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  • el greco sm

    El Greco: new attribution at the Uffizi

    When the painting of  “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 disciples of El Greco. Indeed a few people had seen it before and the Spanish experts of the painter had not even examined […]

  • 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 […]

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    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” […]

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    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 […]

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    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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Young is Beautiful (and Efficient)

Gabriel Zuchtriegel is the new director of the Pompeii Archaeological Park. Not even 48 hours have passed since the appointment and the controversy is pressing. He is judged to be “too young” with “little experience”. On the contrary, during last years, we were able to appreciate his passion and professionalism, and his academic preparation. In […]

floris

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 […]

DISCOVERIES

floris

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 […]

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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 […]

EXHIBITIONS

AUCTIONS

CONSERVATION

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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, […]

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Blue Moon

It could be the soundtrack to this news, or, maybe, “Blue eyes, baby’s got blue eyes, like a deep blue see on a blue, blue day!” as Elton John sang in the early 1980s and again in the Premium subscription of many of us You probably thought you knew him well. He was the subject […]

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Tale of two copies and one thief (a Cardinal)

When in 1507 the Raphael’s Baglioni Altarpiece was placed on the altar of San Matteo in the Church of San Francesco al Prato, in Perugia, no one would ever have imagined that about 100 years later Cardinal Scipione Borghese would have craved its possession so much to commission its theft. Robbery that, following the riot […]