An Antique Affair | Arts & Collections International
Collectors flock to Florence, the consummate centre of art and culture, to find an antique masterpiece among some superb architectural gems
Longari Arte, Milan, is presenting an antique book by Giuseppe Zocchi, (1711-1767) with twenty-four views of Florence.
Palazzo Corsini will be a hive of fine art and collectables this October as it hosts the 27th Florence International Antiques Fair.
Opera and set director Pier Luigi Pizzi will once again be responsible for the design and layout of the fair, as a select group of 88 fine art and antique dealers—74 Italian and 14 foreign—offers collectors a broad choice of objects across different disciplines, with over 3,000 pieces for sale. All the works exhibited at the Biennale are monitored by the Scientific Committee, which has the task of checking the authenticity of the works on display, their conservation and correct attribution.
The Mostra Internazionale dell’Antiquariato was launched in 1959 in the prestigious premises of Palazzo Strozzi. Mario and Giuseppe Bellini launched the first fair in 1959, which has gone on to become one the most important Italian art exhibitions in the world. The international triumph was triggered by the fact that it was held in the cultural haven of Florence and was also accompanied by a series of excellent cultural and society events.
The fair is now held in the magnificent Palazzo Corsini, which is in itself worth a visit. Entering the room from the grand staircase, the visitor sees an extraordinary room flooded with light reflected from the walls with their columns, bases and rippling cornice. The ceiling is decorated with a glorification of the Corsini family, and it supports two gigantic painted wooden chandeliers that were carved by Antonio Francesco Gonelli.
The finest decorative element of the palace can be found in the ballroom. The Ballroom’s fresco was painted by Alessandro Gherardini between 1695 and 1696, set in a plasterwork frame enhanced with flowers and two scrolls. In the middle of the composition is Aurora’s chariot drawn by Pegasus. The goddess of dawn is surrounded by three maidens, the Hours, one of whom is holding a floral crown, while a Putto holding a torch, symbol of the goddess, precedes the chariot. On one edge of the fresco, Gherardini painted the Kingdom of Flora, with Zephyr, the young god with butterfly wings and some nymphs accompanying the goddess. On the opposite side is the Triumph of Galatea, the sea nymph, standing on a shell drawn by dolphins, and Polyphemus playing a love song on his pipe.
- Robilant + Voena, London and Milan, are featuring two recently rediscovered paintings by Thomas Patch (1725-82), View of the Arno with the Santa Trinita Bridge and View of Piazza della Signoria, which have been conserved for over half a century in a German private collection. These two works are exemplary of Patch’s production, showing two of the most famous sites of Florence: Piazza della Signoria, taken from the north and showing in the centre the two most famous buildings, Palazzo Vecchio and the Loggia dei Lanzi, and the Santa Trinita bridge shown from the Oltrarno riverbank.
- There will be a strong offering of drawings at the fair, including seven by Canaletto (1697-1768), from an significant private collection, showing preparatory sketches for important paintings of Venetian views which are being shown by Damiano Lapiccirella, Florence.
- Longari Arte, Milan, is presenting an antique book by Giuseppe Zocchi, (1711-67) with 24 views of the principal streets, squares, churches and palazzi of the city of Florence. The binding is in full red Morocco, complete with frontispiece and 24 double-page plates engraved after drawings by Zocchi.
- Trinity Fine Art, London, will display a moving terracotta sculpture showing the Risen Christ by Alessandro Algardi (1598-1654), the greatest Baroque sculptor together with Bernini. Trinity Fine Art Ltd was established in 1984 by John Winter and Jonathan Mennell specialising in European sculpture and works of art, Old Master drawings and paintings. As leading dealers in their field they sell to museums and collectors internationally. They have premises in London, New York and Milan.
- Italian furniture can be seen on the stand of Piva & Cie, Milan, who plan to show a pair of turned and carved seventeenth-century tables in walnut with tops of Verona marble, made in the typical Lombard style.
Construction was directed by Antonio Ferri, a versatile exponent of the late Baroque Florentine culture. He was a set designer and engineer who built machines and fortifications and infused his extraordinary elegance and creative skill into the Palazzo Corsini, making it one of Florence’s most luxurious palaces.
The decorations, executed between 1692 and 1700, are among the finest examples of Florentine painting. Among the artists commissioned by the Corsini family to decorate the Palazzo were Anton Domenico Gabbiani, Alessandro Gherardini and Pier Dandini. Palazzo Corsini, located on the banks of the Arno river, is in the heart of Florence, just a short walk from the
iconic Duomo.
The International Biennial Antiques Fair of Florence will be held from October 1-9, 2011,www.biennaleantiquariato.it.
