Cathy's Art Diary

Colourful exhibition at Palazzo Cini of new work by Adrian Ghenie inspired by Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s “Battle between Carnival and Lent”. These works were huge and painterly. They were full of abstracted figures with nods to current affairs and full of Venetian colour. They looked fantastic in this 16th century Palazzo which I wouldn’t have imagined. I loved the Francis Bacon like take on Donald Trump. Closes 18 November 2019

Delightful exhibition at the Palazzo Cini in Venice of Venetian works from the collection of Vittorio Cini. Cini was one of the most important collectors of early Italian art who concentrated on Tuscan art but also had a good collection of Venetian work. There were some lovely works in this show and it started getting me to look properly at the first names of Tiepolo painters as I realised how much of a family business painting was to them! I loved a picture in the first room by Lorenzo of a man in an Oriental hat. There were some nice Guardi’s and Canaletto’s although Cini seems to have collected their more fantastical landscapes rather than picture of Venice. Also a good room of early works and I loved a picture by Bernardino da Parenzo of St Vincent de Paul raising the dead with wonderful bodies rising from their graves in different states of decay. Macabre but beautiful! There was also a Titian of St George I’d not come across before which was contemporary with t...