Duccio, Nativity panel, National Gallery of Art, Washington 1308-11
Friday, December 24, 2010
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Restored Renaissance Masterpiece on View in New Installation at Metropolitan Museum
Filippino Lippi (Italian, Prato 1457?–1504 Florence), Madonna and Child, Ca. 1485. Tempera, oil, and gold on wood, 32 x 23 1/2 in. (81.3 x 59.7 cm) The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Jules Bache Collection, 1949 49.7.10.
NEW YORK, NY.- Filippino Lippi (1457-1504) is one of the great artists of 15th-century Florence. Among his principal patrons was the wealthy banker Filippo Strozzi (1428–1491), who in 1487 contracted the artist to decorate his funerary chapel in Santa Maria Novella with an outstanding cycle of frescoes. Around the same time, Strozzi also commissioned a Madonna and Child for his villa at Santuccio, west of the city. This work was acquired from the Duveen firm in 1928 by Jules Bache and was bequeathed to the Metropolitan Museum in 1949.
In preparation for an exhibition on the artist that will be held in Rome next year, the picture was taken to conservation for examination this fall. A test cleaning revealed that beneath a thick, discolored varnish there was a beautifully preserved, richly colored painting. It emerged that the varnish had been artificially toned to create an almost monochromatic appearance—an amber-colored uniformity that conformed to the idea of how an Old Master should appear. So striking is the transformation that the picture seems a new acquisition.
To celebrate this restoration, The Metropolitan Museum of Art is mounting A Renaissance Masterpiece Revealed: Filippino Lippi’s Madonna and Child, a focused exhibition, beginning January 15, 2011, that will include the picture and a number of objects in the Museum’s permanent collection that can be associated with the Strozzi by their coat of arms, which has three crescent moons.
The objects include a textile, a wooden chair, a cassone, and a column capital from the Palazzo Strozzi—the grandest of all 15th-century palaces in Florence. Filippo Strozzi belonged to one of the great patrician families of the city and played an important role there as an art patron. Although his father was exiled by the Medici in 1434, in 1466 Filippo was able to return to the city of his forebears, having made his fortune in the Strozzi bank in Naples. He set about rehabilitating the family’s prestige, in part by commissioning outstanding works of art such as Madonna and Child by Filippino Lippi. - Reprinted from artdaily.org
In preparation for an exhibition on the artist that will be held in Rome next year, the picture was taken to conservation for examination this fall. A test cleaning revealed that beneath a thick, discolored varnish there was a beautifully preserved, richly colored painting. It emerged that the varnish had been artificially toned to create an almost monochromatic appearance—an amber-colored uniformity that conformed to the idea of how an Old Master should appear. So striking is the transformation that the picture seems a new acquisition.
To celebrate this restoration, The Metropolitan Museum of Art is mounting A Renaissance Masterpiece Revealed: Filippino Lippi’s Madonna and Child, a focused exhibition, beginning January 15, 2011, that will include the picture and a number of objects in the Museum’s permanent collection that can be associated with the Strozzi by their coat of arms, which has three crescent moons.
The objects include a textile, a wooden chair, a cassone, and a column capital from the Palazzo Strozzi—the grandest of all 15th-century palaces in Florence. Filippo Strozzi belonged to one of the great patrician families of the city and played an important role there as an art patron. Although his father was exiled by the Medici in 1434, in 1466 Filippo was able to return to the city of his forebears, having made his fortune in the Strozzi bank in Naples. He set about rehabilitating the family’s prestige, in part by commissioning outstanding works of art such as Madonna and Child by Filippino Lippi. - Reprinted from artdaily.org
Monday, December 13, 2010
Unseen Egon Schiele Work to be Unveiled at the New Richard Nagy Gallery in UK
LONDON.- More than forty-five extraordinary works by Austrian artist Egon Schiele, previously unseen in the UK, will be unveiled at Richard Nagy’s new gallery on Old Bond Street from 07 February – 04 March 2011. Much of the four thousand works Schiele produced during his short lifetime can only be seen in Vienna; at the Belvedere, the Albertina and the Leopold Museum, or New York, primarily at the Neue Galerie.
While Schiele is recognised as one of the greatest draftsmen of the 20th Century, with watercolours making over $11 million at auction, his work is absent from museum collections in the United Kingdom and has been given little public attention in the past twenty years. In 1989, the Royal Academy of Arts staged the first and last museum exhibition in the country, Egon Schiele and his Time. Since then Schiele’s work has only made fleeting appearances in group shows, to which Nagy has loaned pieces. Focusing exclusively on women, this exhibition provides a rare opportunity to discover museum-quality drawings and watercolours from the artist’s most creative ‘Mature Period’ (1910-1918).
Egon Schiele was born in 1890 in the Austrian town Tulln, just outside of Vienna. After his father’s death in 1905, Schiele began studying painting and drawing at the Kunstgewerbeschule (School of Arts & Crafts), where Austrian painter Gustav Klimt was once a student, as well as the Akademie der Bildenden Künste (Academy of Fine Arts), both in Vienna. However finding these institutions too conservative, he left in 1907 to seek out Klimt, the leading contemporary artist of the day, becoming the painter’s protégé and friend. In some instances Schiele’s unsettling erotic work gained him unwelcome attention.
He was arrested in 1912 and charged with carnal knowledge and distributing immoral material, for which he was cleared, though he served 24 days in prison. That same year Schiele began a very public affair with Klimt’s model Wally Neuzil, who he later dropped to marry the bourgeois Edith Harms in 1915. Schiele produced little in the two years directly following his marriage as he was called to serve in the army. In 1917 following his participation in the war, Schiele began to exhibit successfully across Europe with shows in Vienna, Zurich, Prague, and Dresden. When Klimt died in 1918, Schiele became Austria’s leading artist, though he died of Spanish influenza at the age of 28, only months after Klimt and three days after his young pregnant wife.
Throughout Schiele’s life, women fascinated him. As the only son in a household of women, his earliest drawings are of his mother and sisters. His closeness to his younger sister Gertrude has raised many metaphorical eyebrows – exemplified by naked drawings of her and in some instances rather provocatively so. It is evident in his early nudes of street girls, that he had a young man’s curiosity for the erotic. Schiele has an unerring genius for scrutinising the human qualities in the women he draws. This interest in women matured with his years and circumstances, and was with him until his death.
Nagy’s exhibition shows the diversity in Schiele’s depiction of women, from the tension and anxiety demonstrated in his 1910-1911 works, to his calmer, softer style of 1917-1918 when he was becoming comfortable and successful as an artist. Schiele, for so long a hidden genius known only to a few, is now one of the acknowledged luminaries of 20th Century art history. Masterpieces on display include Dark Haired Girl (1910), Woman with Infant (1910), Nude in Orange Stockings (1914), and Girl in Underclothes (1917), amongst others. - Reprinted from artdaily.org
While Schiele is recognised as one of the greatest draftsmen of the 20th Century, with watercolours making over $11 million at auction, his work is absent from museum collections in the United Kingdom and has been given little public attention in the past twenty years. In 1989, the Royal Academy of Arts staged the first and last museum exhibition in the country, Egon Schiele and his Time. Since then Schiele’s work has only made fleeting appearances in group shows, to which Nagy has loaned pieces. Focusing exclusively on women, this exhibition provides a rare opportunity to discover museum-quality drawings and watercolours from the artist’s most creative ‘Mature Period’ (1910-1918).
Egon Schiele was born in 1890 in the Austrian town Tulln, just outside of Vienna. After his father’s death in 1905, Schiele began studying painting and drawing at the Kunstgewerbeschule (School of Arts & Crafts), where Austrian painter Gustav Klimt was once a student, as well as the Akademie der Bildenden Künste (Academy of Fine Arts), both in Vienna. However finding these institutions too conservative, he left in 1907 to seek out Klimt, the leading contemporary artist of the day, becoming the painter’s protégé and friend. In some instances Schiele’s unsettling erotic work gained him unwelcome attention.
He was arrested in 1912 and charged with carnal knowledge and distributing immoral material, for which he was cleared, though he served 24 days in prison. That same year Schiele began a very public affair with Klimt’s model Wally Neuzil, who he later dropped to marry the bourgeois Edith Harms in 1915. Schiele produced little in the two years directly following his marriage as he was called to serve in the army. In 1917 following his participation in the war, Schiele began to exhibit successfully across Europe with shows in Vienna, Zurich, Prague, and Dresden. When Klimt died in 1918, Schiele became Austria’s leading artist, though he died of Spanish influenza at the age of 28, only months after Klimt and three days after his young pregnant wife.
Throughout Schiele’s life, women fascinated him. As the only son in a household of women, his earliest drawings are of his mother and sisters. His closeness to his younger sister Gertrude has raised many metaphorical eyebrows – exemplified by naked drawings of her and in some instances rather provocatively so. It is evident in his early nudes of street girls, that he had a young man’s curiosity for the erotic. Schiele has an unerring genius for scrutinising the human qualities in the women he draws. This interest in women matured with his years and circumstances, and was with him until his death.
Nagy’s exhibition shows the diversity in Schiele’s depiction of women, from the tension and anxiety demonstrated in his 1910-1911 works, to his calmer, softer style of 1917-1918 when he was becoming comfortable and successful as an artist. Schiele, for so long a hidden genius known only to a few, is now one of the acknowledged luminaries of 20th Century art history. Masterpieces on display include Dark Haired Girl (1910), Woman with Infant (1910), Nude in Orange Stockings (1914), and Girl in Underclothes (1917), amongst others. - Reprinted from artdaily.org
Friday, December 10, 2010
A Rear-End View!
MEXICO CITY.- View of a Volkswagen Beetle vehicle that two families of Mexican natives from Huichol ethnic group transformed into a work of art, Mexico City, Mexico, on 09 December 2010 . Named Vochol, a combination of the popular Vocho used in Mexico to name the Beetle model and the word Huichol. The car was unveiled at the Museum of Popular Art in Mexico City, initiator of the project. EPA/Sashenka Gutierrez.
The Side View!
MEXICO CITY.- A Huichol Indigenous man poses inside a Volkswagen Beetle vehicle, that two families of Mexican natives from this ethnic group transformed into a work of art, Mexico City, Mexico, on 09 December 2010 . Named Vochol, a combination of the popular Vocho used in Mexico to name the Beetle model and the word Huichol. The car was unveiled at the Museum of Popular Art in Mexico City, initiator of the project. EPA/Sashenka Gutierrez.
A Unique Creation! This spans several posts
MEXICO CITY.- Vochol® represents a first in the history of popular arts in Mexico and the world, in which two Huichol families from the States of Nayarit and Jalisco, took the car´s structure as a canvas to paint an original design. The Society of Friends of the Museo de Arte Popular along with the Governments of the States of Nayarit and Jalisco as well as prívate and public institutions have worked on this project for more than a year. Photo: Alejandro Piedra Buena.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Expert Says Michelangelo Drew Inspiration from Brothels to Paint Frescoes in Sistine Chapel
ROME.- The Renaissance genius artist Michelangelo Buonarroti drew inspiration from various Italian brothels to paint some of the figures that form part of the frescoed panels of the Sistine Chapel, assured specialist Elena Lazzarini in an article published today in “Corriere della Sera”.
One of the frescoed panels of the Sistine Chapel was inspired by brothels according to the expert. Italian renaissance artists frequently went to what’s called “stufa”, public bathrooms similar to a brothel where prostitution was practiced often, to study models that would later be represented in their work.
One fountain of inspiration present in the production of many artists of this era, from Leonardo to Bronzino, down to Michelangelo. According to Lazzarini, Many of the blessed and condemned that make up part of the frescoed panels of the Sistine Chapel are shown in obscene situations.
A condemned is dragged to hell by the testicles
“A condemned, for example, is dragged to hell by the testicles and between the blessed they would produce ambiguous hugs and kisses, clearly of homosexual nature”, explains the specialist.
Lazzarini adds “The male bodies, very virile, that make up the painting of the Final Judgment corresponds to the physical appearance of farmers and carriers shown during labor, with tense muscles, tiredness and effort reflected on their faces.”
The impotent scene of the Final Judgment, measuring 3.7 by 12.2 meters, was painted by Michelangelo between 1536 and 1541 to decorate the wall that was located near the Chapel altar.
According to the Italian specialist, it was in the public bathrooms in the Italian capital where Michelangelo was inspired to decorate the Vatican jewels.
Promiscuous Places
There were many places during the XVI century in Italy and particularly in Rome, Lazzarini explains, and in them, besides doing beauty treatments and hydrotherapy, “there were stations with more separation, places of promiscuity and male and female prostitution.” References found in other work of renaissance artist like Leonardo or Bronzino, according to the specialist. “It was a very common opinion at that era to consider that physiognomy corresponded to an emotional and physical ideal. And these models weren’t just Michelangelo´s, we found they started from Leonardo in various works and they are also present in the work of Bronzino”, added Lazzarini. - Reprinted from ArtDaily.org
One of the frescoed panels of the Sistine Chapel was inspired by brothels according to the expert. Italian renaissance artists frequently went to what’s called “stufa”, public bathrooms similar to a brothel where prostitution was practiced often, to study models that would later be represented in their work.
One fountain of inspiration present in the production of many artists of this era, from Leonardo to Bronzino, down to Michelangelo. According to Lazzarini, Many of the blessed and condemned that make up part of the frescoed panels of the Sistine Chapel are shown in obscene situations.
A condemned is dragged to hell by the testicles
“A condemned, for example, is dragged to hell by the testicles and between the blessed they would produce ambiguous hugs and kisses, clearly of homosexual nature”, explains the specialist.
Lazzarini adds “The male bodies, very virile, that make up the painting of the Final Judgment corresponds to the physical appearance of farmers and carriers shown during labor, with tense muscles, tiredness and effort reflected on their faces.”
The impotent scene of the Final Judgment, measuring 3.7 by 12.2 meters, was painted by Michelangelo between 1536 and 1541 to decorate the wall that was located near the Chapel altar.
According to the Italian specialist, it was in the public bathrooms in the Italian capital where Michelangelo was inspired to decorate the Vatican jewels.
Promiscuous Places
There were many places during the XVI century in Italy and particularly in Rome, Lazzarini explains, and in them, besides doing beauty treatments and hydrotherapy, “there were stations with more separation, places of promiscuity and male and female prostitution.” References found in other work of renaissance artist like Leonardo or Bronzino, according to the specialist. “It was a very common opinion at that era to consider that physiognomy corresponded to an emotional and physical ideal. And these models weren’t just Michelangelo´s, we found they started from Leonardo in various works and they are also present in the work of Bronzino”, added Lazzarini. - Reprinted from ArtDaily.org
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Staggering Picasso trove turns up in France
This photo provided Monday Nov.29, 2010 by the Succession Picasso shows an artwork 'Papier colle pipe et bouteille' (Copy paste pipe and bottle) by Picasso. A retired French electrician and his wife have come forward with 271 undocumented, never-before-seen works by Pablo Picasso estimated to be worth at least euro 60 million ($79.35 million), an administrator of the artist's estate said Monday.(AP Photo/Succession Picasso) NO SALES - EDITORIAL USE ONLY - MANDATORY CREDIT: SUCCESSION PICASSO
By JAMEY KEATEN, Associated Press – Mon Nov 29, 6:20 pm ET = PARIS – Pablo Picasso almost never stopped creating, leaving thousands of drawings, paintings and sculptures that lure crowds to museums and mansions worldwide. Now, a retired electrician says that 271 of the master's creations have been sitting for decades in his garage. Picasso's heirs are claiming theft, the art world is savoring what appears to be an authentic find, and the workman, who installed burglar alarms for Picasso, is defending what he calls a gift from the most renowned artist of the 20th century. Picasso's son and other heirs say they were approached by electrician Pierre Le Guennec in September to authenticate the undocumented art from Picasso's signature Cubist period. Instead, they filed a suit for illegal possession of the works — all but alleging theft by a man not known to be among the artist's friends. Police raided the electrician's French Riviera home last month, questioned him and his wife and confiscated the disputed artworks. Le Guennec and his wife say Picasso's second wife gave them a trunk full of art that they kept virtually untouched until they decided to put their affairs in order for their children. The Picasso estate describes that account as ridiculous. "When Picasso made just a little drawing on a metro ticket, he would keep it," said Jean-Jacques Neuer, a lawyer for Picasso's estate. "To think he could have given 271 works of art to somebody who isn't even known among his friends is of course absurd." The pieces, which include lithographs, portraits, a watercolor and sketches, were created between 1900 and 1932, an intensely creative period for Picasso after he moved from Barcelona to Paris. Among them are a richly colored hand study; a sketch of his first wife, Russian ballerina Olga Khokhlova, resting an elbow in a seated pose; and a collage of a pipe and bottle. The collage and eight others in the stash are worth 40 million euros on their own, Picasso's estate says. All of the art is now held by the French agency charged with battling illegal traffic in cultural items. Le Guennec, 71, claims to have worked at three of Picasso's properties in southern France: a Cannes villa, a chateau in Vauvenarges, and a farmhouse in Mougins, the town where Picasso died in 1973. The French daily Liberation, which broke the story Monday, said Le Guennec had installed a security alarm system for Picasso at the farmhouse.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Pencil sculptures: miniature masterpieces carved into graphite by Dalton Ghetti
Please check out the following link to see these amazing sculptures. The skill, precision, creativity and dedication to produce this work is absolutely amazing!
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Archaeologists Find Tunnel Below the Temple of the Feathered Serpent in Teotihuacan
Contextual image of the tunnel found in front of the Temple of the Feathered Serpent. Photo: CNMH INAH
Reprinted from ArtDaily - August 4, 2010
MEXICO CITY.- After eight months of excavation, archaeologists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) have located, 12 meters below , the entrance to the tunnel leading to a series of galleries beneath the Temple of the Feathered Serpent, in the Archaeologcial Area of Teotihuacan, where the remains of rulers of the ancient city could have been deposited.
In a tour made by to site today with the media, archaeologist Sergio Chavez Gomez, director of the Tlalocan Project went below the ground and announced the advances in the systematic exploration undertaken by the INAH of the underground conduit, which was closed for about 1,800 years by the inhabitants of Teotihuacan themselves and where no one has gone in since then.
INAH specialists hope to enter the tunnel in a couple of months and will be the first to enter after hundreds of years since it was closed. This excavation, which represents the most profound that has been done in the pre-Hispanic site, is part of the commemorations for the first 100 years of uninterrupted archaeological explorations (made in 1910) also called the City of Gods.
Gómez Chávez explained that the tunnel passes under the Temple of the Feathered Serpent, the most important building of the Citadel, "and the entry was located a few meters from the pyramid.
Access is by a vertical shaft of about five meters per side down to a depth of 14 meters from the surface, the entrance leads into a long corridor with an estimated length of 100 meters which ends in a series of underground chambers excavated in the rock.
The tunnel was discovered in late 2003 by Sergio Gomez and Julie Gazzola, but its exploration has required several years of planning and managing the financial resources necessary to carry out research at the highest scientific level. The team is composed of more than 30 people and has advisors renowned nationally and internationally.
Before starting the excavations, the archaeologists from INAH had the collaboration of Dr. Victor Manuel Velasco, from the Institute of Geophysics of the UNAM, through a the use of a GPR it was determined that the tunnel has a length of about 100 meters, and has large chambers inside.
Another of the technologies used in the exploration has been the laser scanner, a sophisticated device with high resolution, facilitated by the National Coordination of Historical Monuments (CNMH). INAH made the three-dimensional record of the archaeological finds.
Just a couple of weeks ago, archaeologists corroborated that the tunnel entrance was located in the place they had anticipated, then opened a small hollow hole at the top of the access, and using the scanner took the first images from inside the tunnel to a length of 37 meters, of the 100 it is estimated to have in length.
"Although we need to excavate two more meters to reach the floor of the tunnel, having the first images of the inside will allow us to better plan how to enter. Even so, we will have to withdraw a large amount of soil and a heavy block of stone that blocks the access.
"The whole process could take two more months of work, as we continue with the same systematic exploration that we have done from the start to avoid losing important information that lets us know what activities the citizens of Teotihuacan performed thousands of years ago and why they decided to close it, "said archaeologist Sergio Gomez.
So far, 200 tons of earth have been withdrawn, he said, while doing this we have found about 60,000 pieces of artifacts and pottery.
Angel Mora, who belongs to the Technology Support Unit of the CNMH, and engineer Juan Carlos Garcia, who operates the scanner, said that by introducing the laser, which has a range of 300 meters, through the small hollow opening the archaeologists made, there was only a length of 37 meters. Mora noted that this reading is because the laser beam "runs into something, maybe with some collapsed stones or because the tunnel has a gap."
Sergio Gomez reported that it has not yet been precisely determined the time of construction of the tunnel, however it he has a better idea of when it was closed by the people from Teotihuacan. "Several indications suggest that access to the underground passage was closed between 200 and 250 AD, probably after depositing something inside. One of the hypotheses postulate that, within the large chamber detected by the GPR, we could locate the remains of important people in the city. "
The investigations have led to know with certainty that this tunnel was made prior to the construction of the Temple of the Feathered Serpent and the Citadel. The tunnel is contemporary with a large architectural structure, which could be a ball game court, according to theform of the ground, said the archaeologist.
Unfortunately, the INAH researcher said, when the tunnel was closed, large stones were thrown which blocked access, "and the court was also destroyed and razed by the people of Teotihuacan, only small remnants remain.
"Locating the entrance to the tunnel fulfills one of the most important objectives of the Project Tlalocan, to precisely confirm that the main entrance was located in the exact spot where the excavation is planned. We must continue the excavation of the vertical shaft until it reaches the floor level to thereby start scanning the tunnel towards the East. "
According to the hypothesis about the meaning and symbolism of the tunnel, archaeologist Sergio Gomez, said the tunnel had to be linked to concepts related to the underworld, hence it is possible that in this place were carried out initiation rituals and the divine investiture of Teotihuacan rulers, since the power was acquired in these sacred spaces.
Also, it is known that rulers were buried in the holiest places. "For a long time local and foreign archaeologists have attempted to locate the graves of the rulers of the ancient city, but the search has been fruitless.
"That's why every day our expectations are increasing, as there are many chances that they are sitting inside a large tomb or offering. However, it is not something we are obsessed wih, the discovery and systematic exploration of the tunnel is something of great significance for archaeological research and a unique opportunity to approach the cosmogonic and religious thought of ancient Teotihuacan. "
In a tour made by to site today with the media, archaeologist Sergio Chavez Gomez, director of the Tlalocan Project went below the ground and announced the advances in the systematic exploration undertaken by the INAH of the underground conduit, which was closed for about 1,800 years by the inhabitants of Teotihuacan themselves and where no one has gone in since then.
INAH specialists hope to enter the tunnel in a couple of months and will be the first to enter after hundreds of years since it was closed. This excavation, which represents the most profound that has been done in the pre-Hispanic site, is part of the commemorations for the first 100 years of uninterrupted archaeological explorations (made in 1910) also called the City of Gods.
Gómez Chávez explained that the tunnel passes under the Temple of the Feathered Serpent, the most important building of the Citadel, "and the entry was located a few meters from the pyramid.
Access is by a vertical shaft of about five meters per side down to a depth of 14 meters from the surface, the entrance leads into a long corridor with an estimated length of 100 meters which ends in a series of underground chambers excavated in the rock.
The tunnel was discovered in late 2003 by Sergio Gomez and Julie Gazzola, but its exploration has required several years of planning and managing the financial resources necessary to carry out research at the highest scientific level. The team is composed of more than 30 people and has advisors renowned nationally and internationally.
Before starting the excavations, the archaeologists from INAH had the collaboration of Dr. Victor Manuel Velasco, from the Institute of Geophysics of the UNAM, through a the use of a GPR it was determined that the tunnel has a length of about 100 meters, and has large chambers inside.
Another of the technologies used in the exploration has been the laser scanner, a sophisticated device with high resolution, facilitated by the National Coordination of Historical Monuments (CNMH). INAH made the three-dimensional record of the archaeological finds.
Just a couple of weeks ago, archaeologists corroborated that the tunnel entrance was located in the place they had anticipated, then opened a small hollow hole at the top of the access, and using the scanner took the first images from inside the tunnel to a length of 37 meters, of the 100 it is estimated to have in length.
"Although we need to excavate two more meters to reach the floor of the tunnel, having the first images of the inside will allow us to better plan how to enter. Even so, we will have to withdraw a large amount of soil and a heavy block of stone that blocks the access.
"The whole process could take two more months of work, as we continue with the same systematic exploration that we have done from the start to avoid losing important information that lets us know what activities the citizens of Teotihuacan performed thousands of years ago and why they decided to close it, "said archaeologist Sergio Gomez.
So far, 200 tons of earth have been withdrawn, he said, while doing this we have found about 60,000 pieces of artifacts and pottery.
Angel Mora, who belongs to the Technology Support Unit of the CNMH, and engineer Juan Carlos Garcia, who operates the scanner, said that by introducing the laser, which has a range of 300 meters, through the small hollow opening the archaeologists made, there was only a length of 37 meters. Mora noted that this reading is because the laser beam "runs into something, maybe with some collapsed stones or because the tunnel has a gap."
Sergio Gomez reported that it has not yet been precisely determined the time of construction of the tunnel, however it he has a better idea of when it was closed by the people from Teotihuacan. "Several indications suggest that access to the underground passage was closed between 200 and 250 AD, probably after depositing something inside. One of the hypotheses postulate that, within the large chamber detected by the GPR, we could locate the remains of important people in the city. "
The investigations have led to know with certainty that this tunnel was made prior to the construction of the Temple of the Feathered Serpent and the Citadel. The tunnel is contemporary with a large architectural structure, which could be a ball game court, according to theform of the ground, said the archaeologist.
Unfortunately, the INAH researcher said, when the tunnel was closed, large stones were thrown which blocked access, "and the court was also destroyed and razed by the people of Teotihuacan, only small remnants remain.
"Locating the entrance to the tunnel fulfills one of the most important objectives of the Project Tlalocan, to precisely confirm that the main entrance was located in the exact spot where the excavation is planned. We must continue the excavation of the vertical shaft until it reaches the floor level to thereby start scanning the tunnel towards the East. "
According to the hypothesis about the meaning and symbolism of the tunnel, archaeologist Sergio Gomez, said the tunnel had to be linked to concepts related to the underworld, hence it is possible that in this place were carried out initiation rituals and the divine investiture of Teotihuacan rulers, since the power was acquired in these sacred spaces.
Also, it is known that rulers were buried in the holiest places. "For a long time local and foreign archaeologists have attempted to locate the graves of the rulers of the ancient city, but the search has been fruitless.
"That's why every day our expectations are increasing, as there are many chances that they are sitting inside a large tomb or offering. However, it is not something we are obsessed wih, the discovery and systematic exploration of the tunnel is something of great significance for archaeological research and a unique opportunity to approach the cosmogonic and religious thought of ancient Teotihuacan. "
Monday, August 2, 2010
Experts: AnselAdams photos found at garage sale worth $200 million
July 27, 2010 9:01 p.m. EDT - From CNN Entertainment
Los Angeles, California (CNN) -- Rick Norsigian kept two boxes he bought at a garage sale under his pool table for four years before realizing they may be too valuable to store at home.The Fresno, California, commercial painter learned this week that what was in those boxes he paid $45 dollars for a decade ago could be worth more than $200 million. "When I heard that $200 million, I got a little weak," Norsigian said at a Beverly Hills art gallery Tuesday. Art, forensic, handwriting and weather experts teamed up to conclude the 65 glass plates in the boxes were photographic negatives created more than 80 years ago by Ansel Adams, the iconic American photographer whose images of the West inspired the country. Cut and paste the following link to read the entire article:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/07/27/ansel.adams.discovery/index.html?hpt=P1&iref=NS1
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
'Oldest' images of Christ's apostles found in Rome
Restorers used new laser technology to uncover the images
Reprinted from 22 June 2010 - BBC Mobile News Europe
Art restorers in Italy have discovered what are believed to be the oldest paintings of some of Jesus Christ's apostles.
The faces of Apostles Andrew, John, Peter and Paul were uncovered using new laser technology in a catacomb in Rome.
The paintings date from the second half of the 4th Century or the early 5th Century, the restorers and Vatican officials believe.
The images may have influenced later depictions of Christ's early followers.
'Very emotional'"These are the first images that we know of the faces of these four apostles," said Fabrizio Bisconti, head of archaeology for Rome's numerous Vatican-owned catacombs.
The frescoes in a tomb of a Roman noblewoman in the Santa Tecla catacomb were known about but their details came to light during a two-year restoration project funded by the Vatican.
The images were uncovered using new laser technology that allowed the restorers to burn off thick white calcium carbonate deposits caused by extreme humidity and lack of air.
"The laser created a sort of mini-explosion of steam when it interacted with the calcium carbonate to make it detach from the surface," said Barbara Mazzei, who was in charge of the project.
"It was very, very emotional to discover this," she added.
Andrew, Peter and John were among Jesus' original 12 apostles.
Paul was an influential early Christian who travelled widely in the Mediterranean area in the 1st Century. His letters to the early churches, found in the Bible's New Testament, are arguably some of the most influential on Christian thinking.
Monday, July 26, 2010
I KNEW IT! Vatican Reverses Itself, "The Martyrdom of St. Lawrence" Not a Caravaggio
FROM ART DAILY - 26 JULY 2010
VATICAN CITY (AP).- The Vatican's top art historian on Monday shot down a report in its own newspaper that suggested a recently discovered painting was a Caravaggio.
The head of the Vatican Museums, Antonio Paolucci, wrote in the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano that the work was most likely a copy of an original by a Caravaggio-influence artist.
It was L'Osservatore itself that set the art world aflutter last week with a front-page article headlined "A New Caravaggio," detailing the artistry behind the "Martyrdom of St. Lawrence," which had been discovered in the sacristy of a Jesuit church in Rome.
The author of the article, art historian Lydia Salviucci Insolera, had made clear that she was not making any conclusions about the authenticity of the work and that more diagnostic tests were required.
But the impression given by the newspaper was that the painting was indeed a never-before-seen Caravaggio: The definitive-sounding headline appeared above the fold alongside a color photograph of the dramatic painting — on the 400th anniversary to the day of the master's death.
The Vatican has in the past announced such art-world news in L'Osservatore, such as when it revealed last year that the earliest known icon of St. Paul had been discovered in a Roman catacomb just in time for the saint's feast day.
The original Caravaggio article published June 18 pointed out that the "The Martyrdom of St. Lawrence" presented features typical of the artist's style, such as the use of chiaroscuro for dramatic effect and the unique perspective from which the subject is seen. The report also highlighted similarities with other Caravaggio's paintings, for example in the saint's hand and body movement.
But on Monday, after a week of "Caravaggiomania" that ensued amid the already frenzied Caravaggio anniversary celebrations in Italy, Vatican Museum chief Paolucci, a former Italian Culture Minister, issued the equivalent of a Holy See mea culpa and reversal.
In a front-page article entitled "A New Caravaggio? Not really" Paolucci wrote that the work was not of Caravaggio's quality and termed it "modest" at best, pointing out in particular that the hands were completely out of perspective.
The painting depicts a semi-naked young man, his mouth open in desperation, one arm stretched out as he leans over amid flames. St. Lawrence was burned to death in 258.
Paolucci said that while the idea of putting St. Lawrence on the grill where he became a martyr was dramatically beautiful, and the thugs perpetrating his martyrdom are suggestive of Caravaggio's themes, a closer look reveals stylistic shortcomings.
He said that the hands are "wrong in their perspective," that the subjects' anatomies were "awkward" and that — in the case of nudes in the background — "disjointedPaolucci also noted that the painting technique was "inadequate."
"The quality isn't there, whereas in a Caravaggio it always is, and it's high even when ... he uses maximum carelessness and a minimum of his expressive resources," Paolucci wrote.
He stressed that he wasn't criticizing Insolera and noted that she had correctly made clear that further analysis and documentation would be required to provide definitive answers as to whether the work was a Caravaggio.
The painting is to be unveiled to the public on Tuesday by Italy's Culture Ministry.
At the time of the discovery, Maurizio Marini, a leading Caravaggio scholar, expressed doubts about the authenticity of the work in an interview with The Associated Press. He concurred with Insonlera who noted that St. Lawrence was not a known Caravaggio subject. And he said the stylistic similarities were inconclusive and that claims of new Caravaggios often surface but seldom hold up.
Caravaggio died in the Tuscan coast town of Porto Ercole in 1610 at age 39 under mysterious circumstances. He had been hugely influential and famous, but had also led a dissolute life of street brawls and alcohol.
Recently, a team of Italian researchers said they had identified Caravaggio's remains after a year of digging up bones in Porto Ercole and conducting carbon dating, DNA testing and other analyses.
Italy has been marking the anniversary with a variety of events, and an exhibit in Rome earlier this year drew over half a million visitors.
___
Associated Press reporter Alessandra Rizzo contributed to this report.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.
The head of the Vatican Museums, Antonio Paolucci, wrote in the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano that the work was most likely a copy of an original by a Caravaggio-influence artist.
It was L'Osservatore itself that set the art world aflutter last week with a front-page article headlined "A New Caravaggio," detailing the artistry behind the "Martyrdom of St. Lawrence," which had been discovered in the sacristy of a Jesuit church in Rome.
The author of the article, art historian Lydia Salviucci Insolera, had made clear that she was not making any conclusions about the authenticity of the work and that more diagnostic tests were required.
But the impression given by the newspaper was that the painting was indeed a never-before-seen Caravaggio: The definitive-sounding headline appeared above the fold alongside a color photograph of the dramatic painting — on the 400th anniversary to the day of the master's death.
The Vatican has in the past announced such art-world news in L'Osservatore, such as when it revealed last year that the earliest known icon of St. Paul had been discovered in a Roman catacomb just in time for the saint's feast day.
The original Caravaggio article published June 18 pointed out that the "The Martyrdom of St. Lawrence" presented features typical of the artist's style, such as the use of chiaroscuro for dramatic effect and the unique perspective from which the subject is seen. The report also highlighted similarities with other Caravaggio's paintings, for example in the saint's hand and body movement.
But on Monday, after a week of "Caravaggiomania" that ensued amid the already frenzied Caravaggio anniversary celebrations in Italy, Vatican Museum chief Paolucci, a former Italian Culture Minister, issued the equivalent of a Holy See mea culpa and reversal.
In a front-page article entitled "A New Caravaggio? Not really" Paolucci wrote that the work was not of Caravaggio's quality and termed it "modest" at best, pointing out in particular that the hands were completely out of perspective.
The painting depicts a semi-naked young man, his mouth open in desperation, one arm stretched out as he leans over amid flames. St. Lawrence was burned to death in 258.
Paolucci said that while the idea of putting St. Lawrence on the grill where he became a martyr was dramatically beautiful, and the thugs perpetrating his martyrdom are suggestive of Caravaggio's themes, a closer look reveals stylistic shortcomings.
He said that the hands are "wrong in their perspective," that the subjects' anatomies were "awkward" and that — in the case of nudes in the background — "disjointedPaolucci also noted that the painting technique was "inadequate."
"The quality isn't there, whereas in a Caravaggio it always is, and it's high even when ... he uses maximum carelessness and a minimum of his expressive resources," Paolucci wrote.
He stressed that he wasn't criticizing Insolera and noted that she had correctly made clear that further analysis and documentation would be required to provide definitive answers as to whether the work was a Caravaggio.
The painting is to be unveiled to the public on Tuesday by Italy's Culture Ministry.
At the time of the discovery, Maurizio Marini, a leading Caravaggio scholar, expressed doubts about the authenticity of the work in an interview with The Associated Press. He concurred with Insonlera who noted that St. Lawrence was not a known Caravaggio subject. And he said the stylistic similarities were inconclusive and that claims of new Caravaggios often surface but seldom hold up.
Caravaggio died in the Tuscan coast town of Porto Ercole in 1610 at age 39 under mysterious circumstances. He had been hugely influential and famous, but had also led a dissolute life of street brawls and alcohol.
Recently, a team of Italian researchers said they had identified Caravaggio's remains after a year of digging up bones in Porto Ercole and conducting carbon dating, DNA testing and other analyses.
Italy has been marking the anniversary with a variety of events, and an exhibit in Rome earlier this year drew over half a million visitors.
___
Associated Press reporter Alessandra Rizzo contributed to this report.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
400 years after his death, Caravaggio work is found
The martyrdom of St Lawrence in a newly discovered painting thought to be by CaravaggioBy Michael Day in Milan
Art experts in Rome are analysing what they believe is a previously unknown painting by the Italian Baroque master Caravaggio.
As his homeland marked the 400th anniversary of his death this weekend, the Vatican's official newspaper L'Osservatore Romano published the newly discovered work on its front page. Depicting the martyrdom of St Lawrence, it was found recently among the possessions of the Society of Jesuits in Rome. It shows a semi-naked young man, his mouth open in desperation with one arm stretched out as he leans over flames. If the suspected provenance is confirmed, it would be the first painting by the Baroque genius to emerge since The Calling of Saints Peter and Andrew, which went on display two years ago.
"What is certain is that we're dealing with a stylistically impeccable, beautiful painting," said the art historian Lydia Salviucci Insolera. "Particularly notable is the light that leaps from the areas of darkness to reveal the surface volume in sudden flashes."
Caravaggio, born Michelangelo Merisi, is celebrated for his revolutionary use of contrasting light and dark -– chiaroscuro – which anticipated the work of later Baroque giants including Rembrandt and Velázquez.
The art historian cautioned that experts should be careful to avoid the trap of labelling it a Caravaggio "at all costs" at a time when interest in the revolutionary painter was at an all-time high, saying that further analysis and research would be needed.
Another Caravaggio expert, Maurizio Marini, was sceptical about the provenance of the painting in question, noting that St Lawrence, a martyr burned to death during Roman persecutions in 258AD, was not a known Caravaggio subject.
Ms Salviucci Insolera noted, however, there was evidence that Caravaggio came into contact with powerful Crescenzi family, the patrons of Jesuit art in Rome during the period. And she added: "That the painting is truly beautiful is unarguable. And that it is at the very least a Caravaggio-esque work of the highest order is quite obvious."
The Vatican newspaper did not reveal where the painting is being analysed or by whom. But the news added to the Caravaggio fever gripping Italy this weekend, with galleries and churches staying open all night to let as many aficionados as possible admire his works.
"This is a fitting event for someone whose works used night as a backdrop," said Rossella Vodret, the museums superintendent in Rome, where fans flocked to the Borghese Gallery and three churches on Saturday night, despite the sweltering conditions. The five famous Caravaggio paintings in the Borghese have been joined for a current hit show by four masterpieces from three other top Roman galleries: Judith Beheading Holofernes; Narcissus; and two of his eight John the Baptist paintings.
Caravaggio festivities kicked off in February with a blockbuster show of 24 of his greatest paintings at the Scuderie Del Quirinale in Rome. The event drew more than half a million visitors.
Interest in the mercurial artist has been raised by recent attempts to shed light on the mystery surrounding his death on 18 July 1619 at the age of 38. The investigation, involving DNA tests and comparisons with living relatives, concluded that the painter was probably buried in Porto Ercole, in Tuscany, after suffering an illness, thereby bringing centuries of speculation, including assassination theories, to an end.
Caravaggio was active in Rome, Naples, Malta and Sicily. But he often had to flee cities and leave works because of his tempestuous nature, which led him to kill at least one man.
*******
JILL'S NOTE: It's impossible to evaluate whether or not this is a genuine Caravaggio without seeing the original painting, reviewing the testing done on the work, reading the scholarship devoted to the painting, and analyzing any other documentation related to the provenance of the work. My gut reaction is that I do not find the photograph at all convincing. To my eyes, this appears to be the work of a follower of Caravaggio, rather than by the artist himself. The lighting and tone transitions are harsh and imitative. Caravaggio was a master of subtle lighting and of tenebrism (a style he developed). Nevertheless, this painting is an exciting discovery.
Friday, July 16, 2010
French scientists crack secrets of Mona Lisa
AP – This recent undated photo provided Friday July 23, 2010, by the CNRS (National Center of Scientific Research) …
By ANGELA DOLAND, Associated Press Writer
PARIS – The enigmatic smile remains a mystery, but French scientists say they have cracked a few secrets of the "Mona Lisa."
French researchers studied seven of the Louvre Museum's Leonardo da Vinci paintings, including the "Mona Lisa," to analyze the master's use of successive ultrathin layers of paint and glaze — a technique that gave his works their dreamy quality.
Specialists from the Center for Research and Restoration of the Museums of France found that da Vinci painted up to 30 layers of paint on his works to meet his standards of subtlety. Added up, all the layers are less than 40 micrometers, or about half the thickness of a human hair, researcher Philippe Walter said Friday
The technique, called "sfumato," allowed da Vinci to give outlines and contours a hazy quality and create an illusion of depth and shadow. His use of the technique is well-known, but scientific study on it has been limited because tests often required samples from the paintings.
The French researchers used a noninvasive technique called X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy to study the paint layers and their chemical composition.
They brought their specially developed high-tech tool into the museum when it was closed and studied the portraits' faces, which are emblematic of sfumato. The project was developed in collaboration with the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Grenoble.
The tool is so precise that "now we can find out the mix of pigments used by the artist for each coat of paint," Walter told The Associated Press. "And that's very, very important for understanding the technique."
The analysis of the various paintings also shows da Vinci was constantly trying out new methods, Walter said. In the "Mona Lisa," da Vinci used manganese oxide in his shadings. In others, he used copper. Often he used glazes, but not always.
The results were published Wednesday in Angewandte Chemie International Edition, a chemistry journal.
Tradition holds that the "Mona Lisa" is a painting of Lisa Gherardini, wife of Florentine merchant Francesco del Giocondo, and that da Vinci started painting it in 1503. Giorgio Vasari, a 16th-century painter and biographer of da Vinci and other artists, wrote that the perfectionist da Vinci worked on it for four years.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Restored Leonardo Masterpiece Goes Back on Display at the National Gallery in London
The Virgin Mary is seen from the artwork "The Virgin on the Rocks" by Leonardo da Vinci (1491-1508), at the National Gallery in London July 14, 2010. An 18-month project to restore Leonardo da Vinci's "Virgin of the Rocks" revealed the Renaissance artist likely painted the entire work himself rather than, as previously thought, with the help of his assistants. REUTERS/Suzanne Plunkett.
LONDON.- Leonardo da Vinci’s Virgin of the Rocks is to go back on display in the National Gallery (afternoon of 14th July) after an 18-month restoration project which started in November 2008.
The decision to restore the painting came after several years of intensive study of Leonardo’s work and that of his Milanese associates and assistants – the so-called leonardeschi – from within the Gallery’s collection. The experience gained from examining these pictures reinforced the view that 'The Virgin of the Rocks' could not be appreciated as originally intended. The cleaning process began because some varnish that was applied in 1948–9 was particularly unstable and prone to yellowing. Fine cracking in that varnish, and atmospheric dirt which had become absorbed in its waxy surface, meant that the ability of the varnish to fully saturate the picture had become seriously compromised. As a result the subtlety of shading and the sense of space were markedly reduced, and the impact of this great work significantly lessened.
The conservation involved removing much of the badly degraded varnish from the painting, though leaving a very thin layer over most of the picture surface. While the cleaning did not effect a dramatic shift of colour, it produced a significant improvement in saturation which has allowed a much greater appreciation of the painting’s full tonal range, especially in the darker areas. This has in turn given a much clearer sense of the unified lighting, three-dimensional modelling and the intended spatial recession through the rocky landscape.
The restoration was undertaken by Larry Keith, the new Director of Conservation, working in collaboration with the picture’s curator, Luke Syson, and the Scientific Department, under the direction of Ashok Roy. There were also discussions and exchanges with colleagues from several other institutions in Europe and America, including the Louvre, which has an extensive Leonardo collection that includes the earlier version of 'The Virgin of the Rocks'.
The conservation and associated technical research has reaffirmed the sense that the picture is not finished in the traditional sense, and instead shows a range of completion from the level of the barely sketched hand of the angel to the fully realised heads of the principal figures. The associated study of materials and techniques has also been an important element of a more comprehensive reappraisal of the picture’s genesis and authorship. In the past, Gallery curators, like many scholars of Renaissance painting elsewhere, have explained the different levels of finish and resolution in the picture by arguing that Leonardo was helped by assistants in realising this second version of the composition; it now seems possible that Leonardo painted all the picture himself, leaving some parts just sketched or yet to be completely resolved, and others (such as the angel’s head) fully worked up.
'The Virgin of the Rocks' will be displayed in a new frame made by Peter Schade, Head of Framing at the Gallery. This incorporates parts – the pilasters and cornice – of a north Italian frame of about 1500, purchased specially in Italy in 2009. Schade has added the missing elements, referring to carved frames executed by Giacomo Del Maino who carved the altarpiece into which 'The Virgin of the Rocks' was originally set. This new frame will therefore evoke the gilded setting of Leonardo’s masterpiece, accentuating its muted colour scheme, the artist’s revolutionary system of shadowing and the elements of his pictorial ‘relief’, already made so much more evident by the restoration. Newly cleaned and framed in this way, the Virgin’s left hand, for example, now seems to project into the viewer’s space.
The restoration process has provided the opportunity for a comprehensive study of 'The Virgin of the Rocks' by the National Gallery’s Scientific, Conservation and Curatorial departments, with the findings being published online in the National Gallery’s Technical Bulletin in September 2011. The Gallery will expand its initial research on Leonardo himself to include the systematic investigation of Leonardo’s Milanese pupils, collaborators and followers. (Reprinted from ArtDaily.org - July 15, 2010)
The decision to restore the painting came after several years of intensive study of Leonardo’s work and that of his Milanese associates and assistants – the so-called leonardeschi – from within the Gallery’s collection. The experience gained from examining these pictures reinforced the view that 'The Virgin of the Rocks' could not be appreciated as originally intended. The cleaning process began because some varnish that was applied in 1948–9 was particularly unstable and prone to yellowing. Fine cracking in that varnish, and atmospheric dirt which had become absorbed in its waxy surface, meant that the ability of the varnish to fully saturate the picture had become seriously compromised. As a result the subtlety of shading and the sense of space were markedly reduced, and the impact of this great work significantly lessened.
The conservation involved removing much of the badly degraded varnish from the painting, though leaving a very thin layer over most of the picture surface. While the cleaning did not effect a dramatic shift of colour, it produced a significant improvement in saturation which has allowed a much greater appreciation of the painting’s full tonal range, especially in the darker areas. This has in turn given a much clearer sense of the unified lighting, three-dimensional modelling and the intended spatial recession through the rocky landscape.
The restoration was undertaken by Larry Keith, the new Director of Conservation, working in collaboration with the picture’s curator, Luke Syson, and the Scientific Department, under the direction of Ashok Roy. There were also discussions and exchanges with colleagues from several other institutions in Europe and America, including the Louvre, which has an extensive Leonardo collection that includes the earlier version of 'The Virgin of the Rocks'.
The conservation and associated technical research has reaffirmed the sense that the picture is not finished in the traditional sense, and instead shows a range of completion from the level of the barely sketched hand of the angel to the fully realised heads of the principal figures. The associated study of materials and techniques has also been an important element of a more comprehensive reappraisal of the picture’s genesis and authorship. In the past, Gallery curators, like many scholars of Renaissance painting elsewhere, have explained the different levels of finish and resolution in the picture by arguing that Leonardo was helped by assistants in realising this second version of the composition; it now seems possible that Leonardo painted all the picture himself, leaving some parts just sketched or yet to be completely resolved, and others (such as the angel’s head) fully worked up.
'The Virgin of the Rocks' will be displayed in a new frame made by Peter Schade, Head of Framing at the Gallery. This incorporates parts – the pilasters and cornice – of a north Italian frame of about 1500, purchased specially in Italy in 2009. Schade has added the missing elements, referring to carved frames executed by Giacomo Del Maino who carved the altarpiece into which 'The Virgin of the Rocks' was originally set. This new frame will therefore evoke the gilded setting of Leonardo’s masterpiece, accentuating its muted colour scheme, the artist’s revolutionary system of shadowing and the elements of his pictorial ‘relief’, already made so much more evident by the restoration. Newly cleaned and framed in this way, the Virgin’s left hand, for example, now seems to project into the viewer’s space.
The restoration process has provided the opportunity for a comprehensive study of 'The Virgin of the Rocks' by the National Gallery’s Scientific, Conservation and Curatorial departments, with the findings being published online in the National Gallery’s Technical Bulletin in September 2011. The Gallery will expand its initial research on Leonardo himself to include the systematic investigation of Leonardo’s Milanese pupils, collaborators and followers. (Reprinted from ArtDaily.org - July 15, 2010)
Sunday, July 11, 2010
The Magic of Miró
Joan Miró - Spanish, 1893 - 1983 - Shooting Star - 1938 - oil on canvas - Overall: 65.2 x 54.4 cm (25 11/16 x 21 7/16 in.) framed: 87 x 77.4 x 5.7 cm (34 1/4 x 30 1/2 x 2 1/4 in.) Gift of Joseph H. Hazen - National Gallery of Art - Washington, D.C.
Catalan painter who combined abstract art with Surrealist fantasy. His mature style evolved from the tension between his fanciful, poetic impulse and his vision of the harshness of modern life. He worked extensively in lithography and produced numerous murals, tapestries, and sculptures for public spaces.
"He was never closely aligned with any movement and was too retiring in his manner to be the object of a personality cult, like his compatriot Picasso, but the formal and technical innovations that he sustained over a very long career guaranteed his influence on 20th-century art. A pre-eminent figure in the history of abstraction and an important example to several generations of artists around the world, he remained profoundly attached to the specific circumstances and environment that shaped his art in his early years. An acute balance of sophistication and innocence and a deeply rooted conviction about the relationship between art and nature lie behind all his work and account in good measure for the wide appeal that his art has continued to exercise across many of the usual barriers of style." (SOURCE: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS)
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Egyptian Archaeologists Unveil Discovery of 4,300-Year-Old Tombs with Vivid Wall Paintings
TOP - Egyptian Antiquities chief Zahi Hawass shows to the media the false door of the unearthed 4,300 year old tomb that belongs to Khonsu the son of Shendwas, both served as heads of the royal scribes during the Old Kingdom, in Saqqara near Cairo, Egypt Thursday, July 8, 2010. Egyptian archaeologists have unveiled their latest discovery, two 4,300-year-old tombs carved out of stone and unearthed in the ancient necropolis of Saqqara near Cairo. AP Photo/Nasser Nasser.
| BOTTOM - View of one of two rock-hewn painted Old Kingdom tombs recently discovered at Saqqara necropolis, c. 50 km south of Cairo, Egypt, 08 July 2010. According to Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) and head of the excavation mission, the tombs which date to the Sixth Dynasty (2374-2191 BC), belong to a father, Shendwa, and his son, Khonsu who served as heads of the royal scribes. The burial shaft of the father's tomb is located directly beneath a false door that bears the different titles of the tomb's owner, 20 meters below the ground level. Shendwa's tomb was found intact and had not been looted but his wooden sarcophagus had disintegrated due to humidity and erosion. Among his funerary relics were found a collection of limestone jars including five offering vessels carved in the shape of a duck. EPA/KHALED EL FIQI. By: Maggie Michael, Associated Press Writer |
| SAQQARA (AP).- Egyptian archaeologists on Thursday unveiled a newly-unearthed double tomb with vivid wall paintings in the ancient necropolis of Saqqara near Cairo, saying it could be the start for uncovering a vast cemetery in the area. The tomb includes two false doors with colorful paintings depicting the two people buried there, a father and a son who served as heads of the royal scribes, said Abdel-Hakim Karar, a top archaeologist at Saqqara. "The colors of the false door are fresh as if it was painted yesterday," Karar told reporters. Humidity had destroyed the sarcophagus of the father, Shendwas, while the tomb of the son, Khonsu, was robbed in antiquity, he said. Also insribed on the father's false door was the name of Pepi II, whose 90-year reign is believed to be the longest of the pharaohs. The inscription dates the double tomb to the 6th dynasty, which marked the beginning of the decline of the Old Kingdom, also known as the age of pyramids. Egypt's antiquities chief, Zahi Hawass, said the new finds were "the most distinguished tombs ever found from the Old Kingdom," because of their "amazing colors." He said the area, if excavated, could unveil the largest cemetery of ancient Egypt. The paintings on the false doors identified Shendwas and Khonsu as royal scribes and "supervisors of the mission," meaning they were in charge of delegations overseeing the supply of materials used for pyramids construction. A single shaft from the surface led down to the father's tomb, from which a side passage led to that of the son, with the false door with paintings of Khonsu in front of an offering table. Hawass pointed to a handful of duck-shaped artifacts and a small obelisk made of limestone. Such obelisks were often buried with the dead in the 5th and 6th dynasties to show their veneration for the sun god, Ra. "These artifacts were found at the end of the burial shaft, at 18 meters (yards) depth, but we covered it up," Hawass told reporters. Karar said that so far six tombs dating back to the end of the Old Kingdom have been unearthed since digging in the area three began three years ago. Work started on the double tomb five weeks ago. The tombs lie just west of Saqqara's most famed pyramid, the Step Pyramid of King Djoser, which is surrounded by a large burial ground, contain tombs from Egypt's earliest history up through Roman times. Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)