Category: Uncategorized

JACOPO LIGOZZI  1547 – 1627
Christ Carrying the Cross  1604
oil on canvas
135.9 x 102.5 cm
signed lower left : indistinctly with monogram IL/1604.  Surmounted by cross IL lower left

Provenance:
A.L Nicholson
Christie’s, London, 3 March 1924, lot 75 (as by Sebastiano)
private collection
Christie’s, New York, 14 January 1993, lot 89 (as attributed to Jacopo Ligozzi)
Matthiesen Fine Art, London, 1992
private collection

 It is intended at an appropriate time to donate this work to the
National Gallery of Victoria, in memory of our gallery founder
Lauraine Diggins OAM who passed away on Good Friday,
the 19th of April 2019.

This dramatic depiction of Christ Carrying the Cross displays Ligozzi’s remarkable naturalism and highly accomplished rendering of detail. His controlled hand is evident in the haunting visage of Christ and the beautifully observed armour and weapons of the guard. The pommel of his sword exemplifies the often drawn comparisons between Ligozzi’s fastidious draughtsmanship and that of northern painters in Italy such as Hans Rottenhammer.

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Jacopo Ligozzi moved to Florence from Verona in 1577, when he was appointed as court painter to Francesco I De’Medici the Grand Duke of Tuscany. He worked extensively for the Medici family until his death in 1627.  This hauntingly beautiful work was painted by Ligozzi early in the 17th century, and was acquired by private treaty from Christie’s London in 2016.

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“As the successor of Giorgio Vasari (1511 – 1574) to head the Accademia del Disegno, Ligozzi also became an important source for the influence of Venetian art in Florence. With this Venetian influence of Color, it enhanced Ligozzi’s Mannerist painting style and sculpture-like figures, as influence by Michelangelo. Born in Verona to a family of artists and craftsmen, Ligozzi became a successful painter, illustrator, designer and miniaturist, active mostly in Florence. His father, Giovanni Ermanno Ligozzi (1572 – 1605), was also a painter, as was his brother Francesco and his cousin Francesco di Mercurio.

Before settling in Florence in 1576, he was an artist for the Hapsburg Court of the Austrian Empire in the city of Vienna. From this illustrious position, he found another in Florence with several patrons from the Medici family. Additional to his religious and mythological depictions, he also painted and drew several works of fauna and flora. These works were not just artistic decorations, but highly detailed depictions used for the scientific records of Medici patrons and the Italian naturalist, Ulisse Aldrovandi (1522 – 1605).

Ligozzi’s first important public commissions came in the 1590’s, notably two monumental historical scenes, painted on slate, for the Salone dei Cinquecento of the Palazzo Vecchio, completed in 1592. He painted altarpieces for such local churches as Santa Maria Novella, San Marco and San Giovannino degli Scolopi. He also painted altarpieces for churches elsewhere in Tuscany; in Bibbiena, Poppi, Arezzo and at Monte Oliveto Maggiore, and returned briefly to his native Verona around 1591. Ligozzi’s best-known works as a painter are, however, a series of seventeen lunette frescoes of scenes from the life of Saint Francis for the church of Ognissanti in Florence, completed in 1600. The artist became increasingly devout as he grew older, and among his late altarpieces is a Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence for the Florentine church of Santa Croce, painted in 1611. His last Medici commission was for a series of four paintings of the Passion of Christ, painted between 1621 and 1622 for Maria Maddalena of Austria, mother of the young Grand Duke Ferdinando II and co-regent during his minority.

A number of his religious paintings remain in situ in churches. 

Ligozzi’s importance and versatility were recently the focus of an exhibition at the Pitti Palace in 2014:  Jacopo Ligozzi Pittore Universalissimo, Sala Bianca, Palazzo Pitti, Florence 27 May – 28 September 2014.

Reference: www.uffizi.it/en/the-uffizi

We extend our congratulations to William Eicholtz whose graceful and joyous large-scale sculpture At the Altar of Terpsichore has been selected for this year’s Sculpture by the Sea, with 100 sculptures along the spectacular coastline between Bondi and Tamarama Beach, NSW.

Eicholtz’s decorative Harvest Doormen welcome you to Lauraine Diggins Fine Art, as guardians either side of our front door.

Sculpture in an outdoors setting, especially on a large-scale is certainly eye-catching and a number of sculptural works are situated in our Gallery gardens including Peter Schipperheyn’s sensuous marble, My Wife.

Sculpture of a more domestic scale provides wonderful opportunities to display works in your home, such as the juxtaposition of assembled shapes, colours and materials in the work of Gus Dall’Ava, in the playful and intimate conversation of Twenty-Fifth Dialogue.

Augustine Dall’Ava Twenty-Fifth Dialogue 2008 painted and natural stones, painted wood, marble, stainless steel, 43.5 x 52 x 14.5 cm (click on artist name link to view other works)

Enjoy a brief teaser of the video, In Conversation with Mike Green, which will be uploaded in full to our website next week, along with In Conversation with Janet Green and the exhibition opening speeches.

ALICE AND BEYOND:

Recent Paintings by Janet and Mike Green

17 November – 15 December 2018

https://www.facebook.com/LauraineDigginsFineArt/videos/283096082561029/

We pay tribute to Mirka Mora who recently passed away, aged 90, and was remembered and celebrated on Tuesday at a State Memorial at the Palais Theatre. Remembered and celebrated for her joie de vivre and for the indelible impression she has made on Melbourne city, through her personality; her art and the sophistication brought to the city through her restaurants. Her artistic practice covered so many differing media but was always characterised by a readily identifiable style, her use of bright colours and patterns and dreamy figures. Mirka’s art is part of Melbourne’s psyche with her mural at Flinders Street; her mosaic at St Kilda and the much-loved murals in a number of Melbourne restaurants.

Mirka’s art and spirit touched many. Enjoying a long lasting relationship with Heide Museum of Modern Art, Mirka involved herself in the life of the museum and its various programs.

Mirka’s passion for life and art has left a lasting impression amongst those at Lauraine Diggins Fine Art, learning from and dealing with her as an educator and artist. We are deeply saddened by the loss of a passionate, colourful and generous soul, who gave so much, Melbourne is all the more richer.

Read a tribute to Mirka Mora by Sabine Cotte as published in The Conversation here

Mirka & Nerida at a school arts program, Heide Museum of Modern Art