(17 January 2017) The conference held by Professor Sante Guido at the Italian Cultural Institute of Valletta on 26 January at 18:30 is devoted to Caravaggio’s life as told by Giovan Pietro Bellori. The event- which will see the participation of Professor Denis de Lucca, director of the International Institute for Baroque Studies – is sponsored by the University of Malta- International Institute for Baroque Studies. Giovan Pietro Bellori (Rome, 1613-1969) was one of the most important art historians who in 1664 changed European tastes with his “L’Idea del Bello” at the Academy of Saint Luke in Rome. He was the biographer of many Italian Baroque artists and was considered to be the Giorgio Vasari of his time. In 1924, the art historian Julius von Schlosser in his “Letteratura artisica: Manuale delle fonti della storia dell’arte moderna” (Art literature: Manual of sources of modern art history), wrote: “the most important art historiographer not only in Rome but in all of Italy and Europe in the 17th century is the erudite, Giovan Pietro Bellori, whose value and influence surpass the limitations of the niche field to which he belongs”. In 1950, Roberto Longhi harshly criticised Bellori because he did not understand the revolutionary value of great 17th century artists such as Vélazquez, Bernini, Rubens, Cortona, and Borromini. Bellori’s biography of Caravaggio remains, however, a fundamental piece of writing for understanding the life of the great and “damned” artist. Sante Guido reconstructs the artistic and cultural climate which gave birth to the greatest masterpieces in the history of art through a reading and commentary of excerpts from Bellori’s writing. (Red)
