THE CURATORS' QUADERNO - Issue 5

The Search for Violante

"Violante didn’t work under the auspices of a Grand Duchess, like Giovanna Fratellini before her. Yet, the lower echelons of Florentine nobility threw parties, hosted salons, organised art exhibitions and held festivals – all potential occasions in which to garner commissions. This period also saw the burgeoning of the English Community in Florence – comprised of English speakers of all nationalities – and Violante achieved considerable acclaim in the Grand Tour circuit. Her time is one of the lesser studied eras in Florentine history – yet her contemporaries laid the foundations of the modern era, and within that context, she played a significant role,” says curator and art historian Giulia Coco of Violante Siries, the eighteenth-century artist at the centre of a restoration project organised by the AADFI and Syracuse University in Florence, and sponsored by the AWA Legacy Fund.

The Curators’ Quaderno is a collection of notebook-style publications, conceived by Calliope Arts, in collaboration with The Florentine Press, to raise awareness of women’s contributions to the fields of art, science and culture. Issue 5, co-sponsored by the AWA Legacy Fund, features descoveries made by conservators and scholars during the year-long restoration of Violante's Reading Madonna and two smaller ovals depicting Saint Catherine and Saint Agnes.

Subscribe to The Florentine to find upcoming issues of the publication included for free quarterly. Non-subscribers can purchase the notebook here.

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