Art Of The Day Weekly
#407 - from 19 November 2015 to 25 November 2015
P. Saltini, Simon Memmi commissioned by Petrarch to paint Laura, 1863, Galleria Palatina, Florence.
Florence, another capital
FLORENCE – Who remembers that the capital of Tuscany was also the capital of Italy? It was a brief period, passing through Torino before reaching Rome: indeed, five short years (1865-1870) during which King Victor-Emmanuel II settled on the banks of the Arno, at Palazzo Pitti. To celebrate the 150th anniversary of this event, this exhibition focuses on recreating the environment of a monarch who was concerned in showing his attachment to the local artists. Furniture, jewellery, objets d'art are all brought together in the same apartments Victor-Emmanuel lived b-in. Paintings as well: and one is forced to realise that although he showed some interest in the innovating Macchiaioli school, he was most attached to troubadours and academic, pompous artists, interested in reproducing an ideal past, peopled with poets and damsels, in a décor of cypress trees, frescoes and fountains. A real postcard!
• Firenze capitale 1865-2015, i doni e le collezioni del re at the Galleria d’arte moderna, from 19 November 2015 to 3 April 2016.