The Collections of Prince Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy, Viceroy of Sicily between 1622 and 1624
Maria Beatrice Failla
Tuesday 27 April, 6.30pm. (BST)
Online
In the summer of 1625, in the Royal Palace of Palermo, in a city still ravaged by the plague, the goods and collections of Prince Emanuele Filiberto, who was a direct descendant of King Philip III, who had died on 3 August of the previous year, were sold. The auction was held in the very apartments of the palace that the Prince had decorated and where he had set up his collection. Participants included artists who had worked for the Viceroy and the most influential collectors of the Sicilian and Spanish aristocracy.
The prince’s paintings, precious objects, books and scientific instruments were thus dispersed and over the years the memory of a collection that had brought together works by the most famous artists of the time, including Anthony Van Dyck and Jiusepe de Ribera, and that had influenced Sicilian artists such as the young Pietro Novelli, was lost.
This talk highlights the histories of the works of art that had belonged to the Prince, between Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom.
Maria Beatrice Failla is Associate Professor at the University of Turin where she teaches Museology, History of Collecting and History and Technique of Restoration. She is a member of the scientific committee of the National Historic Archive and Database of Italian Restorers. She deals with the history of collecting in the seventeenth century, the museum systems of the Savoy residences and studies the stratification and connections between historical restorations and museum history.
She has curated several exhibitions on figurative culture in the 17th century and conferences on museums and restoration.
To register for this event please email events@societyhistorycollecting.org.