The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries at the Gallerie dell’Accademia. New Studies.
Venezia, Gallerie dell’Accademia, Feb 22–23, 2022
The inauguration of the new Seicento and Settecento rooms at the Gallerie dell’Accademia represents a fundamental part of the re-installation of the museum’s collections that has finally been completed with the ground floor organized around 13 rooms, with a chronological arc from the seventeenth to the ninenteenth- centuries. Among the 62 works now visible to the public – including absolute highlights of the period’s artistic production – many are included in the museum itinerary for the first time, and many have returned to view after significant restoration campaigns. The long gestation of this moment has enabled scrupulous examination of the works, stimulating new research and unexpected discoveries, and a rich dialogue between the museum and both the Italian and international scholarly communities.
The reopening of these spaces, which singularly represent the art of painting over these two centuries, should be considered a cue for new departures, a field of investigation for new research. Plenty of the works remain little known, and many diverse and fascinating themes merit further research: from authorship to dating, from patronage to provenance, from iconographic questions to those linked to the materials and techniques of painting and restoration history.
To further this endeavour, the Gallerie will organize a workshop intended as an opportunity to share inquiries and to enrich our knowledge about the museum’s patrimony with the aim of attracting the most innovative and cutting-edge studies on the Seicento and Settecento works in the Gallerie dell’Accademia. The conference will not only foreground artworks hanging in the new rooms 5 and 6, but also the rest of the display, as well as the many works in the museum’s stores and those visible in other institutions in Venice and the Veneto (external stores). It is further hoped that the meeting will constitute a preliminary contribution to complex effort of updating the catalogue raisonné of the collections.
The workshop will be held in the Gallerie dell’Accademia over two days, one dedicated to the Seicento and one to the Settecento, and talks will last 30 minutes each. Candidates who wish to present should send an abstract of maximum two pages, accompanied by a brief c.v., in Italian or English. Research concentrating on one or more works in the museum will be privileged and talks that significantly and concretely advance the current state of knowledge, or which offer a novel approach to reading the works, their original context, creation and/or material history are preferred. A section of the conference will be reserved for the presentation and discussion of restoration conducted in the museum, taking the opportunity to share conservation discoveries, doubts, and decisions with the workshop participants.
The conference will take place in person, with a limited number of places available respecting the rules in place with regards to the containment of the diffusion of Covid 19 (distancing, masks and measures required by relevant safety protocols). Plans are also in progress for the transmission of the talks via the YouTube channel of the museum.
Proposals should be sent by the 10th of December 2021 to the following address:
michele.nicolaci@beniculturali.it
Participants may expect the costs of travel and stay in Venice to be partially or totally covered.
Publication of the conference proceedings is foreseen.
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