by Penny | 26 Feb, 2015 | News, Renaissance Art, Rome - Eternal City, Sculpture, Social History, The Medici
There are two sculptures of Marsyas positioned opposite one another in the Uffizi and they are so unusual I have often been asked by my visitors to explain what is going on! Unfortunately this is not a particularly edifying story because the satyr Marsyas is portrayed...
by Penny | 12 Feb, 2015 | Architecture, Books, News, poets and poetry, Religious History, Renaissance Art, Sculpture, Social History, The Medici
Via dell’Ardiglione “What’s in a name?” – mused Juliet from her balcony in Verona and although few streets in Florence can claim to smell as sweet as a rose, it is an excellent question because most of the street names in Florence have...
by Penny | 8 Oct, 2014 | Architecture, Exhibitions, Feature, Films, Films set in Italy, News, poets and poetry, Sculpture, Social History, Tuscan gardens
The “English” Cemetery in Florence is , despite it’s name , in fact owned by the Swiss Evangelical Reformed Church, which bought land outside the medieval wall of the city in 1827 from Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Their intention was to...
by Penny | 2 Aug, 2014 | Australia, Books, Exhibitions, News, Painting, poets and poetry, Sculpture, UK Activity
One of our favourite models for our Watercolour Workshops in Florence is Australian Equitation expert Victor Caulfield. For the past two years watercolour portraitist and I have held our Watercolour Workshops at his previous home in Florence in the famous home of the...
by Penny | 19 Jul, 2014 | News, Religious History, Renaissance Art, Sculpture, Social History
At a time when the Medici family were still ‘painting gold round the head of the Madonna’ as a insurance policy against an eternity in the Inferno – King Henry VIII of England , already Ex-Communicated by Medici Pope Clement VII, authorised the...
by Penny | 2 May, 2014 | Exhibitions, Festival of San Giovanni, Music, Painting, Renaissance Art, Sculpture
3rd Festa della Cultura – San Giovanni Battista Firenze, Italia Mostra – Convegno – Musica – Visite Spiritualità – Comunità sabato 14 – giovedì 26 giugno 2014 PRESS RELEASE – updated 15 May 2014 The festival is dedicated to...
