This is nothing less than beautiful and one of my favourite paintings. The depiction here by Guido Reni of the dialogue between St Matthew the Evangelist and the angel is doubtless one of the Baroque master’s most exquisite works, dating between 1645-40. (He died in 1642). The particular choice...
The Laocoön is widely recognised as a masterpiece of the last years of El Greco’s life and I find it so fascinating. It is a free and vigorous piece of work, showing the emotional charge and power of the works that El Greco created between 1610 and 1614. This...
On the upper floor of Trinità Dei Monti convent, Rome, you can visit a cloister where you will see some extraordinary and rare anamorphic frescoes, the result of the residents’ research on perspective. The basic principle of anamorphic perspective is to project the line of vision in order to...
Palazzo Clerici is one of the most opulent residences of eighteenth-century Milan. Booking is required to visit its spectacular Antechamber of Mirrors (also known as the Great Gallery or Tapestry Gallery) but it is more than worth taking the visit. The decoration of the gallery space of some...
In Room V of the Pinacoteca Museum, the Vatican you will find the undated Pietà (above) by Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553). Lucas Cranach the Elder was perhaps the best-known German Renaissance painter after Albrecht Dürer, and this panel is one of the few works by non-Italian artists in the Pinacoteca. The art-loving...
(The Return from Rome of Cardinal Francesco Gonzaga – 1474) On the walls of the Camera degli Sposi in the Ducal Palace at Mantua, Andrea Mantegna (c.1430-1506) painted some life-size informal portraits of the Gonzaga family. In this portrait (c 1474) almost as a curtain has been drawn back, we...
This dynamic scene captures the highly charged moment when Bacchus, Roman God of wine, first sets eyes on Ariadne, daughter of King Minos of Crete, and the two fall in love. The painting is full of sublime movement, from the leaping Bacchus with his rippling cloak to the dancing...
(The Adoration of the Magi – Albrecht Altdorfer, c1530) The wise men or Magi are referred to in the Gospel According to St Matthew (2: 1-12) but without any mention of their names, their number of the fact that they are kings, It was an apocryphal Armenian gospel of...
In the Cathedral of Pescia, Tuscany you will find an extraordinary piece of art. In the Turini Chapel is a painting that looks exactly like Raphael’s Madonna Del Bacacchino which is in housed in the Pitti Palace, Florence. The story behind this magnificent copy is actually rather fascinating. At...
(Self portrait from Adoration of the Magi 1488) Domenico Ghirlandaio (1449 – 1494) was an Italian Renaissance painter, frescoist mosaicist from Florence. Among his many apprentices was Michelangelo. he is responsible for some wonderful pieces of art and this is the first of a series of blogs on these artworks....
Welcome to my love affair with the food, wine, history and culture of the Mediterranean, past and present. Here you will find not only recipes, drinks and fabulous products, but the history of the food and culture of the Mediterranean.
My purpose is to get you to explore and experience new tastes and along the way to immerse yourself in the wonderful history of this diverse and wonderful region – from Venice to Istanbul, Rome to Dubrovnik, Athens to Crete and all places in between and in the surrounds. Be prepared to be surprised, delighted and enthralled as you take this trip with me.
