Ruth Leon recommends… The Medici Portraits and Politics 1512-1570 – Met Museum
Ruth Leon recommendsThe Medici Portraits and Politics 1512-1570 – Met Museum
Keith Christiansen and Carlo Falciani take us on a tour of the exhibition they have co-curated at the Met – The Medici: Portraits and Politics 1512-1570. Keith is the John Pope-Hennessey Chairman of European Paintings at the Met and Carlo Falciani is Professor of Art History at the Accademia di Belle Arte in Florence so they are really the best possible guides. Their dialogue is a bit stiff, framed as a conversation, which it clearly isn’t, but what they have to say, particularly about portraiture, is significant and interesting.
This stunning exhibition features over 90 works in a wide range of media, from paintings, sculptural busts, medals, and carved gemstones to drawings, etchings, manuscripts, and armour. Included are works by the period’s most celebrated artists, from Raphael, Jacopo Pontormo, and Rosso Fiorentino to Benvenuto Cellini, Agnolo Bronzino, and Francesco Salviati.
Carlo Falciani’s Italianate English, though grammatically pretty good, is quite hard to follow in some places because he’s clearly reading from a script, but what he has to say is so germane to the works he’s describing that it’s worth staying with it.
This exhibition was held from June 26–October 11, 2021.
I think his Italian accent is charming. Let’s face it, most of these works are from Italy.
Fascinating discussion.