Event: Displaying Siena: The National Gallery exhibitions on the Medieval and Renaissance city in 2007 and 2025 Seminar
Date: Thursday 20 February 2025
Time: 17:00-19:00
Venue: Arts Lecture Theatre (ALT), University of Malta, Msida Campus
In 2025, two significant exhibitions will spotlight Italian Trecento (14th century) painting. The first, “A New Look at Cimabue: At the Origins of Italian Painting”, is currently on display at the Louvre in Paris until 12 May 2025. This marks the Louvre's inaugural exhibition dedicated to Cimabue, a pivotal 13th-century artist renowned for introducing naturalism into Western painting. The exhibition features approximately forty works, including the recently restored Maestà and the newly acquired Christ Mocked, rediscovered in 2019.
The second exhibition, “Siena: The Rise of Painting, 1300–1350”, will open on 8 March at the National Gallery of Art in London and will run until 22 June 2025. This exhibition celebrates the golden era of Sienese art, showcasing masterpieces by artists such as Duccio, Simone Martini, and the Lorenzetti brothers. Notably, it reunites dispersed panels from Duccio's monumental Maestà and Simone Martini's Orsini Polyptych, offering a comprehensive view of early 14th-century Sienese painting.
In conjunction with these exhibitions, Prof. Charlene Vella from the University of Malta's Department of Art and Art History, Faculty of Arts will host a seminar featuring distinguished scholars Prof. Donal Cooper (University of Cambridge) and Prof. Fabrizio Nevola (University of Exeter). Prof. Cooper will contrast the National Gallery's current exhibition on Trecento art with its 2007 exhibition, “Renaissance Siena: Art for a City”, and will also discuss Cimabue, referencing the Louvre's exhibition. Prof. Nevola will examine perceptions of Sienese art during the Late Middle Ages and the Renaissance, highlighting both the continuity and innovative qualities present across these periods.
This seminar promises to provide valuable insights into the evolution of Italian painting and the enduring legacy of Sienese artists.
More information is available on the Facebook page.
