The United States and Florence (1815-1915): artistic models, inspirations and influences
In Honor of the Bicentenary of the U.S. Consolate General in Florence
From the first half of the nineteenth century until the outbreak of the World War, Florence and Tuscany increasingly became a center of cultural attraction for American artists and intellectuals; the ideal place for their usual educational journeys, which was often destined to become their second homeland, that is, the reason to remain permanently. Driven by the desire to deepen their knowledge of Renaissance art, painters, sculptors and connoseurs moved towards the Arno River’s banks and then returned home overseas rich in cultural and artistic models from the past but also from contemporary masters: an exchange of ideas, influences and suggestions that contributed to mutually enriching and deeply connecting the small region of Tuscany and the young American nation.
Monday September 23rd
9.30 - 10.00 | Registration
10.00 - 10.30 | Introduction
Eike Schmidt, Director, The Uffizi Galleries
Benjamin V. Wohlauer, US. Consul General in Florence
10.30 - 12.00 | Moderator: Cinzia Maria Sicca Bursill-Hall, Università di Pisa
Michele Amedei, Ph.D. Art Historian, University of Florence
Protagonisti del Romanticismo americano nelle esposizioni dell’Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze al tempo della Restaurazione
Karen Lemmey, Ph.D. Curator of the Department of Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC.
Henry Kirke Brown: Sculpting an American Identity in Florence (1843)
John F. McGuigan Jr, Art Historian, Independent Scholar
A Maine Sculptor in Florence. John Adams Jackson, 1825–1879
12.00 - 13.00 | Debate
13.00 - 15.00 | Lunch Break
15.00 - 17.00 | Moderator: Ettore Spalletti, Former Professor of Museology and History of Collecting, Università di Pisa
Mary K. McGuigan, Art Historian, Independent Scholar
A good bohemian. Elihu Vedder in Florence, 1857-1860
Anna Mazzanti, University Researcher in Contemporary Art, Politecnico di Milano, Dipartimento di Design
Un’affascinante e sfortunata Ilaria del Carretto americana. Elisabeth Duveneck Boott e il realismo macchiaiolo
Claudio Paolini, Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali, Soprintendenza di Firenze
Gli americani a Firenze. Case, palazzi, alberghi e altri luoghi del Sentimental Journey
17.00 - 18.00 | Debate and Conclusions
Tuesday September 24th
10.00 - 10.30 | Chairman: Giovanni Cipriani, Professor of Modern History, Università di Firenze
Valeria Bruni, Professor of Contemporary Art, Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze
Racconti neri e gothic revival: Hawthorne, Twain, Wharton e i loro illustratori
Lucia Mannini, Ph.D Art Historian
E un giorno una signora… Incroci culturali tra Firenze e gli Stati Uniti nelle arti decorative. Dall’ebanisteria alle arti del filo, tra collezionismo, produzione e filantropia
Giuseppe Rizzo, Uffizi Galleries, Florence and Ph.D candidate, Ruprecth-Karl-Universität Heidelberg, Germany
The lure of bronze: l’arte della fusione monumentale da Firenze allo spazio pubblico negli Stati Uniti (1850-1900)
Elisa Camporeale, Professor of Museum Studies, Museum Studies Graduate Degree Program, Marist College-Istituto Lorenzo de’ Medici
Primitivi italiani nelle collezioni statunitensi tra fine Ottocento e inizio Novecento: dalla casa al museo
12.00 - 13.00 | Debate and Conclusions
