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  • el greco sm

    El Greco: new attribution at the Uffizi

    When the painting “St. John the Evangelist and St. Francis of Assisi” entered the Uffizi collection as part of a donation,  it was assumed to be a copy executed by the workshop or by disciples of El Greco. Indeed only a few people had seen it before and scholars had not even examined it, so […]

  • Giambologna’s Rape of the Sabines

    Giambologna’s Rape of the Sabines

    The diagnostics performed on the ‘Ratto delle Sabine’ by Giambologna, at the Galleria dell’Accademia, in Florence, required many skills, since, among others, Xray, UltraSound and Geo-Radar methodologies were employed (with the help of S.T. Art-Test). The results led to unveil and understand some crucial information which was essential to plan and perform the restorative intervention which […]

  • DSC00637

    Caravaggio: a copy? Multilayer shows it’s original!

    The painting, which is owned by a private collector, was originally thought to be a copy of Caravaggio’s St. Jerome Writing (composed between 1607 and 1608), which is in the Oratory of St. John’s Co-Cathedral in Valletta, Malta. Prof. Keith Sciberras of the University of Malta says that the painting does not evince Caravaggio’s “vigor” […]

  • Velazquez_acquaiolo_Siviglia_cut

    Velazquez: data confirm authenticity of Waterseller

    In preparation of the exhibition “Novecento sedotto” at Museo Bardini in Florence, restoration of the Waterseller painting of Velazquez from the collection of the Uffizi museum has taken place. Another version of the Waterseller is at the Wellington Musem in London and in Baltimore, and the attribution of the Uffizi painting to Velazquez has always been a matter […]

  • DSC02277

    Leonardo: Salaì or da Vinci’s hand?

    A superb painting was presented to public as it became, through a highly generous donation of Bernardo Caprotti, part of the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana collection. Art-Test had the true privilege to investigate it with IR Scanner Reflectography, IR false color, UV fluorescence and Multilayer Method. It resulted as one of the most amazing paintings we ever came […]

  • Caravaggio: discovery of self-portrait in Bacco

    Caravaggio: discovery of self-portrait in Bacco

    A recent analysis by  Art-Test on the Caravaggio’s Bacchus has revealed the outline of a man’s face in the jug of wine in the foreground that is believed to be the self-portrait of the artist. The tiny image of the Renaissance master is hidden in a carafe of wine in his 1597 oil painting Bacchus, one […]

HIGHLIGHTS

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Caravaggio, a star at the Uffizi (also thanks to Art-Test)

We were extremely honored to hear Dr. Maria Matilde Simari talk about the discovery of Art-Test on Caravaggio’s Bacchus during the popular Facebook online events produced by the Uffizi Galleries. Bacco, Caravaggio Multispectral Reflectography by Art-Test, detail A small but extraordinary self-portrait that literally came to light thanks to the multispectral […]

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Did scientific evidence make all the difference?

Portrait of a Young Man Holding a Roundel, by Sandro Botticelli, was last offered at auction at Christie’s London in December 1982 with the title Portrait of Giovanni de Pierfrancesco de’ Medici and it was sold to the New York real estate magnate Sheldon Solow for a then-record £810,0000 ($1.1 million in today’s currency). Some eminent […]

OPINIONS

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You always have to be a step ahead of the tomb rider

Unfortunately, the world of archaeological heritage is increasingly subjugated by criminal practices. The mind immediately goes to the infamous “grave robbers” who have plundered and still plunder our soil and our seas in search of antiquities. But this practice has also been documented, for example, to the detriment of the Medici tombs. The portraits of […]

2 Cimabue e Giotto a confronto

Dante’s icons

Almost 720 years ago, March 10, 1302, “Alighieri Dante is convicted of bartering, fraud, falsehood, wilful misconduct, malice, unfair extortion practices, illicit proceeds, pederasty, and is sentenced to a fine of 5000 florins, perpetual disqualification from public office , perpetual exile (in absentia), and if he is taken, burned at the stake, so that he […]

DISCOVERIES

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Precious colours of the empire

The recent discovery of a very rare Chinese porcelain reminds us of another remarkable discovery for Eastern art and technique in which we were involved. A few days ago, thanks to a search started in 2014, a RU bowl belonging to the Song dynasty was identified within the collection of the Dresden museum. A similar […]

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I saw a Cat

Cats… they hide everywhere and pop up when you do not expect them! For example, in this painting by Frans Floris in which a cat is visible only thanks to Reflectography, as it is not present in the final version. And, did you know that a painting very similar to this one, now at the Palatine […]

EXHIBITIONS

AUCTIONS

CONSERVATION

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The secrets of the Virgin by Murillo

The Madonna and Child by Bartolomè Esteban Murillo, dated around 1675, counts Gustave Flaubert among its many admirers.  He, after having made a trip to Rome in 1851, spoke of it in these terms: “I am in love with the Virgin by Murillo of the Gallery Corsini. Her head haunts me and her eyes continue […]

mosaici-battistero-firenze

There’s no place like home

Let’s face it, about a year after the start of the pandemic, we can’t wait to go back to travel. We practice our languages watching series with the original sound tracks, cook recipes from faraway latitudes, write a nostalgic emails to our Erasmus friends, and sighly archive airline newsletters. But. But when something beautiful happens […]

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Art at Dante’s times

After 2020, the unfortunate year dedicated to Raphael on the 500th anniversary of his death,  we are ready to embrace 2021 which in Italy, and around the world, will be the year of Dante’s celebrations, seven hundred years after the death of the great poet. It will be a year full of exhibitions, theatrical productionsmeetings, […]