Saturday, February 18, 2006

Newsy bits and pieces...

From ANSA:
(ANSA) - Florence, February 17 - Italians restorers have managed to rescue a Gentile da Fabriano masterpiece that had long been believed lost because of severe fire damage .
The work, a rare five-pannelled altarpiece called a polyptych, had been gathering dust in the basement of Palazzo Pitti since a fire in 1897 .
It was taken out for the first time a few years ago and experts decided to try to recover it .
The two-year restoration has largely restored the vivid colours and splashes of gold the pre-Renaissance master (1370-1427) is famous for .
The restorers used infra-red scanners to pick out figures under the charred surface of the picture .
A classic religious motif, the Intercession of Mary, forms the centre-piece of the complex work, which also features the Resurrection of Lazarus and a number of saints including St.Bernard holding a devil on a leash .
The Corriere has a photo of the polyptych.
Also from ANSA:
(ANSA) - Milan, February 17 - An ancient bundle of designs, sketches, notes and ideas by Renaissance genius Leonardo da Vinci will shortly open to the public at Milan's Sforza Castle .
The exhibition of the Codex Trivulzianus, normally accessible only to scholars, has been timed to coincide with the fifth centenary of Leonardo's return to Milan .
Although originally from Tuscany, Leonardo spent a great deal of his life in Milan, residing there from 1482 to 1499 and again from 1506 until 1513 .
The precious manuscript, usually stored in the private Trivulziana Library in the Sforza Castle, last went on public display in 1998 .

Il Papa seems to be talking about his last fishing trip.
Ooooookay... It's not quite as awful as Archbishop Niederauer's vestments but Cardinal Lehman's outfit is pretty bizarre.

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