ISSIMO loves art
Sotheby’s Masters Week has kicked off and Marie-Louise is proud to celebrate some old friends – artists Sandro Botticelli and Gian Lorenzo Bernini, two of Italy’s top masters emblematic of the Renaissance and Baroque periods.
“Of the hundreds of pieces showcased in Sotheby’s Master’s Week auction, Botticelli and Bernini’s pieces resonate with me the most. I have a minor in art history and, thanks to growing up in Rome, I have a soft spot for classical art. Being compulsively curious, I’m interested in knowing more about these masters and what they did to change the course of art history.” Marie-Louise adds.
“In Italy, Botticelli and Bernini are ever present in our lives – when we visit our churches, museums, galleries and in our walks down the street. The fibers of their creativity fuel Italy today.”
Marie-Louise Sciò.
Master Paintings & Sculpture Part I
Live Auction today at 10:00 AM EST.
Marie-Louise is captivated by Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s Autumn (circa 1615-18), carved when Gian Lorenzo was between 17 and 20 years old and also attributed to his father Pietro, a noted artist of his own. “Bernini singularly decorated the city of Rome. From his Four Rivers fountain in Piazza Navona and his father’s Barcaccia in Piazza di Spagna to Galleria Borghese and Largo Santa Susanna, we encounter a sculpture, a detail, an ornament in almost every piazza. Autumn is dear to me as it embodies my favourite season in Rome.”
Botticelli’s 15th-century masterpiece, Young Man Holding a Roundel (circa 1480), is one of the Renaissance master’s 12 known portraits believed to be in existence and is billed as “one of the most significant portraits, of any period, ever to appear at auction.”
“Botticelli is all about beauty and personality, subtle as well as overt. His paintings exude kinetic energy, and his figures and portraits are reminders of the ongoing celebration of life. We need more of that.”
The Collection of Hester Diamond Part I
Live Auction Friday, Jan 29 at 10:00 AM EST.
Margaret H Schwartz Sotheby’s Senior Vice President and Co-Head of Old Master Sculpture, on the prodigy and genius of GianLorenzo Bernini.
Catch up on Botticelli’s Eternal Beauty
British art historian and broadcaster Andrew Graham Dixon decodes the Renaissance meanings behind the sitter, the saint and the sky in Botticelli’s Young Man Holding a Roundel.
