Red Chalk Drawings. Sources, Techniques and Styles, c.1500-1800
Organised by Michael W. Kwakkelstein and Luca Fiorentino

The Dutch University Institute for Art History in Florence (NIKI) and the Scientific Committee of Avere Disegno are pleased to host an international conference devoted to one of the most fascinating graphic media: red chalk. Red chalk has an expressive power with vibrant and noticeable traits and artists were quick to explore its tonal possibilities, stretching its limits with rubbing and washing. This conference, the first of its kind in Italy, invites scholars to study this medium from a variety of angles. By taking a multi-disciplinary approach, the papers in the conference encourage an interweaving of technical and scientific findings with the insights yielded by the analysis of an artist’s different uses of the medium and its impact on style or of the interplay with other graphic media. On occasion of this conference, a selection of privately- owned drawings in red chalk will be on display in the rooms of the Dutch Institute between 17 and 22 September. The conference proceedings will be published in the Edifir series Avere Disegno.

Program:

Wednesday, 18 September

8.45 Coffee/tea

9.15 Michael W. Kwakkelstein, Director’s Welcome
9:20 Luca Fiorentino, Introduction

Session 1 (Chair: Annalisa Perissa Torrini, già direttore del GDS Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venezia)

9.45 Birgit Reissland (Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands, Amsterdam): 'Natural red chalk for drawing: revealing origin, availability and unique properties through the centuries'
10.10 Rita Bernini (Istituto Nazionale per la Grafica, Roma): 'Esempi di disegni a pietra rossa nel Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe dell'ING'
10.30 Letizia Montalbano (Direttore Scuola Alta Formazione e di Studio OPD, Firenze): 'Red on red: un uso particolare della pietra rossa in Leonardo e nella sua cerchia'
10.50 Discussion

11.00 Coffee/tea

Session 2 (Chair: Marzia Faietti, Gallerie degli Uffizi/Kunsthistorisches Istitut, Firenze)

11.30 Claudia Echinger-Maurach (Professor of Art History at University of Münster): 'Michelangelo's Use of Red Chalk'
11.50 Annalisa Perissa Torrini (già direttore del Gabinetto dei Disegni delle Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venezia): 'Disegni a pietra rossa di Leonardo e allievi, ora alle Gallerie dell'Accademia di Venezia'
12.10 Juliette Trey (Deputy Director for Studies and Research, INHA, Paris): 'Collecting Red Chalk Counterproofs in the XVIIIth Century'
12.30 Discussion

12.45-14.00 Lunch

Session 3 (Chair: Rita Bernini, Istituto Nazionale per la Grafica, Roma)

14.10 Marzia Faietti (Gallerie degli Uffizi/Kunsthistorisches Istitut, Firenze): 'La pietra rossa in Andrea del Sarto, Correggio e Parmigianino. Convergenze e divergenze'
14.30 Alexa McCarthy (PhD Student, University of St Andrews, Scotland): 'Carletto Caliari Head's Studies: A Unification of Disegno e colorito'
14.50 Luca Fiorentino (Curatore scientifico Avere Disegno/Independent scholar, Siena): 'Gian Lorenzo Bernini: i disegni a pietra rossa'
15.10 Discussion

15.20 Coffee/Tea

Session 4 (Chair: Letizia Montalbano, Direttore Scuola Alta Formazione e di Studio OPD, Firenze)

15.45 Paola Biocca (Borsista di ricerca, Laboratori di Chimica, ICRCPAL, Roma): 'Le sanguigne di Leonardo alla Biblioteca Reale di Torino'
16.05 Luca Baroni (PhD Student, Scuola Normale di Pisa): 'I disegni a pietra rossa di Federico Barocci'
16.25 Margherita Melani (Fondazione Rossana e Carlo Pedretti, Lamporecchio): 'Pietra rossa per scrivere e per disegnare: dai disegni "rosso su rosso" come "nero su nero" al Manoscritto G di Leonardo'

17.05 Discussion

17:30 Reception

Thursday, 19 September

9.00 Coffee/Tea

Session 5 (Chair: Gert Jan van der Sman, Istituto Universitario Olandese di Storia dell’Arte, Firenze)

9.30 Christien Melzer (Art historian, Klassik Stiftung Weimar): 'Red chalk as a medium of transfer in Dutch and Flemish drawings'
9.50 Valentina Frascarolo (Junior Expert, Pandolfini Auction House, Firenze): 'I disegni dei naturalisti genovesi di primo Seicento'
10.10 Stefan Moret (Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe): 'Drawing Antique Ornaments in Piranesi’s Workshop'

10.30 Discussion

10:45 Coffee/Tea

Session 6 (Chair: Luca Fiorentino, Curatore scientifico Avere Disegno/Independent scholar)

11:00 Gabriele Fattorini (Ricercatore Università Messina): 'Domenico Beccafumi e la sanguigna'
11.25 Federica Mancini (Département des Arts Graphiques, Musée du Louvre, Paris): 'The Taste of the Connoisseur: The Red Chalk Drawings from Filippo Baldinucci’s Collection at the Louvre Museum'
11.50 Benedetta Spadaccini (Assistant Curator, Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milano): 'La pietra rossa nelle stampe che imitano i disegni'

12:15 Discussion and concluding remarks

The conference is open to the public with no charge.
Pre-registration is required to guarantee seating: nikinikiflorence.org