Italian Art Guide - Links to Italian art on the net.

The Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art is a museum in Canonbury Square in the district of Islington on the northern fringes of central London. It is the United Kingdom's only gallery devoted to modern Italian art.

The Estorick Collection was founded by American sociologist and writer Eric Estorick (1913-93), who began to collect art when he moved to England after the Second World War. Estorick and his German-born English wife Salome (1920-1989) discovered Umberto Boccioni’s book Futurist Painting and Sculpture (1914) while they were on their honeymoon in 1947. Before the end of their trip they visited erstwhile Futurist Mario Sironi in Milan and bought most of the contents of his studio, including hundreds of drawings. They built up the collection mainly between 1953 and 1958. The collection was shown in several temporary exhibitions, including one at the Tate Gallery in London in 1956, and the key works were on long term loan to the Tate from 1966 to 1975. The Estoricks rejected offers to purchase their collection from the Italian government and museums in the United States and Israel. Six months prior to his death Eric Estorick set up the Eric and Salome Estorick Foundation, to which he donated all his Italian works. The Estorick Collection moved to its current premises in Northumberland Lodge, a converted Grade II-listed Georgian house, in 1998. The project was supported by a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The core of the collection is its Futurist works, but it also includes figurative art and sculpture dating from 1890 to the 1950s. It features paintings by Futurism's main protagonists: Giacomo Balla, Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Carrà, Gino Severini, Luigi Russolo and Ardengo Soffici, works by Giorgio de Chirico, Amedeo Modigliani, Giorgio Morandi, Mario Sironi and Marino Marini, and a number of paintings and sculptures by contemporary English artists including Edward Dutkiewicz. In addition to the main displays from the permanent collection, the Estorick Gallery organises temporary exhibitions, both in its own galleries, and on tour.

The Roman period, as we know it, begins after the Punic Wars and the subsequent invasion of the Greek cities of the Mediterranean. The Hellenistic styles then current in Greek civilization were adopted.

The cultic and decorative use of sculpture and pictorial mosaic survive in the ruins of both temples and villas.

As the empire matured, other less naturalistic, sometimes more dramatic, sometimes more severe, styles were developed -- especially as the center of empire moved to eastern Italy and then to Constantinople.

Leonardo Da Vinci.

The Renaissance is said to have begun in 14th century Italy. The rediscovery of Ancient Greek and Roman art and classics brought better proportions, perspective and use of lighting in art. Wealthy families, such as the Medicis, and the papacy served as patrons for many Italian artists, including Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo Buonarroti, Donatello, Sandro Botticelli and Raphael.

The focus of most art remained religious. Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel, and sculpted his famous "Pietà". Leonardo painted the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper. Raphael painted several Madonnas. Both Michelangelo and Donatello sculpted visions of David.

The gothic period was also known as the baseline for the modern era of art, followed by the remaining articles of faith.