Collaterali Evidenze

September 23, 2011 6:30 pm

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October 22, 2011 6:30 pm

Collaterali Evidenze is a solo show by artist Annalisa Furnari opening on Friday September 23 at 6:30PM.

Galleria S.A.C.S. c/o Fondazione Brodbeck
Via Gramignani, 93 – 95121 Catania
Complimentary entrance with RSVP
From Tuesday to Saturday
Phone: (+39) 095-7233111
Website: www.fondazionebrodbeck.it

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Filippo Juvarra (1678 – 1736), architect

Filippo Juvarra was an Italian Baroque architect working in the early part of the eighteenth century. He was born in Messina, Sicily, to a family of goldsmiths and engravers. After spending his formative years with his family in Sicily where he designed Messina‘s festive settings for the coronation of Philip V of Spain and Sicily (1705), Juvarra moved to Rome in 1704. There he studied architecture with Carlo and Francesco Fontana.

The first phase of his independent career was occupied with designs for ceremonies and celebrations and especially with set designs for theatres. Juvarra’s set designs incorporate the scena per angolo, literally ‘scenes at an angle.’ The exact origin of this style is unclear. Ferdinando Galli Bibiena claims to have invented it in his treatise Architettura Civile (1711), however, it was clearly in use before then, including in the works of Juvarra. This style differed from the one point perspective sets that had been developed in the sixteenth century, and had reached their apogee in the seventeenth century, see for example the work of Giacomo Torelli. A couple of early drawings dated 1706 are associated with the Teatro S. Bartolomeo, Naples (1706), though whether he actually completed set designs for the theatre is unknown. The majority of his work in theatre and set design was in Rome under the patronage of Cardinal Ottoboni. He assisted in the rebuilding of the Cardinal’s private theatre in the Palazzo della Cancelleria and also designed sets for operas performed within the theatre. The first opera for which Juvarra designed all the sets was Costantino Pio. The libretto was by Cardinal Ottoboni and the music was by Carlo Francesco Pollarolli (c.1653 – 1723). It was premiered in 1709 and was one of the first operas to appear after the lifting of papal bans on secular theatre, it also inaugurated Ottoboni’s newly renovated private theatre. He also worked on set designs for performances sponsored by Ottoboni at the Teatro Capranica. His other main patron in Rome was Queen Maria Casimira, the widowed Queen of Poland, for whom Juvarra produced set designs for the operas held in her small domestic theatre in the Palazzo Zuccari. In 1713 a theatre project took him to Genoa.

In 1706 Juvarra won a contest for the new sacristy at the St. Peter’s, organized by Pope Clement XI, and became a member of the prestigious Accademia di San Luca. In 1708 he created his first important non-theatrical architectural work, and the only one realized in Rome: the Antamoro Chapel in the church of San Girolamo della Carità.

Juvarra was also an engraver: his book of engravings of sculpted coats-of-arms appeared in 1711, Raccolta di varie targhe fatte da professori primarii di Roma.

Juvarra’s period of most intensive activity as an architect began in 1714, when after a sojourn in Messina, he moved to Piedmont where Victor Amadeus II of Savoy first employed him in a scenographic project, then elevated Juvarra to the position of the first architect of the court. The fame obtained here led to demand for his talent and capacities at some of the richest noble and royal courts of Europe: in 1719 he was in Portugal, planning the palace at Mafra for King John V (1719–20), after which he travelled to London and Paris.

Among his numerous works and projects in Turin are:

• Basilica di Superga (1715-1718) built on the high hill over Turin;
• Facade of the church of Santa Cristina (1715-1718);
• Basilica della Natività
• Palazzo Madama in Turin
• Third enlargement of Turin to the west according to the orthogonal system introduced by Ascanio Vitozzi and Carlo di Castellamonte: the project included construction of Palazzo Martini di Cigala (1716), of the Quartieri Militari (1716-1728) and later of the church del Carmine (1732-1736), where the space is concentrated around the central hall with the scenographic effect of light falling from above.

Drawing upon Italian and French architectural traditions, Juvarra designed the facade and grand theatrical ceremonial entrance staircase of the Palazzo Madama in Turin (1718-1721). For the Savoy royal family, he built and decorated the hunting lodge called the Palazzina di Stupinigi (1729–1731). Juvarra and Johann Fischer von Erlach influenced one another through the medium of engravings.

In 1735 the architect was invited to Madrid by the Bourbon king of Spain, Philip V, for whom he executed the projects for the Royal Palace, Granja de San Ildefonso and Palacio Real de Aranjuez, executed after the death of Juvarra by Giovanni Battista Sacchetti and other pupils. Another Baroque architect strongly influenced by Juvarra was Bernardo Vittone who practised architecture in Piedmont.

Juvarra died in Madrid in 1736. His work, along with much of Baroque architecture, fell out of favour with the rise of Neoclassicism.

In 1994, a major exhibition of his designs was held in Genoa and Madrid.

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Giovanni Meli (1740 – 1815), poet

Giovanni Meli (4 March 1740 – 20 December 1815) was a Palermitan Sicilian poet and man of letters. After studying philosophy and medicine he worked as a doctor in Cinisi in the province of Palermo. It was during this early period of his life that he discovered the bucolic poets and the poetic worth of his native Sicilian which he used thereafter in all of his literary works.

His first published piece, La Bucolica (1766-1772), was inspired by Arcadia by Jacopo Sannazaro. It was written while he was still working as a doctor in Cinisi.

He returned to Palermo soon after, already widely known as a scientist and poet. He dedicated the rest of his life to both collecting works of Sicilian poetry, but most importantly, writing and publishing his own works. His Poesi siciliani in five volumes was published in 1787, and an edition in six volumes was published in 1814.

Besides La bucolica, these collections also contain examples of his satirical verse, such as: La fata galanti (The courteous fairy, 1762); Don Chisciotti e Sanciu Panza (a parody inspired by Cervantes’ more celebrated work, 1785-1787); Favuli murali (moral fables, 1810-1814; Origini dû munnu (the origin of the world, 1768); Elegii (elegies) e Canzunetti (little songs).

Note: This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article “Metasyntactic variable” and Creative Commons by Commons Deed. This information was accurate when it was posted, but can change without notice.

Giacomo Serpotta (1656 – 1732), sculptor

Giacomo Serpotta (10 March 1652 – 27 February 1732) was an Italian sculptor, active in a Rococo style and mainly working in stucco.

Serpotta was born and died in Palermo; and may have never left Sicily. His skill and facility with stucco sculpture appears to arise without mentorship or direct exposures to the mainstream of Italian Baroque. Rudolf Wittkower describes him as an aberrancy in an otherwise provincial scene, a “meteor in the Sicilian sky”.

In 1677, along with Procopio de Ferrari, he decorated the small church of the Madonna dell’Itria in Monreale. His first independent work appears to be in 1682 in connection with an equestrian statue cast of Charles II of Spain and Sicily, which was cast in bronze by Gaspare Romano. The Serpotta family, including his brother (1653-1719) and his son Procopio (1679-1755), was immensely prolific, decorating the Oratory of San Lorenzo (1690/98–1706) with such a profusion of statuary, teeming with putti, that the walls appear to quiver with the movement of a crowd. He completed work also for the Oratory of Santa Cita (1668–1718), the Oratory of Rosario di San Domenico (1710–17), the chapel for the Ospedale di Palermo, the Archbishop’s Palace in Santa Chiara, the Badia Nuova and the Church of SS. Cosma e Damiano in Alcamo. His work at the oratory of the Compagna della Carità di S Bartolomeo degli Incurabili in Palermo has been lost.

In style, he has a florid elegance that often recalls Antonio Raggi, a slightly older artist who was adept at stucco decoration and active in Rome.

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Pietro Novelli (1603 – 1647), painter

Pietro Novelli (March 2, 1603 – August 27, 1647) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active mainly in Palermo. Also known as il Monrealese or Pietro “Malta” Novelli to distinguish him from his father, Pietro Antonio Novelli.

He was born in Monreale, and died in Palermo. He initially trained with his father, a painter and mosaicist, then in 1618, he moved to Palermo and apprenticed with Vito Carrera (1555–1623). His first dated work is from 1626: St. Anthony Abbot for the church of Sant’ Antonio Abate. The development of his style owed much to Anthony van Dyck, who visited Sicily in 1624 and whose altarpiece, the Madonna of the Rosary in the oratory of Santa Maria del Rosario in Palermo was highly influential for local artists. He was also commissioned works and paintings for many churches in Piana degli Albanesi, and various works to adorn the villas of the Sicilian nobility. Other influences on Novelli were the Caravaggisti or tenebrists active in Naples (for example, Ribera). Novelli also painted for the church of Santa Zita in Monreale, and painted a Marriage of Cana for the refectory of the Benedictines in Monreale.

His pupils included Francesco Maggiotto. He was also an architect and stage set designer.

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Sigismondo D’India (1582 – 1629), composer

Sigismondo d’India (c. 1582 – before 19 April 1629) was an Italian composer of the late Renaissance and early Baroque eras. He was one of the most accomplished contemporaries of Monteverdi, and wrote music in many of the same forms as the more famous composer.

D’India was probably born in Palermo, Sicily in 1582, though details of his life are lacking until around 1600. During the first decade of the 17th century he probably traveled widely in Italy, meeting composers, acquiring patrons at various aristocratic courts, and absorbing the musical styles at each locale. This was a time of transition in music history, as the polyphonic style of the late Renaissance was giving way to the widely diverse practices of the early Baroque, and d’India seems to have acquired an unusually broad grasp of the total stylistic practice in Italy: the expressive madrigal style of Marenzio, the grand polychoral work of the Venetian School, the conservative polyphonic tradition of the Roman School, the attempts to recover the music of the ancient world in monody and its larger vehicle, the newly developing opera, as well as the mannered, emotionally intense chromatic style of Carlo Gesualdo in Naples. D’India is known to have been in Florence, the birthplace of opera, as well as Mantua, where Monteverdi was working. In Naples he probably met Gesualdo, and by 1610 he was in Parma and Piacenza. The next year, 1611, he was hired by the Duke of Savoy to direct music in Turin, where he remained until 1623; these were the most productive years of his life, during which he amalgamated the disparate types of music he had heard and absorbed during the years 1600-1610 into a unified style.

After leaving Turin – apparently forced out by political intrigues – he went to Modena, and later to Rome; he seems to have died in Modena, although details on the end of his life are as sparse as they were for its beginning. A record exists of his being granted an appointment in Bavaria at the court of Maximilian I, although there is no evidence he went there; he may have died first.

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Antonello Gagini (1478 – 1536), sculptor

Antonello Gagini (1478–1536) was an Italian sculptor of the Renaissance, mainly active in Sicily and Calabria.

Antonello was a member of a family of sculptors and artisans, originally from Northern Italy, but active throughout Italy, including Genoa, Florence, and Rome. The family includes his father, Domenico (1449-1492), also a sculptor. Antonello had five sons who were sculptors: Antonio (or Antonino; 1510s-1574)^[1], Fazio (1520s-1567), Giacomo (1517-1598), Giandomenico (1503-1560s), and Vicenzo (1527-1595).

Antonello was born in 1478 in Palermo, where the Gagini family had settled in 1463. Antonello is said to have aided Michelangeloin the sculptural work on the massive tomb of Pope Julius II in San Pietro in Vincoli, a project now known for the statue of Moses.

One of Antonio Gagini’s most notable works is the decorated arch in the Capella della Madonna in the Santuario dell’Annunziata in Trapani which he completed in 1537. Antonello also completed decorative ecclesiastical sculpture in the area of Messina. A large collection of his works including an Annunciation, Madonna with Child, Madonna of the Snow and the Appearance of the Cross to Constantine are now in the Palazzo Abatellis in Palermo. He worked also at the Cathedral of Palermo. Other works were destroyed during earthquakes. He helped train Giacomo del Duca.

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Antonello da Messina (1430 – 1479), painter

Antonello da Messina, properly Antonello di Giovanni di Antonio (c. 1430 – February 1479) was an Italian painter from Messina, Sicily, active during the Italian Renaissance. His work shows strong influences from Early Netherlandish painting and, unusually for a painter from Southern Italy, he was influential on the art of Northern Italy, especially Venice.

Antonello was born at Messina around 1429-1431, to Giovanni de Antonio Mazonus and Garita (Margherita). He was probably apprenticed both in his native city and in Palermo.

Around the year 1450, according to a 1524 letter of the Neapolitan humanist Pietro Summonte,^[1] he was a pupil of the painter Niccolò Colantonio at Naples, at the time one of the most active centres of Renaissance arts.

Around 1455 he painted the so-called Sibiu Crucifixion, which was inspired by the Flemish Calvaries and is housed in the Muzeul de Artǎ in Bucharest. Of the same years is the Crucifixion in the Royal Museum of Antwerp: his early works shows a marked Flemish influence, which it is now understood he derived from his master Colantonio and from works by Rogier van der Weyden and Jan van Eyck that belonged to Colantonio’s patron, Alfonso V of Aragon; his biographer Vasari remarked that Antonello saw at Naples an oil painting by Jan Van Eyck (the “Lomellini Tryptych”) belonging to King Alfonso V of Aragon; Vasari’s further narrative, that being struck by the new method, set out for the Netherlands to acquire a knowledge of the process from Van Eyck’s disciples is discredited today. Another theory, supported only by vague documentary evidence, suggests that in 1456 Antonello visited Milan, where he might have met Van Eyck’s most accomplished follower, Petrus Christus. Since Antonello was one of the first Italians to master Eyckian oil painting, and Christus was the first Netherlandish painter to learn Italian linear perspective, their meeting is a tempting answer to both questions. But in fact, neither artist is known for certain to have been in Milan at the time.

He died in Messina in 1479: his testament dates from February of that year, and he is documented as no longer alive two months later. Some of his last works remained unfinished, but were completed by his son Jacobello.

Note: This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article “Metasyntactic variable” and Creative Commons by Commons Deed. This information was accurate when it was posted, but can change without notice.

Pantelleria through the Photos of Renato Bazzoni (Exhibition) through September 30, 2011

July 23, 2011 4:00 pm

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September 30, 2011 4:00 pm

Environment, architecture and photography are the themes of this exhibition organized by the Italian environmental organization FAI (Fondo Ambiente Italiano) and winery Donnafugata.

The exhibition is called Emozioni di un paesaggio translated with Emotions of a landscape and displays 40 pictures by Renato Bazzoni, who was an architect and one of the funding members of FAI and died in 1996.

The photos, kindly lent by his wife Carla Bazzoni, were taken in the ’60s and ’70s and depict a rural architecture and integer landscape. Cotton, barley, olive trees capers and grapes were the major cultivations then. An attentive observer will notice the deep contrast with the actual status of the island, where agriculture is almost abandoned and the environmental degrade is rampant.

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Taormina Film Festival 2011

The 57th Taormina Film Fest, Italy’s principal summer film event, took place from June 11 to 18, 2011 in a moment of great tension for the Mediterranean. Since it assumed a Mediterranean identity in 2007, the festival has become a focal point for film culture in the region. This year, it turned the spotlight on three North African countries – Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco – in the midst of enormous social change, whose filmmakers have been quick to respond on the cultural front.

‘Plank’ nabbed the Golden Tauro for best film plus best director for helmer Leila Kilani and a joint prize for the four lead actresses: Soufia Issami, Mouna Bahmad, Nouzha Akel and Sara Betioui, Variety reported on Monday.

The special jury prize went to the animated French pic “The Rabbi’s Cat,” directed by Joann Sfar, from the jury consisting of director Patrice Leconte, Egyptian actress Yousra and Italian actress Maya Sansa.

In the Beyond the Mediterranean section, judged by a public jury, the award went to the Dutch film “Black Butterfly” directed by Paula van der Oest.

Source: Taormina Film Festival

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