Vittoriano
An international conference honoring Dr. Nello Forti Grazzini, one of the foremost authorities on tapestries and who lived from Florence in 1954 to Milan in 2021, will take place on October 25 and 26 at the Academia Belgica in Rome. Twenty academics from seven different nations will get together to debate the topic of "Artistic Relations in Tapestries between Flanders and Italy" at this event.
Following the two study days, there will be two guided tours for participants on Thursday, October 27. The first tour will focus on the tapestries from the Quirinale collection that are on display in the rooms that are open to the public, including the Salone dei Corazzieri and the ground floor of the Palace.
By way of exception, the second visit will allow participants the chance to view several tapestries from the Palazzo Venezia Museum collection that are typically stored and only made available to visitors on this occasion. With a new Palazzo Venezia exhibition that the Institute is working on, the goal is to showcase the richness of the VIVE Institute collection by presenting it at an event that brings together some of the top specialists in the area, in preparation for their display in the new exhibition in Palazzo Venezia that the Institute is working on.
A few extraordinary textiles can be seen, including the enormous Last Judgment from the early 16th century, woven in Brussels' manufactories, with its imposing dimensions (more than eight meters wide by about four meters high), and a small, extremely valuable drapery showing the Salvator Mundi that was based on a painting by the renowned artist Bartholomeus Spranger, who was born in Antwerp but later lived and worked in Italy and Prague at the court of Emperor Rudolf of Habsburg.
And once more, the magnificent Bruxellese espaliers from the middle of the sixteenth century, long and thin, staging with contrasting scenes and vibrant colors from the "Stories of Paris."
The enormous cartoon fabrics by Jacob Jordaens that serve as illustrations for the "Stories of Alexander the Great" series are also of Brussels workmanship, but they date to the second half of the 17th century.
Subject to current health restrictions, participation in the conference is free with advance registration, up to the number of seats available. Visit the Academia Belgica website for more details.
The full program is available at this link.
