The Italian Ministry of Culture has acquired a rare double-sided Renaissance painting by Antonello da Messina, 'Ecce Homo; Saint Jerome in Penitence,' for $14.9 million in a private sale with Sotheby's New York. The work was withdrawn from a planned public auction, and its final institutional home is now the subject of a heated debate among major Italian museums and the artist's hometown.
A previously unknown painting by Artemisia Gentileschi, *Hercules and Omphale* (ca. 1635–37), was identified after being damaged in the 2020 Beirut port explosion. The work, which hung in Beirut’s Sursock Palace, underwent a three-year conservation at the J. Paul Getty Museum and is now on view at the Columbus Museum of Art in the exhibition *Artemisia Gentileschi: Naples to Beirut*. It depicts the Greek myth of Queen Omphale enslaving Hercules, a rare subject for Gentileschi that subverts traditional gender roles.
Naples-based gallery Alfonso Artiaco has opened a dual exhibition pairing British artists Liam Gillick and Alan Charlton for the first time. Gillick, a former Young British Artist associated with relational aesthetics, presents three new aluminum and Plexiglas "elevation" sculptures plus a wall piece titled *Euphoric Production Cycle* (2025). Charlton, known for his lifelong dedication to grey monochrome painting, contributes three works—a circle, square, and triangle—that anchor the show. The exhibition runs through January 10, 2025.
Southwest Florida museums, from Sarasota to Naples, present a robust July lineup: two exhibitions open, one closes, and 24 continue. Highlights include Chris Friday's first solo museum show "Where We Never Grow Old" at Sarasota Art Museum, featuring large-scale chalk drawings and a site-specific installation exploring safe havens. Other notable shows include "Personal to Political: Celebrating the African American Artists of Paulson Fontaine Press," with works by Martin Puryear and Kerry James Marshall; Jillian Mayer's interactive sculpture series "Slumpies"; Lillian Blades' immersive mixed-media maze "Through the Veil"; and Molly Hatch's site-specific ceramic installation "Amalgam" (2023-24). The Ringling Museum also highlights a newly acquired painting by Juana Romani.
Eike Schmidt, the German-born museum director who led Florence's Uffizi Galleries from 2015, has taken on a series of high-profile and controversial roles. After restructuring the Uffizi and nearly leaving for Vienna's Kunsthistorisches Museum in 2019, he stayed on, then moved to Naples' Museo di Capodimonte in 2024. Months later, he ran for mayor of Florence as a centre-right independent backed by far-right parties, losing in a run-off. Now settled at Capodimonte, he reflects on his unpredictable career with no regrets.
Anish Kapoor will open an exhibition at Palazzo Manfrin in Venice on May 5, focusing on his architectural-scale sculptural projects—both realized and unrealized. The show includes around 50 to 70 models, with highlights such as *Cloud Gate* (2006) in Chicago, the Monte Sant’Angelo Metro Station in Naples, and unrealized plans for a work in outer space. New works include an immersive painting room, and *At the Edge of the World* (1998) has been remade in a dark black paint related to Vantablack. The exhibition runs through August, after which *Descent into Limbo* (1992) will be permanently installed on the Cannaregio site.
Claudio Parmiggiani’s seminal 1970 portfolio, "Atlante," is the focal point of a new exhibition at Thomas Dane Gallery in Naples. The show highlights a pivotal moment in 1968 when Parmiggiani began experimenting with cartographic imagery, including painting continents onto cows and encasing globes in glass, all documented through the lens of fellow artist Luigi Ghirri.
Several vivid frescoes have been uncovered during the ongoing excavation of Villa di Poppea, an ancient Roman villa in Oplontis near Naples that was buried by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 A.D. The newly revealed decorations include an intact peacock fresco and fragments of a mask linked to the comedic character Pappus from the Atellan Farce. The discoveries were made in a room now called the Hall of the Peacock, part of the villa's western section, which is being excavated as part of a conservation project. Other finds include four new rooms, tree root casts showing an ornamental garden layout, and two richly decorated cubicula currently undergoing restoration.
Teresa Iarocci Mavica, former director of the Moscow-based V-A-C Foundation, which she co-founded with Russian billionaire Leonid Mikhelson, has resurfaced after three years of silence. She resigned from V-A-C in November 2021, just before the opening of GES-2 House of Culture, Russia's largest contemporary art museum, and left Russia shortly after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Now based in Naples, she has curated "The Sun to Come" at Made in Cloister, launching her biennial program "REBIRTH." The exhibition includes three Russian artists, reflecting her continued commitment to cultural dialogue between Russia and Europe despite the war.
Baltimore-based artist Linling Lu, who trained as a classical pianist in southern China, discusses her work *Circle Dance* on view at the Frary Gallery in the Hopkins Bloomberg Center. The metal print features ten concentric orbs inspired by circle dances, geometry, and Renaissance tondos. Lu explains how her background in music informs her visual art, comparing color to a musical element and citing influences from Henri Matisse, Stravinsky, and tribal Miao circle dances. She also previews her upcoming solo exhibition *Fugue in 3 Voices* at Artis—Naples, The Baker Museum, which will respond to compositions by Dvořák, Stravinsky, and Beethoven.
A Napoli una mostra internazionale per mappare l’instabilità e disattivare i confini
The exhibition "Atlante" at Thomas Dane Gallery in Naples, curated by James Lingwood, brings together works by eight international artists—Igshaan Adams, Teju Cole, Luigi Ghirri, Emma McNally, Claudio Parmiggiani, Anri Sala, Tatiana Trouvé, and Akram Zaatari—to challenge traditional cartographic representations. Through maps, drawings, textiles, and photographs, the show interrogates the ideological and political assumptions embedded in mapping, reframing the Mediterranean not as a border but as a connective space, and exposing the instability and power asymmetries underlying historical worldviews.
Andrea Pazienza è vivo! Lo urla una importante mostra in apertura al MAXXI
The MAXXI museum in Rome is opening a major exhibition titled "Non sempre si muore" dedicated to Andrea Pazienza, the legendary Italian underground comic artist. Curated by Giulia Ferracci and Oscar Glioti, the show opens on April 24, 2026, and runs until September 27, 2026. It features over 500 original drawings, including a monumental mural Pazienza created live at the 1987 Fiera del Fumetto in Naples, recently restored by the museum. The exhibition is the second chapter of a larger research project by MAXXI, following the earlier show "La matematica del segno" at MAXXI L'Aquila, which focused on Pazienza's formative years. The title quotes a phrase Pazienza said in 1988 to British host Clive Griffiths shortly before his death, underscoring the enduring vitality of his work.
Hannah Black presents her first solo exhibition, "Harsh Muting," at the zaza' gallery in Naples. The show features five circular oil paintings that draw inspiration from the rotating word-play disks in Marcel Duchamp's surrealist film *Anemic Cinema*.
Photographer Marina Sersale has released a new monograph titled 'Liminal Space,' published by Gost, which compiles over a decade of monochrome photography. The collection features dramatic black-and-white images captured between 2013 and 2021 across diverse locations including Italy, Japan, Iran, and the United States. Sersale, a former documentary filmmaker, focuses on the interplay of light and shadow to document fleeting, everyday moments—from sunbathers in Positano to commuters in Naples.
The Skylands Museum of Art in Lafayette, New Jersey, has opened a new exhibition titled "Spotlight on the Artist: Massimo Rao," featuring eight works by the late Italian artist from the museum's permanent collection. The display includes oil and tempera paintings, lithographs, and drawings, such as "Portrait" and "Shelter Made of Ashes & Recollections," and will run through October 2025 in the museum's Sanctuary Gallery. Rao, known for his classic yet mysterious style blending Renaissance influences with Nordic Mannerism and pre-Raphaelite approaches, often depicted surreal, moonlit figures and was called "the Painter of the Moon." Born in 1950 near Naples, he studied art history and architecture, exhibited internationally, and died in 1996 at age 46; his hometown opened a museum dedicated to him in 2012.
Artist Hannah Black opened a solo exhibition titled "Harsh Muting" at the gallery zaza' in Naples. The show runs from March 20 to May 3, 2026, and is documented with 14 images on the Contemporary Art Daily platform.
The article provides a roundup of museum exhibitions on view in Southwest Florida during May, highlighting five new openings, eight closings, and 25 continuing shows across museums from Sarasota to Naples. Featured exhibitions include Molly Hatch's site-specific ceramic installation "Amalgam" at Sarasota Art Museum, Jillian Mayer's interactive "Slumpies" sculptures, a group show "Something Borrowed, Something New" with works by Louise Bourgeois, Chuck Close, David Hockney, Yoko Ono, Kara Walker, and Ai Weiwei, and Maria A. Guzman Capron's solo textile exhibition "Penumbra." The Marietta Museum of Art & Whimsy is noted as closing for the summer.
The Sarasota Art Museum is headlining a busy month for the Southwest Florida art scene, featuring 35 exhibitions across the region this April. Key highlights include the opening of "Something Borrowed, Something New," a diverse group show featuring artists like William Villalongo, alongside major closing exhibitions such as Molly Hatch’s site-specific plate installation "Amalgam" and Janet Echelman’s career retrospective "Radical Softness." Other notable displays include Jillian Mayer’s interactive "Slumpies," which explores the physical impact of digital device usage.
L’attrice Alba Clemente si racconta a teatro e svela cosa si nasconde dietro la sua Partenope, sirena fumatrice
Actress Alba Clemente (née Primiceri) recounts her life and career in a theatrical performance titled "Racconto di una vita, anzi tre: ALBAINCLEMENTE," directed by Guido Torlonia. The show, adapted from an earlier piece created with director Andrew Ondrejcak, premiered in Naples and is set to tour Rome and Milan. Clemente reflects on her rebellious youth in Amalfi, her studies at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Naples, and her encounters with artists such as Joseph Beuys, Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Alex Katz, and Robert Mapplethorpe. She also describes meeting her husband, internationally renowned painter Francesco Clemente, in Rome on the day Pier Paolo Pasolini was assassinated.
The Fondazione Donnaregina per le arti contemporanee – museo Madre in Naples presents "Untitled (I love you)," the first retrospective in an Italian museum dedicated to American artist Uri Aran (born Jerusalem, 1977). Curated by museum director Eva Fabbris, the exhibition opens on Thursday, February 12, at 6 pm, with President Angela Tecce and the director in attendance.
Diego Perrone presents his first solo exhibition at Umberto Di Marino Gallery in Naples, titled "There’s a certain Slant of light." Taking its name from an Emily Dickinson poem, the show explores the concept of lateral, non-frontal light through a series of experimental works. The exhibition features Perrone’s signature technical mastery, including intricate glass sculptures and works on paper that manipulate transparency and shadow.
Archeologists have uncovered frescoes in the Hall of the Mask and the Peacock at the Villa di Poppaea in Oplontis, near Naples, as part of an ongoing excavation and renovation project led by the Archaeological Park of Pompeii. The newly revealed Second Style frescoes feature vibrant peacocks and masks, including a complete peahen and a stage mask from Atellan Comedy, and have clarified the hall's true dimensions and decorative richness. The team also identified the locations of garden trees using a casting technique and discovered four new rooms, bringing the villa's total to 103 rooms.
auctioneer surprisingly released from jail 67895
Herbert Schauer, the director of the Munich-based auction house Zisska & Schauer, has been released from custody in Naples following a judicial review. Schauer had recently been sentenced to five years in prison for his alleged role in a conspiracy to sell stolen antique books, including a rare first edition by Galileo Galilei, which were embezzled from the Biblioteca dei Girolamini in Italy.
The Naples, Marco Island, Everglades Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) has launched ¡ARTE VIVA!, a yearlong celebration honoring the Hispanic cultures that make up nearly 30% of the region's population. The 2025-2026 season includes Día de los Muertos events at venues like the Marco Island Center for the Arts, Naples Botanical Garden, and Artis—Naples, featuring Calaveras sculptures by Ricardo Soltero, photography by Lizette Morales, and performances by Ballet Folklorica Jaliscience. Visual arts highlights include a Joan Miró exhibition at Naples Art Institute, a permanent collection show at The Baker Museum, and a public art installation by Michelle Tricca at Lipman Farms. Musical programming features Gulfshore Opera's Carmen, Latin Grammy nominee Leslie Cartaya, and Opera Naples Festival under Ramón Tebar.
The Middlebury College Museum of Art will reassemble Le Petit Salon, an 18th-century French neoclassical paneled room designed by Pierre-Adrien Pâris in 1776 for the duc d’Aumont’s Parisian mansion. Gifted to the college in 1959 by Susan Dwight Bliss, the room had been in storage since the 1990s. The exhibition, running from July 8 to December 6, 2025, traces the room’s journey from Paris to Manhattan—where it decorated the Bliss family’s Gilded Age mansion for fifty years—and finally to Middlebury, where it became part of Le Château, the college’s French language dormitory. The show also features Pâris’s original watercolor elevations and studies from his time in Rome and Naples, with loans from Bowdoin College, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, and the Fine Arts Museum of Besançon.
Southwest Florida’s museum landscape is featuring a robust schedule this March, with 36 exhibitions on display across institutions from Sarasota to Naples. Key highlights include the Sarasota Art Museum’s centennial celebration of Art Deco through 100 rare posters from the Crouse Collection, alongside contemporary showcases such as Selina Román’s photographic explorations of the human form and Molly Hatch’s massive site-specific ceramic installation, "Amalgam."
Southwest Florida museums are hosting 31 exhibitions in December, including three new openings and two closings. Highlights include "Art Deco: The Golden Age of Illustration" at Sarasota Art Museum, featuring 100 rare posters from the Crouse Collection celebrating the Art Deco centennial; "Selina Roman: Abstract Corpulence," a photo-based installation exploring body politics and femininity; and Molly Hatch's site-specific ceramic installation "Amalgam" (2023-24), commissioned for the museum's "Inside Out" program. Other venues from Sarasota to Naples continue ongoing shows from their permanent collections and traveling exhibitions.
Diego Perrone's exhibition "There's a certain Slant of light" opens at Galleria Umberto Di Marino in Naples, taking its title from an Emily Dickinson poem. The show features new photographic and painted works born from the artist's observation of light passing through domestic glass objects in Naples, where architecture and daily life are shaped by an interplay of light and shadow. Photographs are enclosed in hand-molded glass frames, while large surfaces created with airbrush, charcoal, and chalk present shadow fields on white backgrounds, forming a visual sequence that unfolds like a film in black and white.
Il soft power dell’Italia in Cina grazie a due grandi mostre su Pompei e Palladio
The National Museum of China in Beijing is currently hosting two major exhibitions celebrating Italian cultural heritage: "Pompeii: An Eternal Discovery" and "Geometry, Harmony and Life: The Architecture of Andrea Palladio from Antiquity to Classicism." These exhibitions, marking the 55th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Italy and China, were inaugurated by Italian Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli. The Pompeii showcase traces 250 years of archaeological history using artifacts and multimedia, while the Palladio exhibition explores the Renaissance master’s influence on Western architecture and creates a cross-cultural dialogue with traditional Chinese building techniques.
Three exceptionally well-preserved ancient bronze gladiator helmets, discovered in Pompeii, are the centerpiece of a new exhibition titled *Gladiators: Heroes of the Colosseum* at the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds. The show, organized in collaboration with the Colosseum in Rome, marks the first UK iteration of a touring exhibition that has attracted over a million visitors worldwide. It features arms, armour, and everyday objects from the National Archaeological Museum in Naples, along with immersive installations exploring gladiatorial life.