Art Treasures in Europe

Art Treasures in Europe Immortal masterpieces and less known works of art in Europe. Told with love and passion by Raffaello

LEONARDO DA VINCI Vs MICHELANGELO BUONARROTIIn 1482 Leonardo, at the age of thirty, left Florence to Milan. At that time...
28/03/2026

LEONARDO DA VINCI Vs MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI

In 1482 Leonardo, at the age of thirty, left Florence to Milan. At that time Michelangelo aged seven and was just learning how to read and write.
Leonardo was trained in the workshop of Verrocchio, serving as close a collaborator as a goldsmith, sculptor and painter. But the even multifaceted activity in Verrocchio workshop was not enough for him: his interest in the sciences to the study of mechanics, meterology, mathematics, botanic, geology and whatever else made him an artist very dispersive and unreliable, often incapable of completing the work. However these were multiple interests that made him a unique artist, of great originality, able to transfer in art all researches he carried out in the field of science, thus surpassing the traditional Florentine setting.
Michelangelo’s formation was much more articulate: a brief apprenticeship at the workshop of Ghirlandaio, then his training at the school of sculpture held in the San Marco Garden under the direction of Bertoldo di Giovanni and the discovery of his vocation as sculptor was soon encouraged by Lorenzo il Magnifico by hosting him in his private palace where he got in touch with the most brilliant minds of his entourage of intellectuals. Then he completed his apprenticeship in the Benedetto da Maiano workshop. His first model was, and could not be otherwise, Donatello, but had also studied and copied Giotto, Masaccio and Desiderio da Settignano, and admired Verrocchio: that's probably why his first trip abroad was in Venice to study the equestrian statue of Colleoni, that's in his Vatican Pietà Michelangelo literally quoted the Verrocchio Christ in the incredulity of Saint Thomas. The same as Leonardo he also sensed the importance of research in the field of Pollaiolo anatomy and movement.
Both artist were so deeply Florentine to know that drawing was the first step to make any kind of art, and, as a matter of facts they both were amazing drawers, nonetheless... their art look so different. Analysing the differences between these two great men would be a very long work, too long for this post, but we can at least take a look at their different personality. Leonardo loved beautiful and fashioned clothes, took a great care of his look, right the opposite of his rival; Leonardo liked having the fastest horses while Michelangelo didn’t care at all. Michelangelo always hated the comfortable life that Leonardo loved so much: a deluxe life would have been for Michelangelo a detriment for his creative inspiration, while Leonardo became more creative when he felt free from any economic problem: that’s why he accepted the invitation of Ludovico Sforza in Milan and lived in his court just thinking about how to develop all the ideas that came up to his mind. Leonardo was a very good-looking man: long blond curly hair, pretty tall and well proportioned in his body. Michelangelo was strong but very short. Even in sentimental matters, despite of being both homosexual, they could not be more at the opposite: Leonardo enjoyed living his sexuality and loved to be surrounded by beautiful boys. Even love was for Michelangelo a frivolity: we know that he fell in love just once with the beautiful roman noble Tommaso Cavalieri when he was in his fifties. Michelangelo worked hard all his life long always carrying a miserable life, getting huge amounts of money that he immediately reinvested in order to make the name of the Buonarroti family respected again after decades of decadence of the family. Leonardo hardly ever finished the works he had started: his curiosity always took him away from anything he was working at. Michelangelo was instead much more reliable: he worked hard until the work was finished so that he could cash the money, reinvest it and getting a new work.
Two very different personalities we can say. Who was right? Well, looking at their masterpieces I would say both.

The canvas I am talking about today depicts the most common Florentine subject: the Annunciation. On March 25th, the day...
24/03/2026

The canvas I am talking about today depicts the most common Florentine subject: the Annunciation. On March 25th, the day of the Annunciation, Florentines didn't only pay their devotion to the Announced Virgin. That was also the day the new year began. In fact, in Florence had by then an "ab incarnationem" calendar.
It was therefore not easy for more recent artists to compare themselves with Giotto, Taddeo Gaddi, Pontormo, Ghirlandaio, Botticelli and many other masters that had previously painted an Annunciation.
The painter Vittorio Matteo Corcos had to challange all those great masters of the past and in the year 1904 he created this large canvas.
Then, in May 1935, two years after the death of the artist and his wife Emma, ​​the painter's daughter donated it to the Franciscan convent in Fiesole. The painting was thus placed in the hall near the Refectory.
By 1904 Corcos was already a quit renowned painter. After his initial apprenticeship in Livorno, his native city, he had lived and painted in Florence and then in Paris, and returned to Tuscany accompanied by a reputation for being an expert portraitist, especially in portraying young women of the bourgeoisie.
When he painted this annunciation Corcos really seemed to adapt the theme with the spirit of those years, setting the scene in a garden of some bourgeois Florentine villa where the Virgin, a young woman, seems to be waiting under the arches of a portico, in an austere attitude, as if waiting for the angel who is already walking along an avenue lined with tall plants. A ray of sunlight, which gilds the first part of the avenue, illuminates the figure of the Virgin with its reflection.

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La tela che vi presento oggi raffigura quello che è il più comune soggetto fiorentino: l'Annunciazione. Il 25 di marzo, giorno dell'Annunciazione, i fiorentini non solo tributavano la loro devozione alla Vergine annunciata. Quello era anche il giorno in cui iniziava l'anno nuovo. A Firenze vigeva infatti un calendario "ab incarnationem".
Non era pertanto facile per gli artisti più recenti confrontarsi con Giotto, Taddeo Gaddi, Pontormo, Ghirlandaio, Botticelli e molti altri maestri.
Siamo nell'anno 1904 quando il pittore livornese Vittorio Matteo Corcos si trovò a confrontarsi con i grandi maestri del passato per realizzare questa grande tela.
Poi, nel maggio 1935, cioè due anni dopo la morte dell'artista e della moglie Emma, la figlia del pittore ne fece dono al convento francescano di Fiesole. Il quadro fu così collocato nel salone vicino al Refettorio.
Nel 1904 Corcos era un pittore oramai affermato. Dopo il suo iniziale apprendistato a Livorno era vissuto a Firenze e poi a Parigi, ed era tornato in Toscana accompagnato da una fama di essere un ritrattista provetto, capace di ritrarre le giovani donne della borghesia.
E nel realizzare quest'annunciazione Corcos sembra davvero affrontare il tema con lo spirito di quegli anni, ambientando la scena in un giardino di una qualche villa borghese fiorentina dove la Vergine, una giovane donna, pare in attesa sotto le arcate di un portico, in atteggiamento austero, come in attesa dell'angelo che già incede percorrendo un viale fiancheggiato da alte piante. Un raggio di sole, che indora la prima parte del viale, illumina col suo riflesso la figura della Vergine.

JOHAN CHRISTIAN DAHL was born on February 24th 1788.His date of birth suggests that he was a painter who lived during th...
15/03/2026

JOHAN CHRISTIAN DAHL was born on February 24th 1788.
His date of birth suggests that he was a painter who lived during the Romantic period.
Born in Norway, Dahl lived for a long time in Denmark, where he had the chance to copy the landscapes by Van Ruysdael, and above all in Dresden, where he met the more mystical painting of Caspar David Friedrich, but he also had a stay in Italy (in Naples, after a short stop in Florence and Rome).
Constable's style is also recognizable in some of his canvases. Yet Dahl's style remains very personal: his captivating landscapes seem to have treasured all these experiences but Dahl never made imitations from any of these great artists who inspired him. I personally find very interesting his "Studies of Clouds" (Wolkenstudie), to which he devoted himself almost throughout his life, analytically reproducing banks of clouds of every color and size, investigating their changing shapes and chromatic qualities.

This painting I am showing in the picture is a view of Copenhagen skyline and is kept in the Altona Museum in Hamburg (Germany).

Aged people, like myself, will certainly remember some mythical boxing matches, such as those between Mohammed Ali vs. F...
08/03/2026

Aged people, like myself, will certainly remember some mythical boxing matches, such as those between Mohammed Ali vs. Foreman, or of Ali himself against Frazier... They are historical meetings: the millionaire rewards, the bets, the mutual threats among the athletes, the value of those extraordinary boxers and the European people getting up in the middle of the night just to attend the direct Television of the great sporting and media event...
There's anything new in all that: the same happened more than two thousand years ago. The greatest boxing matches of all time took place in Sicily, near Erice. It was a memorable encounter that Virgil describes poetically with the skill of a sport commentor. The two contenders were Entellus, local hero, and Dares, Trojan boxer.
The contest was resolved in favor of Entellus which is also the same hero who would have been the mythical founder of the city of Entella (near Palermo, we suppose).
The meeting, organized by Enea who wanted to commemorate with sports games the anniversary of the death of his father Anchises, was presumably in the 11th or 12th century B.C., but the event was of such a magnitude that Virgil told us in the Eneide written a thousand years later, And we also have some images, such as this Roman mosaic found in France, dating back perhaps to the 2nd century B.C. and now dislpayed in the Paul Getty Museum in Malibu (California)

Sortie de l'étang, se couche au soleil la nymphe,allongée, comme la lumière qui la rafraîchit tandis qu'elle embrasse le...
05/03/2026

Sortie de l'étang, se couche au soleil la nymphe,
allongée, comme la lumière qui la rafraîchit
tandis qu'elle embrasse les jonquilles
et boit en silence aux tendres colombes
avec un rêve d'amour au fond du hublot de son cœur,
où flottent encore légers les sourires de jadis.
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Composition écrite par Raffaello Bocciolini.

"Souffle de paix" (2026) - Huile et acrylique de Astrid Jordi Dussert, peintre Suisse.

The construction of Lincoln Cathedral began in 1088 by order of William the Conqueror under Bishop Remigius, who however...
01/03/2026

The construction of Lincoln Cathedral began in 1088 by order of William the Conqueror under Bishop Remigius, who however died shortly before its consacration in 1092.
Following a series of damages caused by an earthquake, the church was almost largely rebuilt in Gothic style in the 13th century. A central spire was later erected, making it the tallest structure in the world. However, the spire was destroyed due to a violent storm in 1548.
The church also hosts many royal tombs such as that of Eleanor of Castile (wife of Edward I) and Katherine Swynford.
Its high vaulted ceilings, its elaborate ribbed vaults, stunning Perbeck marble detailing and some spectacular ornate rose windows render Lincoln Cathedral a really unique building.

AMBROSIUS BENSON (1495ca-1550)His name was Ambrogio Benzoni. Born in Milan, he must have quickly moved to Flanders prett...
26/02/2026

AMBROSIUS BENSON (1495ca-1550)
His name was Ambrogio Benzoni. Born in Milan, he must have quickly moved to Flanders pretty early. In 1528 he's registered as a citizen in Bruges known as Ambrosius Benson. In Bruges he was elected three times in the city council and he often received prestigious commissions. We know he owned several houses.
He learnt in the school of Gérard David, but a document relating to a dispute in the court between pupil and teacher would prove a breakdown in their relations. Ambrosius was a Flemish artist and there's actually nothing Italian in his painting.
He became famous for facing the subject of the Penitent Magdalene, but he showed uncommon talents as a portraitist.
These portrait of Unknown Man is displayed in the Art Gallery of South Australia, in Adelaide and, the same as many other works like these, has been attributed to Benson without any written document. The attribution is only supported by a stilistic comparison with other works of his. As in the best Flemish tradition, Benson shows an amazing skill in the oil technique that allowed him to reproduce difficult details, such as the fur detail on the coat that the man is dressing, showing off his high social status.

THEODOR AXENTOWICZ (Brașov, 13 May 1859 – Krakow, 23 August 1938) was a history painter, portraitist, pastel artist and ...
23/02/2026

THEODOR AXENTOWICZ (Brașov, 13 May 1859 – Krakow, 23 August 1938) was a history painter, portraitist, pastel artist and glassmaker. He studied in Lemberg in Ukraine and then moved to Paris to work in Carolus-Duran's studio. He stayed in England where he made copies of paintings by Correggio, Titian and Diego Velázquez.

He created a stained glass window for Lemberg Cathedral in 1886. He appeared at the Salon des artistes français in Paris in 1888 and then finished his career as a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow.
By Théodor Axentowicz I present to you this youthful "Anchoreta", oil on canvas created in 1881, kept in the National Gallery of Art in Warsaw.

AN EXTRAORDINARY ROMAN CAMEOHerophilus was a gem engraver who lived during the 1st century AD. The famous cameo of Tiber...
20/02/2026

AN EXTRAORDINARY ROMAN CAMEO
Herophilus was a gem engraver who lived during the 1st century AD. The famous cameo of Tiberius, now in the Kunsthistoriches in Vienna, is generally attributed to him. It is the portrait of the emperor Tiberius, with the details of the pronounced chin, curly hair and a thin beard.
The beauty of this cameo lies precisely in this: the portrait of the emperor, despite the attention to physiognomic details, is permeated with that aura of idealization that became so fashionable in Laurentian Florence at the end of the 15th century.
I don't know what may have brought this splendid gem into the Viennese collections, but it is to be assumed that in the private collections of Lorenzo Magnifico, as in those of his father Piero, there were valuable pieces like this, works that amazed artists of the caliber of Donatello, Desiderio, Pollaiolo, Verrocchio, Ghirlandaio, Filippino Lippi and Botticelli who then drew inspiration from them for their masterpieces.

AUGUSTE RENOIR - "Paysage de neige" 1875/76 - Oil on cavas - (cm 51 X66)-Grand Palais (Musée de l'Orangerie) Paris-Mone...
16/02/2026

AUGUSTE RENOIR - "Paysage de neige" 1875/76 - Oil on cavas - (cm 51 X66)
-Grand Palais (Musée de l'Orangerie) Paris-

Monet and Pissarro often dedicated themselves to the depiction of snowy landscapes, even if none of the Impressionists ever managed to paint as many as Alfred Sisley... On the other hand, few were painted by Rénoir. It is he himself who confessed to Ambrose Vollard that he hated the cold and that for this reason he had only painted one picture with this subject. A single painting and two or three preparatory sketches. This "Paysage de Néige" that I propose to you is probably one of these sketches. It was built during the winter of 1875, a rather harsh winter, at least according to the news.
It is a small oil on canvas (73.5 Snow does not cover the entire landscape. This is an intuition that allows the painter to experiment, with an entirely impressionist technique, a wider range of contrasts between lights and shadows. Like many similar compositions by Monet, in this painting too the snow is not white but absorbs all the colors of the buildings and vegetation that surround it.

UNDER THE JACARANDARICHARD GODFREY RIVERS (1858-1925) was 31 years old when he moved to Australia.He was born in Plymout...
12/02/2026

UNDER THE JACARANDA
RICHARD GODFREY RIVERS (1858-1925) was 31 years old when he moved to Australia.
He was born in Plymouth (England) and had trained as a painter in London where he was already a renowned landscape painter.

This painting is part of the collection of the Queensland Art Gallery in Brisbane.
Under the jacaranda was painted by Godfrey Rivers, in 1903, offering us a typically English theme and tradition: that of "taking tea" in an nice, outdoor setting.
In this painting that has often been described as "the quintessential Brisbane painting" the artist depicted himself and his wife, Selina, under the shade of a beautiful jacaranda tree in full bloom (so, it must be in november) in the Brisbane City Botanic Gardens.
Rivers manages to magnificently capture the majestic shape of the tree, in its typical color with the contrasting green vegetation and the bright touch of the red umbrella. It is also said that this was the first jacaranda tree in Australia and that it was planted in the Brisbane Botanic Gardens by the garden's first curator Walter Hill.

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