Actuality
Friday, May 3, 2024
11.30am
De Nittis protagonist in Milan. Two conferences on the artist from Barletta
The note from the Municipality of Barletta
The painter from Barletta Giuseppe De Nittis is increasingly a protagonist in Milanese cultural activities.
In addition to the highly successful exhibition “Giuseppe De Nittis, painter of modern life” currently taking place at Palazzo Reale (it will be present until 30 June) the impressionist artist, his life and his works will be at the center of two conferences .
May 9th (starting at 5.00pm in the Conference Room of Palazzo Reale) the journalist from Barletta Nino Vinella, author of the volume At the table with De Nittis, Italian, painter, gourmet (and his friends), will tell the story of De Nittis and his wife Leontine (played for the occasion by two actors) through the works of the famous artist, but also the Saturday evenings that took place in their home in Paris, appreciated by all for the informal atmosphere, lively conversation, good music and truly exquisite food, cooked by the host. In addition to lifelong friends, such as the two Goncourt brothers, Desboutin, Daudet, Manet, Degas, Caillebotte, Claretie, characters such as Oscar Wilde, Zola, Dumas son, Burty, Forain, Legros, Stevens, Tissot, the Princess Mathilde Bonaparte, Gustave Doré, Huysmans, Leconte de Lisle, Maupassant. And then, of course, the Italians passing through Paris. Among all, Diego Martelli, the great critic and supporter of the Macchiaioli and passionate about the Impressionists, who left us an extraordinary description of that “house of a Parisian true, of those Parisians who are perhaps baptized in Barletta, but who are legitimate”. To this testimony must be added others, such as the enthusiastic one of Edmond de Goncourt who, in his famous Journala memorable chronicle of those extraordinary years, gave us every moment of those “truly enchanting” dinners, among the sparkling of the foukousas Japanese, “which are like very bright and very cheerful spots on the walls” and the scent of the “large plate of macaroni” that “he cooks himself, in his Neapolitan guise. The participation of the President of the Council Commission on Culture Ruggiero Fiorella is expected to represent the municipal administration. The meeting will be moderated by the historian of popular traditions Giuseppe Selvaggi.
The second appointment will be held on May 21st at 5pm in the same location and will deal with “French fashion at the time of De Nittis”. Prof. Maria Teresa Zanola of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart and the Accademia della Crusca will speak. We will describe the sensitivity of De Nittis’ gaze which paints a picture of the fashion of his time. Through his wife Léontine, his muse and model, the main features of one’s life will be presented Parisiana mediating figure of novelty and style, in which the myth of European and international female elegance and the symbol of new femininity are definitively structured.
The outcome of in-depth studies and linguistic interests in diachrony will be illustrated, which reconstruct maps of the lexicon and terminology of fashion from the 1870s-1880s, finding an essential visual documentation in the collection of Denittisian female images. In this same context, perspectives of another nature will be inserted, thanks to the precious contributions provided by the numerous French fashion magazines, by studies on the history of fashion and customs of the time, as well as by the catalogs of grands magasins Parisians, born in the 1850s, thanks to whom the process of democratization of fashion was consecrated.
Editorial board
