Yesterday's post closed with an irresistible gold swimsuit from the '50s. Let's start the week by elevating this metallic shade to art and have a look at an exhibition that will open in September at the Fondazione Cini on the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice.
"Mindful Hands" (from 17th September) will feature 120 illuminated pages and initials - plus a group of particularly fine illuminated codices - from the most important collections of miniatures worldwide, acquired by Count Vittorio Cini from the Libreria Antiquaria Hoepli in Milan in 1939-1940 and presented to the Foundation in 1962.
The foundation has actually got a remarkable collection of historical, artistic and scholarly texts and pieces little-known to the wider public. The exhibition will feature illuminated leaves and cuttings of initials mainly from liturgical works (graduals and antiphonals), comparable both in type and quality to collections such as the Wildenstein Institute's selection (now in the Musée Marmottan, Paris), or the Lehman collection (previously in storage at the Metropolitan Museum, New York).
It will be a rare occasion since the pieces in this exhibition come from the main regional Italian schools of manuscript illumination and include works by some of the most pre-eminent illuminators, active from the 12th to the 16th centuries. Besides, these pieces haven't been on display for over 30 years, and they will also represent an opportunity to explore the deplorable practice of dismembering manuscripts and putting on the antiquarian market only the leaves with figures or cuttings with initials. One example of such practice is a detached leaf from the magnificent Antiphonarium Q (now in the Cini collection) that will be on display alongside the original volume on loan from the library of the Benedictine Abbey of San Giorgio.
"We have been working on this ambitious project focused on the collection of miniatures for years," states Pasquale Gagliardi, Secretary General of the Fondazione Cini, in a press release. "The collection is unique in Italy and among the few of such high quality in the world. We achieved excellent results in terms of visitors and critical reception for the 2010 exhibition on the etchings of Giambattista Piranesi, for which all the works came from the archives of San Giorgio Maggiore. This encouraged us to continue the mission of promoting the so-called minor arts. And in fact the illuminators' superb craftsmanship is in no way inferior to that of artists in other sectors of art."
There will also be a wonderful connection with architecture as an integral part of the exhibition itinerary (the spaces of the Sale del Convitto) is designed by Studio Michele De Lucchi. This section will prove interesting also with non-specialist visitors thanks to its multimedia installations and reproductions created by Adam Lowe's Factum Arte, experts on digital techniques applied to the conservation, reproduction and interpretation of works of art. Researchers will instead be able to examine close up two of the most precious manuscripts thanks to large-scale animations and reproductions - the Martirologio di Ferrara and the small but invaluable Book of Hours, commissioned by Ludovico il Moro.
The fashion connection? The history of art features versatile artists who have produced tapestry pieces, embroideries and illuminated manuscripts. And if you want more recent connections, well, Mary Katrantzou's Resort 2015 designs featured see-through pieces covered in embroidered, jacquarded or embossed calligraphy and fonts, and was inspired by a wide range of graphic ideas including illuminated manuscripts such as the Book of Kells; besides, illuminated manuscripts looks like the sort of artworks Alessandro Michele likes to borrow from random and obscure books to casually apply them on a silk Gucci jacket (how long will it be before one of these letters appears on a Gucci customised jacket?). So - there you go - even unrepentant fashionistas have a couple of reasons to plan a visit to this exhibition.
"Mindful Hands. Masterpieces of Illumination from the Fondazione Giorgio Cini", Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Island of San Giorgio, Venice, 17th September 2016 - 8th January 2017. The exhibition is organised with the support of the Helen Hamlyn Trust and the contribution of Pirelli.
Image credits for this post
1. Belbello da Pavia, page cut from Antiphonal with Annunciation in the initial M 1467-1470.
2. Maestro Olivetano, cut from Gradual with Corpus Domini or Holy Communion by the Apostles, initial C.
3. Franco dei Russi, page cut from Antiphonal with Stoning of St Stephen in initial L, about 1470.
4. Cristoforo Cortese, cut from liturgical manuscript Two saints inspired by God in the initial I (second quarter of the 15th century).
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