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The American Friends of Capodimonte announce new Senior Fellow, Board Member and opening of 2021 Fellowship application

CHICAGO, Ill. -- It is with great pleasure that American Friends of Capodimonte (AFC) announce the appointment of Dr. Claire Van Cleave as the AFC Senior Fellow at the Capodimonte Museum in Naples, Italy. The AFC's unique mission places an American scholar directly inside the staff of an important Italian museum.

The focus of Dr. Van Cleave's scholarship will be the approximately fifty works on paper from the Farnese collection. This includes important 16th Century works by Raphael, Michelangelo, Parmigianino and Sofonisba Anguissola. Dr. Van Cleave's research will complement the Museum's current campaign to digitize its entire collection.

Dr. Van Cleave, a native of Chicago, is a writer and lecturer on Renaissance art and a specialist on the drawings of the 15th Century Italian painter Luca Signorelli. Her scholarly publications include: "Master Drawings of the Renaissance" (London, 2007), for the British Museum and, as co-author, of "Italian Master Drawings from the Princeton University Art Museum" (Princeton, 2014). She has also curated exhibitions such as the monographic exhibition devoted to Signorelli at the National Gallery of Umbria in Perugia, Italy in 2012. Her Senior Fellowship begins in September. Information: http://www.americanfriendsofcapodimonte.info/fellows
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The AFC is committed to supporting scholarship on the Capodimonte's extraordinary collection and making the treasures of the Museum accessible to an English-speaking audience," said AFC President, Nancy Vespoli. "Claire came to us with a project that was perfectly attuned to our mission and impossible to resist."

The Board of the AFC is also pleased to announce that it is receiving applications for the 2021-22 AFC Post-Doctoral Fellowship, the only fellowship for an American art historian in an Italian museum. Information: http://www.americanfriendsofcapodimonte.info/afc-fellowship-about. Dr. James P. Anno served as the first AFC Fellow from 2017-2019 and was recently appointed Associate Curator of European Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

In July, Gretchen A. Hirschauer was named to the AFC Board. Gretchen is a Curator of Italian and Spanish Paintings at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. During her long tenure, Gretchen has curated many exhibitions with accompanying catalogues, including Flowering of Florence: Botanical Art of the Medici in 2002, Luis Melendez: Master of the Spanish Still Life in 2009, Piero di Cosimo: the Poetry of Painting in Renaissance Florence in 2015, and Andrea del Verrocchio: Sculptor and Painter of Renaissance Florence in 2019.

"I sincerely thank the American Friends of Capodimonte who offer us the possibility of this international collaboration from which the museum will benefit enormously," said Sylvain Bellenger, Director of the Museum and Royal Park of Capodimonte. "The AFC has increased awareness of the Museum with an American audience and given us the opportunity to have important American scholars working alongside our curators."

ABOUT CAPODIMONTE MUSEUM:

Referred to as an "under-visited treasure trove" by the New York Times in 2019 and "the most underrated museum in Italy" by Condé Nast Traveler in 2016, Capodimonte was built in 1738 by King Charles of Bourbon (later King Charles III of Spain). It sits atop the highest hill above the ancient city of Naples, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The core of the collection is the Farnese collection of paintings and sculpture, formed in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth centuries by Pope Paul III and his Farnese relatives, later inherited by Charles of Bourbon.

Learn more about Capodimonte at: http://www.museocapodimonte.beniculturali.it/

ABOUT AMERICAN FRIENDS OF CAPODIMONTE (AFC):

Founded in 2016, American Friends of Capodimonte (AFC) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization created to bring awareness about one of the world's greatest museums to an English-speaking audience. AFC members receive exclusive access to Capodimonte Museum and Royal Park, U.S. events related to the museum's collection and priority on custom trips to Naples and beyond.

For more information, visit: http://www.americanfriendsofcapodimonte.info/

or contact AFC President, Nancy Vespoli: americanfriendsofcapodimonte@gmail.com or 203-887-9872.

For information about AFC events and membership, press inquiries, or to set up an interview with Sylvain Bellenger, Director of the Museum and Royal Park of Capodimonte, please contact AFC President, Nancy Vespoli, at americanfriendsofcapodimonte@gmail.com or 203-887-9872.

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MULTIMEDIA:

*Photo link for media: https://www.Send2Press.com/300dpi/20-0924s2p-afc-raphael-300dpi.jpg

*Photo caption/credit: Raphael, Moses by the Burning Bush, c. 1514, charcoal and white lead on 23 sheets of paper, 1400 x 1380mm, Museum of Capodimonte, Naples.

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‘Treasure Trove’ From Italy’s ‘Most Underrated Museum’ Travels to The United States for the First Time

CHICAGO, Ill. -- It is with great pleasure that the American Friends of Capodimonte (AFC) announce the first U.S. traveling exhibition of 40 Renaissance and Baroque masterpieces, most of which have never been viewed by an American audience, from the Capodimonte Museum in Naples, Italy; the royal palace built in 1738 by Charles of Bourbon, King of Naples and Sicily (later King Charles III of Spain).

"Flesh & Blood: Italian Masterpieces from the Capodimonte Museum" will open October 17, 2019 and run through January 26, 2020 at the Seattle Art Museum (SAM) in Washington state before traveling to Fort Worth's Kimbell Art Museum in Texas from March 1, 2020 to June 14, 2020.

"This spectacular exhibit is also a testament to the strong cooperation between Italy and the United States and some of their greatest cultural institutions which tirelessly endeavored to renew the bonds of our deep cultural ties by bringing a unique glimpse of Italy to Seattle and Fort Worth," says Armando Varricchio, Ambassador of Italy to the United States.

"We're thrilled for SAM to be the only West Coast venue for this powerful exhibition from the extraordinary Capodimonte Museum-our first collaboration with the institution," says SAM's Curator of European Painting and Sculpture, Chiyo Ishikawa. Eric M. Lee, director of the Kimbell Museum, says the exhibition's paintings "embody innovation, exuberance and grandeur-the result of revolutionary painting techniques and dramatic use of light and dark. The works continue to influence artists and inspire art lovers the world over."

"Flesh & Blood" is presented chronologically, tracing a 200-year period from the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries. Highlights include Parmigianino's Antea (ca. 1535), El Greco's Boy Blowing on an Ember (1571-1572), Titian's Danae (1544-1545) and Artemisia Gentileschi's Judith and Holofernes (ca. 1612-1617), featured in "When a Woman Wields a Weapon" in the Wall Street Journal, August 16, 2019.

"The joy of Capodimonte," says the museum's director Sylvain Bellenger, "is not only the breadth of the collection, but the quality. We have the best of Titian, Parmigianino, Annibale Carracci, not to mention Italian giants unknown to the general public like Schedoni and Preti. This exhibition brings many of these knock-out masterpieces to the United States for the first time."

EXHIBITION CATALOGUE:
A 160-page illustrated softcover exhibition catalogue, produced in collaboration with the American Friends of Capodimonte Curatorial Fellows, will be available at the Seattle Art Museum and Kimbell Art Museum.

ABOUT CAPODIMONTE MUSEUM:
Referred to as an "under-visited treasure trove" by the New York Times in 2019 and "the most underrated museum in Italy" by Condé Nast Traveler in 2016, Capodimonte was built in 1738 by King Charles of Bourbon. It sits atop the highest hill above the ancient city of Naples, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The core of the collection is the Farnese collection of paintings and sculpture, formed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and inherited by Charles of Bourbon. This fall the museum opens a yearlong exhibition on the oldest opera house in Europe, Naples' Teatro San Carlo. The exhibition, "Napoli Napoli: Of Lava, Porcelain and Music," recounts the Bourbon monarchy's patronage of the arts and sciences during Naples' golden age.

More information: http://www.museocapodimonte.beniculturali.it/

ABOUT AMERICAN FRIENDS OF CAPODIMONTE (AFC):
American Friends of Capodimonte (AFC) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization created to bring awareness about one of the world's greatest museums to an English-speaking audience. The AFC's Fellowship is the only U.S. program to offer young American art historians the experience of working in an Italian museum. AFC members receive exclusive access to Capodimonte Museum and Royal Park, U.S. events related to the museum's collection and priority on custom trips to Naples and beyond.

For more information, visit:
http://www.americanfriendsofcapodimonte.info/ or americanfriendsofcapodimonte@gmail.com.

EXHIBITION ORGANIZATION AND SUPPORT:
The exhibition is organized by the Capodimonte Museum (Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte), Naples, the Seattle Art Museum, the Kimbell Art Museum, and MondoMostre.

Media Contact:
For information about AFC events and membership, press inquiries, or to set up an interview with Sylvain Bellenger, Director of the Capodimonte Museum, please contact americanfriendsofcapodimonte@gmail.com.

*IMAGE link for media: https://www.Send2Press.com/300dpi/19-0911s2p-judholof-300dpi.jpg
*Image caption: Artemisia Gentileschi, "Judith and Holofernes" (ca.1612-17), oil on canvas, 159 x 126 cm; Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte, Naples.

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