Saturday, December 19, 2020
I am delighted and honored to welcome one of my favorite art historians for this very special Holiday Event! Dott.ssa Cristina Acidini shared with us her favorite paintings of Adoration of the Magi, and her favorite Florentine Christmas traditions (and the meaning of Befana!).
Florentine based art historian, Cristina has spent most of her professional life at the service of the Italian Ministry for Cultural Heritage. From 2000 to 2014 she was superintendent in Florence, first of the Opificio delle Pietre Dure and then of the Florentine Museum Complex, which included twenty-seven state art museums including the Uffizi Gallery, the Accademia Gallery, Palazzo Pitti with the Garden of Boboli, etc. She is president of the Academy of the Arts of Drawing in Florence (the oldest artistic academy in the world, founded in 1563 by Giorgio Vasari in honor of Michelangelo) and the Casa Buonarroti Foundation, which houses sculptures, documents and drawings by the great artist. Among her writings are books on Botticelli, Michelangelo, the Medici, gardens and other Renaissance themes, as well as two novels. Feast your eyes on the details of works by Gentile da Fabriano, Benozzo Gozzoli, and Filippo Lippi, while learning about Judeo-Christian context of these beloved masterpieces.