ARTES 13-2005-2007

Running through the 15th century phase of the construction of Oramala castle and its documentary basis, the author suggests acknowledging the present castle, which was till now considered a medieval construction, as the stronghold built at the end of the 15th century. The medieval structure, tumbledown in that period, was rebuilt between 1479 and 1483 thanks to Bernino da Sagliano at first and to the Malaspinas of Oramala and Godiasco afterwards.

The author analyses the different attitudes towards natural sciences, grown within the Bolognese environment, where important figures were present, such as Ulisse Aldrovandi, the exponent of the descriptive and classificatory encyclopaedism, but also Annibale Carracci, who expresses the experience of nature through the art. The result is evident in the Farnese Gallery, where Annibale gets the arrangement in the complex composition thanks to the perspective, considering as point of reference Tibaldi’s Bolognese productions.

Some drawings executed by Jacopo Barozzi from Vignola and by Domenico Tibaldi are considered here; they were carried out between 1547 and 1581, and concern bridges or hydraulic engineering works in relation to Bolognese waterways.

The author identifies two paintings of Camillo Procaccini, the Presentazione della Vergine al Tempio and the Assunzione, accomplished for the chapel of the Immaculate in San Francesco of Lodi in 1606.

The author traces four paintings back to Francesco Cairo – two sacred topics, a mythological one and a female head –, all present or reported in the past as belonging to private collections, or passed otherwise to the antiquarian market, setting them within the rich master’s production.

The Fenaroli brothers let decorate their house in Brescia, nowadays Palazzo Bettoni Cazzago, between 1696 and 1702. Basing himself on documents and still in situ works, the author acknowledges the presence of various artists: Ludovico Bracco, Giuseppe Vittori and other minor masters. In two of the halls of the palace Sebastiano Ricci painted the allegories of Fame and Truth, now both identified.

The Mazzuchelli Counts’ villa in Ciliverghe di Mazzano near Brescia was built beginning from 1742. The author recognizes its model in a plan illustrated by Vincenzo Scamozzi in the treatise L’idea della Architettura Universale (1615). The correspondence between Giammaria Mazzuchelli and the Paduan man of science Giovanni Poleni allows to debate again on the problems of the "fabbrica" and the attribution of the plan.

The palace of the Olevano family, showing the U shape plan generally adopted for villas, was built during the 18th century, achieving a project belonging to the architect Lorenzo Cassani. The article examines the commission, the plans and the constructional phases. The same architect fulfilled for the family the imposing villa in Cava Manara, whose plan is studied.

The inventory of 1775, compiled after marshal Antoniotto Botta Adorno’s death, is here published and includes the palace lying in Pavia and the villas in Torre d’Isola and Branduzzo.

The article analyses the triumphal entrance of Vittorio Amedeo II of Savoy in Palermo in 1713, when the duke became king of Sicily. The arches and the triumphal ornaments along the way were erected according to the drawing of the architects Paolo Amato and Andrea Palma. The author examines the political significances of the ceremony, which tried to legalize the sovereign’s right over his new possession.

The author analyses the testimonies on Canova’s death – Alessandro Paravia, Melchior Missirini, Leopoldo Cicognara and others – and identifies the patterns which related the event. Cicognara adopts the criteria of the "public death" and masonic references, whereas the other authors cling to patterns in agreement with the Christian faith.

Roberto Papini (1893-1957) was an art critic of the decorative and the figurative arts. Concerning the activities of this last branch, which is not so well-known, the author intervenes and shows both those theoretical statements, which wish to go back to an artisan education and are in relationship with Purovisibilism and with Berenson’s attitudes, and the appreciations towards the contemporary authors, who specify the versatile trends of the critic.