Umbertini in toga. Rome and Pompeii in the 19th-century imagination

SERIES: From VIVE to the city. The history of art in 15th-20th century Rome
SPEAKER: Carlo Sisi
DATE: Tuesday 17 January, 6 pm 
PLACE: Sala del Refettorio

This talk begins with Cesare Maccari’s frescoes in Palazzo Madama and illustrates the success of ancient themes in the figurative art of the second half of the 19th century. At that time, Realist painting and the aestheticizing filter of Symbolism were drawing Rome and Pompeii into fanciful reconstructions containing social topics and sentimental escapism, in keeping with the positivistic archaeology adopted by artists and writers to transfer the pomp and concerns of past but still cherished civilisations into modern times. Painters and sculptors not always true to the academic canons treated subjects drawn from historic sources and literary reconstructions with unexpected freedom. In the context of national and world exhibitions, this production determined the success and dissemination of a whole genre.

Biography

Carlo Sisi is President of the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze and was the director of the Galleria d’Arte Moderna in Palazzo Pitti and President of the Museo Marino Marini until 2006. He studies the figurative art of the 19th century with a special focus on interdisciplinary topics, as shown by his three volumes entitled L’Ottocento in Italia. Le arti sorelle, published by Electa, and all the exhibitions he has curated. He is also conservator of the Fondazione Casa Museo Ivan Bruschi in Arezzo. 

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