Francesca Baldry

Catalogue exhibition 2017-2018 at Il Palmerino Florence, with the first entire unpublished story of the Angeli brothers workshop, with a specific focus on their work in the Villas in Florida and Cote d'Azur.
New catalogue on 2023 exhibition at Palazzo Medici Riccardi cocurator with Daniela Magnetti (Palazzo Bricherasio, Banca Patrimoni Sella).

Dal 7 ottobre al 7 gennaio 2024 è aperta al pubblico la mostra dedicata a Federigo Angeli e il mito del Rinascimento nel XX secolo promossa dalla Città Metropolitana di Firenze, organizzata da Banca Patrimoni Sella & C. attraverso la sua Direzione Artistica e grazie alla collaborazione di Sella Sgr, società appartenenti al gruppo Sella, Associazione MUS.E e Associazione Il Palmerino.

Il progetto espositivo, curato da Francesca Baldry e Daniela Magnetti, nasce e si sviluppa attorno a due grandi dipinti in pendant di Federigo Angeli (1891-1952) dal titolo “Dama a cavallo con corteo cavalleresco” e “Signore a cavallo con corteo cavalleresco”, appartenenti alla collezione di Sella Sgr su cui il laboratorio Thierry Radelet di Torino ha effettuato un importante lavoro di restauro. Grazie alla collaborazione con diversi storici dell’arte e alla sinergia con enti pubblici e istituzioni private, le ricerche hanno permesso di giungere ad una corretta attribuzione delle opere; inoltre, attraverso le preziose testimonianze documentali conservate presso l’Associazione Il Palmerino aps, si è potuto ricostruire il viaggio dei due dipinti, riscrivendo una pagina di storia dell’arte altrimenti sconosciuta.

Primo studio di insieme sul collezionista e committente inglese (1810-1903) - personalità poliedrica e geniale, notissima ai suoi tempi - il saggio ne ricostruisce la storia, analizza i suoi rapporti con l'ambiente di Oxford e con la società culturale di Firenze Capitale e racconta l'affascinante avventura del restauro 'in stile' del medievale Castello di Vincigliata sulle colline fiesolane. Fondamentale la ricostruzione della dispersa collezione d'arte che il mecenate allestì scenograficamente all'interno del castello e la riscoperta di artigiani e artisti attivi a Vincigliata e poi impegnati nei più celebri cantieri di restauro di edifici monumentali fiorentini.

The essay is part of the exhibition catalogue "The Treasure Rooms. Collectors and Antique Dealers in Florence between the 19th and 20th centuries" edited by Lucia Mannini (Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Firenze settembre 2011-aprile 2012), Firenze, Polistampa, 2011.

Un viaggio di stile nella bottega degli Angeli (p. 10_ translation J. Costa):
The fortune of the Angeli family, with their work as copyists, conservators, and period decorators for Palazzo Davanzati in 1908-1910, followed immediately by their painted interiors in Castel del Diavolo (viale Michelangelo), property of the Detroit painter Julius Rolshoven (1858- 1930), and their migration in 1923 to the luxury coasts of Florida and California, then on to the French Riviera (Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat and Montecarlo, 1929-30) and Paris (1928) with the magnate Paris Eugene Singer (1867-1932), was the result of an ideal partnership in Florence, and then in the United States, between a language that harked back to an earlier time in terms of technique and subjects and the demand, as Praz writes, “of consolidated social ambition”. An encounter and a fruitful exchange between the artisanal tradition – that authentic tradition that dated back to the medieval bottega – and the rich clients of America’s Gilded Age who, as collectors and lovers of the fine arts, found their raison d’être in commissioning and collecting ancient and revival works (or “copies”) of art, thereby creating a taste and a style that was the heir of the “Florentine style.”

The paper is published in Arte Veneta and its is part of a project carried out by Fondazione Cini (Monica De Vincenti and Simone Gurriero).
This section is about the collecting of the Veneto statues in the Acton Garden and the taste of the Neo Renaissanbte / Settecento La Pietra garden designed by Arthur Acton.

An Essay dedicated to the Acton tapestries at Villa La Pietra in the contest of early Twentith century textile interest. The essay is part of the catalogue of the 18 tapestries of the collection.
F. Baldry, H. Spande (ed.), The Tapestries of the Acton Collection at Villa La Pietra, Firenze, Edifir, 2010.

The essay is part of the catalogue "The Treasure Rooms. Collectors and Antique Dealers in Florence between the 19th and 20th centuries" edited by Lucia Mannini (Florence, Polistampa, 2011).  It analyzes three categories of 19th century home displays. The author organizes the homes-collections according to the inspirational theme: the dream of the Middle-Ages settings; the Antique-Dealers Collectors show room models and the scholarly houses of the Renaissance. Collections created by Temple Leader, Stibbert, Bardini, Volpi, Horne, Acton, Loeser and Berenson are compared and discussed.

https://lapietra.nyu.edu/project/the-travel-experience-and-the-construction-of-the-garden-research-in-the-photograph-and-book-collections-of-villa-la-pietra/

This digital exhibition uses exclusively historical material, often unpublished, linked to the personalities of Hortense and Arthur: photographs, films, postcards, drawings, road maps, books and some works of art. The aim of the exhibition is to tell the garden’s story from its conception to its design, use and success, from a privileged perspective made possible by the richness, variety and integrity of the heritage preserved inside the Villa.

The five main sections unfold around two fundamental moments. The first is that of the discovery of Italy and its historic gardens: sections I, II and III, in fact, explore the ways in which Hortense and Arthur were able to assimilate the “methods” and “principles” codified by scholars such as Wharton and Sitwell. In particular, the exhibition aims at highlighting the fundamental role of travel in the creation of the couple’s mental vision: if section II investigates the tools of travel, section III describes one of the itineraries traveled by Hortense and Arthur aboard their new automobile to discover the Old Gardens of central Italy; in these sections, the picture postcards take on particular relevance as an invaluable tool for studying the travels undertaken by the Acton Mitchells as well as their stops. The second moment, instead, is dedicated to the creation of the garden: the images in sections IV and V show the processing of experiences, images and words collected over the years, but also the actual realization of the project and the intertwining of the family’s life with the growth of the garden itself. A final section (VI) provides information on NYU’s care and enhancement of the garden and the estate: from the restoration to visits, shows, lessons, and agricultural production, with a careful and sustainable approach in line with the most modern principles of English gardening.

L'opera di Desiderio di Settignano ebbe nuova grande fama a partire dagli anni Sessanta e Ottanta dell'Ottocento, quando l'artista fu studiato nuovamente nel contesto delle celebrazioni donatelliane (mostre del Bargello 1865 e 1886). L'articolo presenta l'opera di due artisti che ne recuperano la grande capacità di lavorare la pietra serena e il marmo nei dettagli (il settignanese Angelo Maruccelli) e l'attenzione per i valori tattili soprattutto nei ritratti e osservazione dal vero (Dante Sodini).

Noto per i suoi restauri in stile a Santa Croce, cappella Bardi, Gaetano Bianchi ( 1819-1892) fu un personaggio poliedrico e una figura chiave nella cultura e nell'ambito della promozione delle arti  e dell'artigianato della Firenze dell'Ottocento. Questo studio ricostruisce la formazione del pittore-restauratore dagli anni dell'Accademia fiorentina con Stefano Ussi fino alle decorazioni in stile per il Bargello, le dimore Stibbert, Vincigliata, Malaspina a Sarzana, Corsini a Le Corti.

Stefano Bardini and Vincenzo Ciampolini -painters, dealers and art managers in Florence were responsible for the removal - at the turn of the 19th c.- early 20th c.-  of most of the scenes painted by Giovanni da San Giovanni around 1634 for the Marchese Alessandro Pucci in his palazzo on via de’ Pucci, as carefully described by Filippo Baldinucci. For the first time with this study, nearly all the paintings of the series have been found  and the history of the detachment and dispersion is illustrated. The scene with the Carità was acquired by the Actons  in the early 20th c. and it is still preserved at Villa La Pietra. In 2013 it was examined by a group of conservators on New York University, IFA, Conservation Cenetr and the ‘stacco’ technique was analyzed and compared with the other scenes of the Pucci cycle..

Through the analysis of the historical photographs preserved in the photographic archives of the two institutions (NYU and Davanzati) and three catalogs of the Volpi auctions (1910 and 1917) and Bengujat (1934), preserved in the Acton library at Villa La Pietra NYU Florence, the paper compares the room installations created between 1908-10 and the mid 1930s by Hortense Lenore Mitchell Acton (Alton, Illinois, 1871-Florence, 1962) and Arthur Mario Acton (London, 1873-Florence, 1953) with the set-up of Palazzo Davanzati in Via Porta Rossa from Elia Volpi.
The paper also discusses the source of inspiration for these two displays and their legacy.

After twenty years of New York University's presence at Villa La Pietra, Florence, the author makes an assessement to evaluate if the home atmosphere of the Acton time is still preserved and if the current management is able to balance the family lifestyle with the current state of the arts conservation methodologies for a mixed collection. The features of the collection and its display are presented together with the visit policies and the preventive and remedial approaches.

Consistent and sustainable environmental monitoring practices often pose a challenge for historic houses and house museums without dedicated preventive conservation specialists on staff. These institutions tend to have smaller teams with staff members that take on multiple roles, at times relying upon interns, volunteers, or other temporary personnel to collect and

This project presented for the first time four informal feminine Chinese robes, one Chinese skirt and five Chinese carpets in dialogue with four French Callot Soeurs gowns. The custom-designed installation was conceived to place the costumes in the Sala da Ballo, the large ballroom were Hortense entertained the Villa’s guests. The juxtaposition of Asian and European artworks in this space reflects the Acton aesthetic scheme, visible throughout the house.