The Primavera (Spring), also know as L’allegoria della primavera (The Allegory of Spring), is a large panel painting in tempera paint by the Italian Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli, displayed in the Uffizi Museum in Florence.
It has been described as “one of the most written about, and most controversial paintings in the world,” and “one of the most popular paintings in Western art.”
It was in Venice, Italy, at the Galleria Internazionale d’Arte Moderna located in Ca’ Pesaro, the most important baroque Venetian palace, that Robert Langdon, the main character in Dan Brown’s Inferno, saw for the first time Gustave Klimt’s masterpiece The Kiss while it was on loan from Vienna.
Langdon credited Venice’s Ca’ Pesaro with arousing his lifelong gusto for modern art.
The François Vase is a large Attic volute krater decorated in the black-figure style.
A real masterpiece of ancient pottery and the epitome of black-figure painting, the François Vase can be considered a landmark in the study of Greek pottery as it marks a turning point in the art’s development, constituting a great advance in Athenian pottery and painting styles.
The Birth of Venus is perhaps the most famous painting by Botticelli. It is a symbol of Florence, along with Michelangelo’s David, the Palazzo Vecchio, and a few other places and works of art.
The Genius of Victory was sculpted by Michelangelo for one of his many projects for the tomb of Pope Julius II, who was Pope from 1503 until his death in 1513.
The famous Prisoners statues also belonged to that project.
The Last Judgement is the name of the fresco located on the wall behind the altar of the Sistine Chapel in Rome.
It was designed and realized by the Renaissance master Michelangelo Buonarroti between 1533 and 1541.
It depicts the Second Coming of Christ as well as the final and eternal Judgement by God on all humanity according to the Christian religion. Altogether there are over 300 figures, with nearly all the males and angels originally shown as nudes.
Botticini‘s vast altarpiece “Assumption of the Virgin” is a painting undertaken in tempera on a wood panel by the Early Renaissance Italian painter Francesco Botticini. It was originally installed in the church of San Pier Maggiore in Florence in 1477. The altarpiece remained there until 1784, when the church was demolished. It was then purchased by the National Gallery in the 1880s, but hasn’t been put on display for many years. During the past months, it has been the subject of the exhibition “Visions of Paradise: Botticini’s Palmieri Altarpiece” at London’s National Gallery
Here you find a brief summary of the main symbols of the Italian Christmas festivities, such as the Christmas tree, the Stella di Natale and the presepe. The Christmas Tree A Christmas tree, usually an evergreen conifer such as a spruce, pine, or fir, or an artificial tree of similar appearance, is a tree that…
Robert Langdon – the main character in Dan Brown’s Inferno – witnessed Giorgio Vasari’s fresco of the Last Judgment after Ignazio Busoni’s funeral while he was wandering around the interior of the Florence duomo, admiring the artwork that Ignazio had so deeply esteemed.
The David by Michelangelo, the symbol of the Renaissance, has been studied for years by experts by constantly monitoring the statue and its ankle-high micro-cracks, which could cause breakage. The most fragile parts are the left ankle and the lower part of the right leg. For many, the David is the most beautiful sculpture ever…
“I pass behind the palazzo with its crenellated tower and one-handed clock”
(Dan Brown, Inferno)
Robert Langdon passed through Piazza della Signoria, circumnavigated Palazzo Vecchio, and arrived in Piazza San Firenze. The palace containing within its walls the embattled tower and one-handed clock is clearly Palazzo Vecchio, today Florence’s town hall.
Domenico di Michelino was an Italian painter who was born and died in Florence (1417–1491). His most famous work, La commedia illumina Firenze (The Comedy Illuminating Florence), can be found in Florence’s Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. Robert Langdon, the main character in Dan Brown’s Inferno, describes this famous painting during the conference “Divine Dante: Symbols of Hell,” hosted by the Società Dante Alighieri Vienna.
