Minerva of Arezzo

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‘Minerva of Arezzo’
National Archaeological Museum
Piazza Santissima Annunziata
Florence, January 2025

“The Minerva of Arezzo was found in 1541 in Arezzo, during excavations for a well near the church of San Lorenzo; other excavations in that same area carried out at the beginning of our century have produced notable remains of a large Roman house. The circumstances of the discovery are little known, and the monument's original state of preservation is unclear. Initial restorations in bronze, plaster, and wood may have been carried out as early as the 16th century, likely more philologically accurate than the current ones, which were carried out in the 18th century.” (Minerva di Arezzo, Wikipedia)

Casa de Sefarad

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Casa de Sefarad
Calle Judios
Córdoba, September 2022

“The House of Sepharad - House of Memories, is a cultural centre situated right in the heart of the Jewish Quarter of Cordoba. There are permanent exhibitions and cultural activities aimed at arousing interest in this forgotten heritage and recovering memories of a tradition which is an essential part of our cultural identity: the Sepharad, or Hispano-Jewish tradition. The permanent exhibition, Memories of the Sepharad, is divided into nine thematic rooms, displaying: Sala de la Diáspora, Sala de la Sinagoga, Sala del Judeoespañol, Sala de Maimónides, Sala de la Inquisición, Sala de la vida doméstica, Sala de Mujeres & Sefarad, Sala de los ciclos festivos and Sala de la música sefardí.”(Casa de Sefarad, Turismo de Córdoba)

Chimera of Arezzo

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‘Chimera of Arezzo’
National Archaeological Museum
Piazza Santissima Annunziata
Florence, January 2025

“The Chimera of Arezzo is regarded as the best example of ancient Etruscan art. The British art historian David Ekserdjian described the sculpture as ‘one of the most arresting of all animal sculptures and the supreme masterpiece of Etruscan bronze-casting’. Made entirely of bronze and measuring 78.5 cm high with a length of 129 cm, it was found alongside a small collection of other bronze statues in Arezzo, an ancient Etruscan and Roman city in Tuscany. The statue was originally part of a larger sculptural group representing a fight between a chimera and the Greek hero Bellerophon. This sculpture is likely to have been created as a votive offering to the Etruscan god Tinia and is held by the National Archaeological Museum, Florence.” (Chimera of Arezzo, Wikipedia)

Portrait from Al Fayyum

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Portrait from Al Fayyum
National Archaeological Museum
Piazza Santissima Annunziata
Florence, January 2025

“While commonly believed to depict Greek settlers in Egypt, the Faiyum portraits instead reflect the complex synthesis of the predominant Egyptian culture and that of the elite Greek minority in the city. According to Walker, the early Ptolemaic Greek colonists married local women and adopted Egyptian religious beliefs, and by Roman times, their descendants were viewed as Egyptians by the Roman rulers, despite their own self-perception of being Greek. The portraits are said to represent both descendants of ancient Greek mercenaries, who had fought for Alexander the Great, settled in Egypt and married local women, as well as native Egyptians who were the majority, many of whom had adopted Greek or Latin names, then seen as ‘status symbols’.” (Fayum mummy portraits, Wikipedia)

L'Arringatore

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The ‘Arringatore’ (The Orator)
National Archaeological Museum
Piazza Santissima Annunziata
Florence, January 2025

“The Orator, also known as ‘L'Arringatore’ (Italian), Aule Meteli (Etruscan) or Aulus Metellus (Latin), is an Etruscan bronze sculpture from the late second or the early first century BC. Aulus Metellus was an Etruscan senator in the Roman republic, originally from Perugia or Cortona. The Aulus Metellus sculpture was found in 1566. The exact location is debated, but all sources agree the sculpture was found either in or around Lake Trasimeno in the province of Perugia on the border between Umbria and Tuscany, 177 kilometers (110 miles) from Rome. The statue is exhibited in the National Archaeological Museum of Florence. The statue is 179 cm in height and wears a toga exigua, consisting of a short sleeved tunic underneath a close fitting toga, slung over the left arm and shoulder while leaving the right arm free for movement. The hem starts over the right ankle and heads diagonally upwards to above the left calf. The statue also wears a pair of boots called calceus senatorius, a type of footwear worn by senators and high ranking magistrates made of red leather. The statue stands in a contrapposto pose with one leg supporting the bulk of its weight. The hair of the statue is cut short and combed to the left. The left arm rests at its side with the hand raised and opened slightly, while the right arm is stretched out, bent at the elbow, its palm open and the fingers spread out. The statue wears a ring on its left ringfinger, which is believed to be a scarab ring. Since the statue was made out of seven parts, you can see the seams, where they were attached to each other.” (The Orator, Wikipedia)

Casa de los Deanes

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Casa de los Deanes (Museo de Ávila)
Plaza Nalvillos
Ávila, September 2025

“The Ávila Museum, located in the Casa de los Deanes, is a cultural space in the city of Ávila, Spain. Its origins as a centuries-old museum date back to 1911. Since 1987, it has been managed by the Regional Government of Castilla y León. Its collection includes works of archaeology and fine arts, as well as an extensive ethnological catalogue of the area. It is owned by the State through the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport. The first institution that preceded the Museum of Ávila was created as an ‘Honorary Museum’ by the Monuments Commission of the province of Ávila and inaugurated in 1911 in the building of the ‘Teresianos Library and Museum’, as the repository of the province's Historical and Artistic Heritage. It later passed through other locations in the Alcázar, the Arch of San Vicente, the cloister of the Cathedral, and the Chapel of Las Nieves (with periods of storage in various municipal warehouses). Finally, in 1968, it was institutionalized as a Provincial Museum, ‘with its own exhibits, building, budget, and staff, linked to the Ministry of Education, and later to Culture.’ It reopened in 1971. In 1986, it was remodeled as the Ávila Museum, and a year later, it was managed by the Regional Government of Castile and León. Since 1969 the museum has been located in the Casa de los Deanes, extending its collection in 1998 to the Almacén Visitable de Santo Tomé, in the historic space of the Plaza de Nalvillos in the capital of Avila. The Casa de los Deanes building was declared a Site of Cultural Interest, with the category of monument, on October 1, 1962.” (Museo de Ávila, Wikipedia)

Museo Geominero

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Museo Geominero
Calle de Ríos Rosas, Chamberí
Madrid, September 2025

“The Museo Geominero (Geomineral Museum) is a geology museum displaying minerals and fossils from Spain and its former colonies. It is located inside the Instituto Geológico y Minero de España building in Madrid, Spain. The museum has its roots in the collection of the 'Comisión para formar la Carta geológica de Madrid y la general del Reino' (Commission to form the geographical letter of Madrid and the kingdom), which was created by Isabella II in 1849. The collection has been housed in its current location since 1927, and was conceived of by Spanish mining engineer D. Primitivo Hernández Sampelayo. It has been known as the Museo geominero since 1989. The museum is located in the headquarters of the Geological and Mining Institute of Spain. The building was designed by Spanish architect Francisco Javier de Luque, and built between 1921 and 1925. The contents of the museum are displayed in 250 showcases on the ground floor of the building and three perimeter balconies.” (Museo Geominero, Wikipedia)

Museo Antoniano

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Museo Antoniano
Piazza del Santo
Padova, May 2025

“The Antoniano Museum, annexed to the Basilica of the Saint in Padua, is a permanent exhibition of historical-artistic objects linked to the life and cult of Saint Anthony of Padua. In 1895, during the restoration of the basilica and the entire Antonian complex, it became necessary to give a home to the relics that were scattered in the Antonian Library, in the cloisters and in other areas of the convent: these were artefacts that the basilica had abandoned or received as gifts. Opened at the beginning of the twentieth century, the museum was closed in 1940 with Italy's entry into the Second World War, to be reopened in 1995 when eight centuries had passed since the birth of the Saint.” (Museo Antoniano, Wikipedia)

Museo Sorolla

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Museo Sorolla
Paseo del General Martínez Campos, Chamberí
Madrid, September 2025

“The Sorolla Museum (Spanish: Museo Sorolla) is a single-artist museum in Madrid, Spain, devoted to the work and life of Joaquín Sorolla and the members of his family, such as his daughter Elena. The museum is located in the house that was the artist's home and workshop, which was converted into a museum after the death of his widow. It is one of the National Museums of Spain and it is attached to the Ministry of Culture. The building was designed by Enrique María Repullés. The principal rooms continue to be furnished as they were during the artist's life, including Sorolla's large, well-lit studio, where the walls are filled with his canvasses. Other rooms are used as galleries to display Sorolla's paintings, while the upstairs rooms are a gallery for temporary exhibitions. In 2014, these rooms presented an exhibition of David Palacin photographs of the ballet Sorolla produced by the Spanish National Dance Company.” (Sorolla Museum, Wikipedia)

Casa Lis

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Museo Art Nouveau y Art Déco - Casa Lis
Calle Gibraltar
Salamanca, September 2025

“The Casa Lis is a museum located in the ancient city wall of Salamanca, Spain. Also known as Museo Art Nouveau and Art Déco, it is a museum of decorative arts, with exhibits dating from the last decades of the 19th century to World War II. The Museum is an old mansion that was built for its first owner, Miguel de Lis, by Joaquin de Vargas y Aguirre, a provincial architect from Jerez de la Frontera. Don Miguel de Lis was the owner of a tannery which he had inherited from his father. The thriving business gave him a privileged economic position and he was well-travelled; he chose a modernist design. The mansion changed ownership in 1917, when D. Enrique Esperabé de Arteaga, rector of the University of Salamanca, moved there with his family. Subsequently, the Casa Lis was inhabited by various tenants until in the 1970s, closed and unused, and fell into decay. In 1981, the city of Salamanca was able to save it from ruin.” (Casa Lis, Wikipedia)

Johanneum

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Johanneum (Dresden Transport Museum)
Jüdenhof
Dresden, September 2024

“The Johanneum is a Renaissance building, originally desingated as Stallgebäude mit Harnischkammer because it was constructed as the elite part of the electoral mews. It was the first museum of modern times built in 1586-1588 and is located at the Neumarkt in Dresden. Today the Johanneum is home to the Dresden Transport Museum (Verkehrsmuseum Dresden), which displays vehicles of all modes of transport and their history. The Johanneum was built between 1586 and 1590 as Stallgebäude mit Harnischkammer, the elite stables of the adjacent Dresden Castle. The two halls on the building's ground floor provided space for 128 expensive riding-art horses imported in part from Italy. The stands for the horses were decorated with spectacular horse-paintings, modeled after the Sala dei cavalli in Mantua's Palazzo Té. In the stable, that was designed as a princely exhibition of elite horses, 35 rooms were lavishly decorated to contain horse and rider figurines, elaborate sleighs as well as an expensive arms collection of the Saxon Electors. Later also stuffed horses, a stuffed bear and wax figurines of the electors were exhibited. One of the exhibited horses, the Merseburger, became famous for its 8 m long mane.” (Johanneum, Wikipedia)

Städel

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Städel
Schaumainkai, Museumsufer
Frankfurt, September 2024

“The Städel, officially the Städelsches Kunstinstitut und Städtische Galerie, is an art museum in Frankfurt, with one of the most important collections in Germany. The museum is located at the Museumsufer on the Sachsenhausen bank of the River Main. The Städel Museum owns 3,100 paintings, 660 sculptures, more than 4,600 photographs and more than 100,000 drawings and prints. It has around 7,000 m2 (75,000 sq ft) of display and a library of 115,000 books. The Städel was founded in 1817, and is one of the oldest museums in Frankfurt. The founding followed a bequest by the Frankfurt banker and art patron Johann Friedrich Städel (1728–1816), who left his house, art collection and fortune with the request in his will that the institute be set up. In the early years, Städel's former living quarters at Frankfurt's Roßmarkt were used to present his collection. The collection received its first exhibition building at the Neue Mainzer Straße in 1833. In 1878, a new museum building, in the Neo-Renaissance style, was erected by Oskar Sommer on Schaumainkai, a street along the south side of the river Main.” (Städel, Wikipedia)

Museum Ludwig

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Museum Ludwig by Peter Busmann and Godfrid Haberer, 1986
Heinrich-Böll-Platz
Cologne, September 2024

“Museum Ludwig, located in Cologne, Germany, houses a collection of modern art. It includes works from Pop Art, Abstract and Surrealism, and has one of the largest Picasso collections in Europe. It holds many works by Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. The museum emerged in 1976 as an independent institution from the Wallraf-Richartz Museum. That year the chocolate magnate Peter Ludwig agreed to endow 350 modern artworks — then valued at $45 million — and in return the City of Cologne committed itself to build a dedicated ‘Museum Ludwig’ for works made after 1900. The recent building was designed by architects Peter Busmann and Godfrid Haberer and opened in 1986 near the Cologne Cathedral. The new building was home to both the Wallraf Richartz Museum as well as Museum Ludwig. In 1994, it was decided to separate the two institutions and to place the building on Bischofsgartenstrasse at the sole disposal of Museum Ludwig. In 1999, Steve Keene painted in the museum.” (Museum Ludwig, Wikipedia)

Casa del suono

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Casa del suono (House of Sound)
Piazzale D'Acquisto
Parma, May 2024

“The ‘Casa del suono’ (House of Sound) is a museum in Parma, dedicated to the history and evolution of instruments for reproducing and transmitting sounds. The House of Sound was opened to the public on 24 May 2007 inside the deconsecrated seventeenth-century church of Santa Elisabetta, at the end of the renovation works on the building.” (Casa del suono, Wikipedia)

Museum für Moderne Kunst

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Museum für Moderne Kunst (Museum of Modern Art) by Hans Hollein, 1991
Domstraße
Frankfurt, September 2024

“The Museum für Moderne Kunst (Museum of Modern Art), or short MMK, in Frankfurt, was founded in 1981 and opened to the public 6 June 1991. The museum was designed by the Viennese architect Hans Hollein. It is part of Frankfurt's Museumsufer (Museum Riverbank). Because of its triangular shape, the MMK is popularly called the Tortenstück (piece of cake). Since 2018, Susanne Pfeffer has been director of the MMK.” (Museum für Moderne Kunst, Wikipedia)

Galleria Parmeggiani

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Galleria Parmeggiani
Corso Cairoli
Reggio Emilia, May 2024

“The Anna and Luigi Parmeggiani Gallery is a museum in Reggio Emilia that contains a collection of furniture, paintings and fabrics, a union of three different collections, collected between the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century by the eclectic Luigi Parmeggiani (1860-1945) and preserved in the imaginative Gothic-Renaissance building, in French and Spanish style, specially built by Parmeggiani in 1924 to contain his art gallery.” (Galleria Parmeggiani, Wikipedia)

Casa de Iberoamérica

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Gades (Cádiz) by Juan Luis Vassallo, 1948
Casa de Iberoamérica (Ibero-American House)
Calle Concepción Arenal
Cádiz, September 2023

“The Casa de Iberoamérica is a cultural centre that currently hosts events and exhibitions of all sorts including those related to Latin America. This old building that housed the Royal Prison and is the most important for the art of illustration in Cadiz and is considered one of the best examples of Neo-classical style in Andalusia.” (Casa de Iberoamerica, Andalusia Tourist Community)

Lioness

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Lioness by Davide Rivalta, 2017
Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea
(National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art)
Viale delle Belle Arti
Rome, May 2019

“Davide Rivalta’s majestic bronze lions that have been surveying Villa Borghese from the museum steps will no doubt have struck anyone lucky enough to have already visited this gorgeous gallery. Well, this summer this regal pack have become five and accompanying Rivalta’s vast lion drawings in the hallway connecting the North-East and North-West wings. In another reference to Time is Out of Joint, these magnificent beasts are said to act as an acknowledgment to the Museum’s history whilst also being symbolic of art’s unchartered territories.” (Brand-New Exhibits, Romeing)

Ignara mali

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“Ignara mali” (Unaware of the evil) by Adalberto Cencetti, 1893
Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea
(National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art)
Viale delle Belle Arti
Rome, May 2019

La sognatrice

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“La sognatrice” (The dreamer) by Antonietta Raphaël Mafai, 1946
Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea
(National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art)
Viale delle Belle Arti
Rome, May 2019