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XXVII BIENNIALE INTERNATIONAL BIENNIAL ANTIQUES FAIR OF FLORENCE Florence, Palazzo Corsini •October 1st to the 9th, 2011 This autumn, Italy's most important art and antiques showcase the Florence Biennale, takes place from the 1st-9th October. Eighty-eight fine art and antique dealers (74 Italian and 14 international) will take part in the forthcoming 27th Florence International Antiques Fair in the Palazzo Corsini. Visitors will have the chance to see over 3,000 objects from a diverse range of disciplines such as painting, sculpture, furniture, books and rugs, all of which will be for sale. The spectacular Palazzo Corsini, situated in the heart of the city, overlooking the Arno River provides the perfect location for such an event. As well as the delights of the Biennale, visitors could also take a day trip to discover the delightful capital of the sculpture world, Pietrasanta. Since Michaelangelo first found the marble quarries there to be unsurpassed, sculptors including Fernando Botero, Igor Mitoraj and latterly Marc Quinn have flocked there to work in the many studios devoted to the stone. Recent recipient of an Honorary OBE (the only female artist to be awarded one) sculptor Helaine Blumenfeld is being honoured by the city of Pietrasanta with a solo celebratory show which will include new monumental works in the Piazza and an installation in the town church. The exhibition will be on throughout the Biennale until October 16th. Pietrasanta is located 56 miles (90 kilometers) from Florence, just off the A12 Genova - Livorno autostrada. Alternatively the Rome - Genoa train runs between the two and takes 90 minutes. Eighty-eight fine art and antique dealers – 74 Italian and 14 foreign – will take part in the forthcoming 27th Florence International Antiques Fair, which takes place between 1-9 October 2011 in the Palazzo Corsini. Pier Luigi Pizzi will once again be responsible for the design and lay out of the Fair. Mario and Giuseppe Bellini launched the first Fair in 1959, which has gone on to become the most important Italian art exhibition in the world. As the current Secretary General of the Fair, Giovanni Pratesi says “over half a century old and still as passionate as ever”. The Biennale offers collectors a very broad choice of objects across different disciplines, between them exhibitors will display over 3,000 objects for sale. Robilant + Voena, London and Milan, are bringing two recently rediscovered paintings by Thomas Patch (1725-1782) entitled, View of the Arno with the Santa Trinita Bridge and View of Piazza della Signoria, which have been conserved for over half a century in a German private collection. These two works are exemplary of Patch’s production, showing two of the most famous sites of Florence: Piazza della Signoria, taken from the north and showing in the centre the two most famous buildings, Palazzo Vecchio and the Loggia dei Lanzi, and the Santa Trinita bridge shown from the Oltrarno riverbank. A painting by the Veronese artist Marco Marcola (1740-1793) offers significant documentation of a scene of 18th century life. Shown by Galleria Previtali, Bergamo, Festival in the Square, which is signed and dated 1772, portrays the everyday reality of contemporary life. There will be a strong offering of drawings at the Fair, including seven by Canaletto (1697-1768,from an important private collection, showing preparatory sketches for important paintings of Venetian views which are being brought by Damiano Lapiccirella, Florence; a pastel drawing by Rosalba Carriera with the Portrait of Agostino Suarez is being exhibited by Carlo Orsi, Milan; as well as a rare watercolour, pencil, pen and ink showing an Allegory of the City of Florence, executed by Pietro Antonio Novelli (1729-1804), which is being shown by Simone Romano e Figli, Florence. Longari Arte, Milan, is presenting an antique book by Giuseppe Zocchi, (1711-1767) with twenty-four views of the principal streets, squares, churches and palazzi of the city of Florence. The binding is in full red Morocco, complete with frontispiece and twenty-four double-page plates engraved after drawings by Zocchi. There will be many fine examples of Italian sculpture. Trinity Fine Art, London, will display a moving terracotta sculpture showing the Risen Christ by Alessandro Algardi (1598-1654), the greatest Baroque sculptor together with Bernini; a series of six tondi in marble on touchstone showing members of the Petrucci family, executed by Antonio Montauti (1683-1746) will be exhibited by Gallori Turchi Anttichità, Florence, as well as a pair of marble busts attributed to the workshop of Lorenzo Bartolini (1777-1856), portraying Napoleon and Maria Luisa of Habsburg-Lorraine which is being shown by Gianfranco Iotti e Figlio Antichità, Reggio Emilia. Worthy of note too is a triptych by Alberto Arnoldi (1351-1377/1379) and the circle of the Master of Marradi in the 1490, containing a wooden sculpture in the round portraying a Madonna and Child which is being exhibited by Lisa De Carlo. Italian furniture can be seen on the stand of Piva & Cie, Milan who plan to show a pair of turned and carved 17th-century tables in walnut with tops of Verona marble, made in the typical Lombard style while a large 18th-century Venetian mirror, with decorations, gilded highlights and inserts in mother-of-pearl is being brought to the Fair by Gallo Antiquariato, Milan. All the works exhibited at the Biennale will be monitored by the Scientific Committee, which has the task of checking the authenticity of the works on display, their conservation and correct attribution. On 28 September, two Committees, the first appointed by the Florence Exports Office, and the second sent by the Ministry for the Cultural Heritage, will examine the works for which Italian exhibitors have requested a certificate of free circulation, a document that allows Italian works of art to circulate abroad. The Committees will give a definitive decision on the exportability or otherwise of the works examined on the same day. This is a modus operandi unique to the Florence Biennale, which has been consolidated and refined over the years and further underscores the international dimension of the event.
Collateral initiatives The Biennale continues to support Corri la Vita, an association devoted to the study and prevention of breast cancer presided over by the Marchioness Bona Frescobaldi. On 1 October a charity evening will be held and during the dinner Christie’s will auction works of art donated by exhibitors at the Biennale. The association will be the beneficiary of the entire proceeds of the auction. On 5 October prizes will be awarded to the best painting and sculpture at the Fair. The prizes, amounting to 10,000 Euros each, will be destined to the restoration of a work of art from the public cultural heritage. On 6 October the "Lorenzo d’oro" prize will be awarded to Piero Angela, for his long and successful career as a director of documentaries. A celebration of Helaine Blumenfeld's spiritual marble and bronze sculptures coincides with the Florence Biennale and will be taking place in nearby Pietrasanta, the world's centre of international sculptors, from 3 September - 16 October 2011. A former vice-president of the Royal British Society of Sculptors, Blumenfeld has just been awarded an Honorary OBE for services to the arts. Notes to Editors: The Florence International Art Fair is organised by Expo Arte e Cultura S.r.l. Via del Parione 11 50123 Firenze T: +39 055 282 283, +39 055 282 635 F: +39 055 214 831 E: info@biennaleantiquariato.it W: www.biennaleantiquariato.it Pietrasanta is located 56 miles (90 kilometers) from Florence, just off the A12 Genova - Livorno autostrada. Alternatively the Rome - Genoa train runs between the two and takes 90 minutes.
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