Mediate and Contemplate - The Sistine Chapel Virtual Tour

Detail view of the Sistine Chapel InteriorThe rather nondescript Sistine Chapel is undoubtedly the most famous structure in the Vatican--which enjoys around four million visitors each year. Completed in 1481 by Giovanni del Dolci, it is most famous for its amazing fresco programs. Contributors to the programs include such masters as Perugino, Pinturicchio, Botticelli, Ghirlandaio (Domenico and Benedetto), Signorelli, and Rosselli. Tapestries designed by Raphael also adorn the chapel.

The most important artworks there are the frescoes by Michelangelo on the ceiling and on the west wall behind the altar. Art historians have built entire careers on studying the works in the chapel--and there is a wealth of information about it. But...its true significance lies in the power of the images themselves. While nothing can ever take the place of seeing an artwork “in the flesh” -- anyone who has visited the chapel recently knows that its crowded and sometimes difficult to really appreciate all it has to offer.

The Sistine Chapel Virtual Tour is an excellent alternative to being there. You can zoom in on any detail you want to see, and navigate the entire chapel in whatever ways you choose. The music is lovely (so turn up your speakers) and the art is awe inspiring. This is truly a spiritual experience. So do visit. If you’re having a rough week--I promise this will make you feel better!

Researchers in Florence May Have Discovered Lost Mural By Leonardo Da Vinci

Peter Paul Rubens, Copy after Leonardo's 'Battle of Anghiari', c. 1604 - Black chalk, pen and ink, highlights in grey and white  45.2cm x 63.7cm. Louvre Paris. ➤ This work by Rubens, dating from 1603 and known as The Battle of the Standard, was based on an engraving completed in 1553 by Lorenzo Zacchia, which was taken either from Leonardo’s ‘Battle of Anghiari’ painting, or possibly derived from a cartoon (preparatory drawing) by the master. The original painting by Leonardo was believed to be lost. But...it may be hidden behind a painting completed years later--by Giorgio Vasari.From ArtDaily.org:

FLORENCE (AP).- Researchers may have discovered traces of a lost mural by Leonardo da Vinci by poking a probe through cracks in a 16th-century fresco painted on the wall of one of Florence's most famous buildings. The latest findings Monday still leave much mystery in the hunt for the "Battle of Anghiari," a wall mural painted by Leonardo in Florence's storied Palazzo Vecchio, and possibly hidden behind a fresco done by Giorgio Vasari decades later.

Read more...

This Sunday, National Geographic Channel will be airing "Finding the Lost DaVinci" (9pm, PDT), a documentary detailing one man's thirty-year search for the lost masterpiece.

Exhibition Celebrates the Work of a Powerful Artist and the Work of a Great Collector

Guercino. An angel in flight, c.1648. Red chalk, 27.3 x 26.8 cm. LI032.31© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

If ever there was proof that drawing is the foundation of all fine arts forms--OR that drawing is a beautiful art form in its own right--such evidence exists in the work of the 17th century artist, Guercino. The following article (and exhibit) will introduce you to this amazing artist. It will also familiarize you with the substantial contributions made by art collectors, in this case Sir Denis Mahon CH, CBE, FBA (1910–2011).

OXFORD.- An adventurous and brilliant draughtsman, Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, known as Guercino (1591–1666) was one of the 17th century’s greatest artists. He drew constantly, with a passion that revealed itself in the vigour and intensity of his preparatory studies. He explored, in drawings, different possibilities for literary and religious subjects, landscapes, and scenes of everyday life – which stand alone as independent works of art. Read more... 

Nativity

Duccio, Nativity panel, National Gallery of Art, Washington 1308-11

Restored Renaissance Masterpiece on View in New Installation at Metropolitan Museum

Filippino Lippi (Italian, Prato 1457?–1504 Florence), Madonna and Child, Ca. 1485. Tempera, oil, and gold on wood, 32 x 23 1/2 in. (81.3 x 59.7 cm) The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Jules Bache Collection, 1949 49.7.10. NEW YORK, NY.

A recent restoration of a "Madonna and Child" by Filippino Lippi (1457-1504), the great 15th Century Florentine painter has revealed a vivid, richly colored masterpiece.

A test cleaning revealed that beneath a thick, discolored varnish there was a beautifully preserved, richly colored painting. It emerged that the varnish had been artificially toned to create an almost monochromatic appearance—an amber-colored uniformity that conformed to the idea of how an Old Master should appear. So striking is the transformation that the picture seems a new acquisition.

To celebrate this restoration, The Metropolitan Museum of Art is mounting A Renaissance Masterpiece Revealed: Filippino Lippi’s Madonna and Child, a focused exhibition, beginning January 15, 2011, that will include the picture and a number of objects in the Museum’s permanent collection that can be associated with (Lippi patron Filippo) Strozzi...

Read the entire story at artdaily.org