It’s an unlikely outcome, but the Renaissance master is one of several names suggested by art experts keen to pre-empt today’s announcement by the NGV of a major discovery among its 16th-century paintings. But The Australian believes the work in question is Portrait of a Youth, painted in about 1520 and purchased by the gallery in 1965 through European art contacts. Its circa 1520 provenance suggests it could be Francois I of France, a young Henry VIII, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (later Charles I of Spain), or one of the Medici, D’Este or Borgia families. For the past two years, staff conservator Carl Villis has been researching Portrait of a Youth in Italy and in the gallery’s conservation laboratory. One year after the NGV was embarrassed by the de-attribution of its late 19th-century work Head of a Man from Vincent Van Gogh to an unknown Dutch painter, the gallery may have a new masterpiece.
The sale is unlikely, however, to include Ceroli’s massive and intricate sphere, entitled Squilibrio (Imbalance), which stands at Fiumicino airport outside Rome and is intended as a homage to Leonardo Da Vinci, the Renaissance genius who foresaw manned flight. Officials at Alitalia, which began flying in 1947, said the collection had its beginnings during happier times in the 1950s, when the airline bought modern art works to decorate its boardrooms, VIP lounges and even its fleet of DC8 aircraft. The policy was intended to show the world the best of Italy on the country’s flag carrier, officials said. Last week he announced that, despite protests by Alitalia trade unions, he had agreed to sell the airline to a group of Italian investors, CAI, in a deal worth more than €1 billion (£840 million). He said the handover would take place on December 1 but ENAC, the Italian aviation authority, said yesterday that the relaunch would be delayed till mid-December as “loose ends” were tied up, including final talks with the unions and the sale of some assets.
The school year may be 2008-2009, but the school’s “theme” is the Renaissance. Teachers and students are being very creative in how they incorporate Renaissance ideas and concepts into regular school activities and programs. Part of the Red Ribbon Week program celebrated the lives of four Renaissance leaders, so the school could include references to Renaissance gains in the arts and sciences. These four great men also reminded students in the audience that if they wanted to change the world, they would need to make good choices and stay away from things that would harm them, such as drugs, alcohol, and tobacco.
