Blog
Armed robbery at TEFAF, our reconstruction and latest developments
At least four men entered undisturbed around 11:30h am on Tuesday 28th June, the third opening day, into the largest art and antiques fair in Europe, where billions of euros worth of items are on sale. The booth before and after the robbery The four, bare-faced, beret...
Silvia Fiaschi
Silvia, how did you become a restorer? What was your training path? Since primary school I have shown a certain predisposition to drawing and manual skills that my family has always supported by enrolling me in private painting courses. Attending the Martenot Art...
What is the future of restoration fairs?
We all know well how the last two years went and we are aware that returning to meeting in person, however hoped for, still brought some fears with it. But it was worthed it. In fact meetings and interactions among participants were the best part of the fair. The...
The daring story of a change of dress that had to remain secret
The exhibition that Piacenza dedicated to the father of the Viennese Secession with the title Klimt, the man, the artist, his world, will close on next 24 July. The reason for the choice of topic is easily said: one of the only three masterpieces by the Viennese...
4 fairs in 4 days
After a couple of years of hesitation and postponements, 4 of the most important art & antiques fairs decided to open in the same period. Art Basel was held from June 16th to 19th, then BRAFA in Brussels from June 19th to 26th, TEFAF is running in Maastricht (NL)...
Green gold
How "natural" is the countryside? How has it changed over the centuries and why? To answer these questions, paintings are also useful, as they are sort of snapshots of the past. At the beginning of the fifteenth century, Luca del Sera, a partner of Francesco di Marco...
The (superiority) complex of Pius V
We are almost there. 450 years after the death of Pope Pius V, i.e. from 7 July, the complex of Santa Croce in Bosco Marengo will be reborn, with its majestic Vasari paintings. The monumental complex of Bosco Marengo was in fact ranked second in the 2016 edition of...
Do not miss Florence Heritech
After an “online only” last edition and with the goal to create synergy between Cultural Heritage and New Technologies, the conference Florence Heritech will take place in Florence from 16 to 18 May 2022, in same place and at the same time as the Florence Biennial Art...
Russian fakes, anyone?
Crypto currency, NFT and a (fake?) Kandinsky for sale on a Russian website “to help the soldiers of Donbass” The Terricon Project, Art for Victory, selling art, is being advertised online apparently “to help those in need” because of the war, i.e.. Russians, trying to...
What happens to revolutionaries?
Le analisi scientifiche svelano come David compose il celebre dipinto “La morte di Marat” e come lo nascose durante il suo esilio a Bruxelles In questi tempi di guerra, il Museo Reale di Belle Arti di Bruxelles dedica una mostra alla tela di David che inscena...
A table becomes a Cross
Dialogues at the Salone Monday 16 May from 5.15 pm to 6.30 pm - Sala Brambilla Two years ago, just in these days, we were given the opportunity, timidly but finally, to resume our work. Florence was silent and lonely Now, after months of virtual meetings, the time has...
When diagnostics calls the certainties of art into question. Picasso’s works of the Blue Period
The results of scientific investigations on 3 important Picasso paintings are on display in Washington: a real wealth of information that confirms how analyzes can change the course of art historyUntil 12 June 2022, the Phillips Collection in Washington DC hosts the...
Kyoko Nakahara
Kyoko, how did you become a restorer? What was your educational path? I have always enjoyed the world of art, especially painting and music, since childhood; my parents took me to painting courses for children; at home I admired the collections of international art...
Rediscover beauty
On March 26, after a careful restoration, the Annunciation by Giovanni Balducci returned to its place in the Church of Santo Jacopo and Filippo in Scarperia. It is back to shine and enchant again, thanks to an accurate restoration that made use of the analyses...
Let’s meet in Florence!
The 8th Edition 2022 of the Florence Art and Restoration Fair (on site and online) and the 3rd Edition of the International Conference Florence Heri-Tech (on site) will be held simultaneously from 16 to 18 May 2022: a national and international event, dedicated to the...
Who owns public art?
The British Museum refuses to allow scans of the Parthenon marbles. Resulting replicas could be offered to them if they consented the marbles to be returned to Greece. Let’s imagine you want to study a work of art currently in the collection of a state or municipal...
Capital of Italian Culture for 2022: Procida
On April 9th, with the delays due to the pandemic, a historic year for this small island was inaugurated! Here comes the hope that thanks to culture, which will never isolate anyone, there will be a new Renaissance. Minister Franceschini in his greeting speech...
A new Michelangiolo?
A drawing at auction in Paris in May 2022 Great news are shaking the world of art collecting: next May, in Paris, Christie’s will put on sale, during the auction “Maîtres anciens et du XIXe siècle”, a rare early drawing by Michelangelo, which could reach the...
Interview to Lucia Dori
Lucia discovered restoration as a child, and was one of the first students of the courses held by the Opificio delle Pietre Dure in Florence. Lucia Dori is one of the best known restorers in Florence. Her workshop, which she shares with her brother Andrea, deals with...
Peace and war
There are many works of art that portray battles, deaths, shootings, drawn swords … War in short. Instead, there are far fewer who choose Peace as a subject, perhaps because war has always been much more frequented by men than Peace. One of these was painted by Peter...
The only “Taking of Odessa”
Ad Odessa, nel “Museo di Arte Occidentale e Orientale,” era, e speriamo lo sia ancora, conservata una delle numerose versioni de «La Cattura di Cristo», ovvero la rappresentazione della scena del Nuovo Testamento dell’arresto di Gesù. La scena si compie nell’ora più...
Slava (Digital) Ukraini!
We have repeated so many times that it is important to digitise our cultural heritage in order to study and to preserve it. Once digitised, you may think, it is saved forever. It has become as an immaterial asset, living its own immortal life “in the clouds”. However,...
A kick to the distortions of war
In the second post-war period, Nicolas Stael, born Russian in 1914 in St. Petersburg, the son of a tsarist general, was forced into exile by the Bolshevik Revolution. He will live first in Belgium and then in France, where he will be naturalized, thus becoming French....
War Archaeologist
In such a difficult moment, in which memory goes back to tragic images that are so close to what we have unfortunately already seen, we believe it is important to give voice to the professionals within our world who make a very important and positive contribution. A...
Join us during a diagnostic campaign!
An unknown man, upside down The principle that Art–Test uses in proposing a diagnostic campaign on a work for which there is no historical-artistic reference other than family memories or vague information, it is to begin to investigate with a minimum...
You should avoid making mistakes
Stefano Garosi, one of the best known Florentine restorers tell us about his long experience in the field Stefano, how did you become a restorer? What was your training path? It was a tortuous journey, a bit like being on a roller coaster. I come from a dynasty...
Alessandra D’Elia
Alessandra, how did you become a restorer? At the end of my high school studies, I accidentally attended a series of conferences on restoration at the University of Lecce and I was fascinated by the presentation of the book on the restoration of the Sistine...
One, two, three Mona Lisa!
The analyses reveal that they are three different versions but probably born at the same time Echoes of the exhibition at Villa Farnesina closed in January 2020 are still stirring debate today.The exhibition focused on the years Leonardo spent in Rome, between 1513...
New Rubens discovered in the museum deposits
At the State Gallery in Stuttgart, investigations ended in surprising results Several Rubens’ originals have been recently identified and revealed to the public in «Becoming Famous», the exhibition (just ended) that gathered more than 90 known and unknown artworks,...
The African Sienese
What is doing in Ethiopia a wooden triptych apparently from the Sienese school? “The image of Our Lord Jesus Christ”, considered being the oldest African icon and exhibited to believers only once a year, was first described by Diana Spencer, an English art historian,...
