be by Joseph Nollekens, now housed in the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in London, and a painting held in a private collection, by the Bergamascan artist Pietro Ronzoni. They are both views of the Mausoleum of Augustus in Rome. The pictures provide further evidence about the Soderini family collection of ancient sculpture, on display among the ruins of the Imperial tomb. It’s Nollekens drawing that best captures the four statues that, from the middle of the 1500s, stood at the entrance to the hanging gardens and at the foot of the stairs leading up to the entrance to Palazzo Soderini. BERTRAND DE ROYERE A silver table service by Charles Nicolas Odiot for King Charles Albert of Savoy In 1834 King Charles Albert of Sardinia ordered an exceptional silver service from Charles Nicolas Odiot for his palace in Turin. The wealth and beauty of this collection of silverware earned it the right to be presented the same year at the Paris Exposition des Produits de l’Industrie. The preparatory drawings for the tableware are identified here amongst those formerly in the archives of Odiot’s famous Parisian maison, subsequently scattered and lost. These have thrown light on the technical and stylistic evolution of French goldsmiths during the Restoration. This was a period of uncertainty between the very captivating neo–Baroque taste coming out of England at the time and echoes of the great neoclassical goldsmiths.