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The language of jewellery
The system of meanings that pervades the unwritten language of jewellery in all the complexity of the symbolism that sets it apart, is the dominant theme of a precious volume entitled “Diamanti, rubini e smeraldi - Il linguaggio dei gioielli nei dipinti degli Uffizi” (“Diamonds, rubies and emeralds - The language of jewels in the Uffizi paintings”) by Silvia Malaguzzi, published by Nomos Edizioni. The book is divided into six themed chapters, in which the works are entered in chronological order, followed by a final chapter of fifteen detailed specifications, each dedicated to a single painting. The author guides the reader to discover the meanings placed and reproduced in famous paintings, thanks to an extensive array of images and the beauty of the reproductions of many amongst the most famous works of art history. The study is applied to almost one hundred paintings held in the Uffizi Gallery, dating to the 14th and to the 19th century, with reference to different historical and geographical periods: from Artemisia Gentileschi to Goya, from Botticelli to Tiziano passing by Giotto and many others. From the accurate comparison of attributing each jewel to a specific painting, the research method of the author infallibly leads to the conviction that the ornament depicted in painting becomes a talking accessory, able to tell the secrets that the jewel cannot reveal, contributing to the authentic reading of the image. The excursus of the relationship between precious creations and author paintings covers almost half a millennium of painted jewellery: it begins in the 1300s, still pervaded by late-antique echoes, continues into the 1400s, with pictorial realism, while the 1600s and 1700s mark a change in trend where “the compactness of the vocabulary of jewellery slowly starts to fall apart, together with its semantic efficacy”. Literature has always been lavish with citations and news on the theme of jewels, as in the lapidaries, a literary thread dedicated to gems, but it is still painting that allows us to grasp the great level of complexity of the language connected to the goldsmith world.
In alto: particolare del ritratto di Elisabetta Gonzaga, di Raffaello Sanzio; al centro: ritratto (presunto) di Isabella Ruini, di Lavinia Fontana; in basso: ritratto di Sir Richard Southwell, di Hans Holbein “Il Giovane”.
Nella pagina a fianco, dall’alto: ritratto di Bia de' Medici; particolare del ritratto di Eleonora di Toledo; particolare del dipinto la Sacra Famiglia con San Giovannino. Tutti i dipinti sono attribuiti ad Agnolo Bronzino.
Above: detail of the portrait of Elisabetta Gonzaga, by Raffaello Sanzio; in the centre: portrait (presumed) of Isabella Ruini, by Lavinia Fontana; below: portrait of Sir Richard Southwell, by Hans Holbein “The Younger”.
Opposite page, from top: portrait of Bia de' Medici; detail of the portrait of Eleonora di Toledo; detail of the painting the Holy Family with San Giovannino. All the paintings are attributed to Agnolo Bronzino.
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