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Austin360 blogs > Austin Arts: Seeing Things > Archives > 2010 > February > 05
Friday, February 5, 2010
Arrivederci Petrobelli Altarpiece, hello ‘Desire’
It took art historians 200 years — and a good measure of serendipity — to put reconstruct the Petrobelli Altarpiece after the gorgeous 16th-century massive canvas by Renaissance master artist Paolo Veronese was chopped apart in 1788 when the Northern Italian church it was created for was destroyed.
And Sunday is the last day we’ll have to see the Petrobelli Altarpiece at UT’s Blanton Museum of Art. Actually it’s the last chance we’ll ever have to see the reconstructed monumental painting.
On a visit to the Blanton in 2006, British scholar Xavier Salomon realized that a small Veronese painting of St. Michael from the Blanton’s Suida-Manning Collection was actually a missing piece of the Petrobelli Altarpiece.
Salomon’s discovery led to the unique reconstruction of the fragments of the Petrobelli Altarpiece.
And when the exhibit closes Sunday, the fragments will go back to their respective homes at the Dulwich Picture Gallery in London and the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, Ontario, which also hosted the exhibit, and to the National Gallery of Scotland.
So this is the last chance, ever, you’ll see the Petrobelli Altarpiece as a whole. Get to the Blanton!
And read the full art history mystery story here.
While you’re at the Blanton this weekend you can also catch the first weekend of ‘Desire’ the intriguing new exhibit featuring more than 50 works in all media from the likes of Bill Viola, Glenn Ligon, Mairly Minter, Isaac Juilien and many others. ‘Desire’ examines desire in its myriad creative manifestations.
On Saturday at 2 p.m., join Ligon and Minter in the Blanton auditorium for a talk moderated by ‘Desire’ curator, Annette DiMeo Carlozzi.
