“Treasures of the Museum in Gliwice” — a new series of lectures

The Museum in Gliwice invites you to a new series of lectures “Treasures of the Museum in Gliwice”, dedicated to the most interesting and valuable objects from the collections of the institution. The first meeting will be an opportunity to learn more about the art of the Italian Renaissance and the history of two exceptional works.

The main character of the lecture will be Sybilla, depicted in the painting by Bernardin Fungai, created in Siena at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries. The work is an interesting example of the Renaissance reception of ancient culture and the artistic tendencies of the decline of the quattrocent. The participants will learn about the genesis of the painting and the inspirations from which the artist drew, referring to the images of antique lanterns adorning the floor of the Siena Cathedral. The Gliwice Sybilla will be compared with two analogous performances, which once belonged to the same, now dispersed cycle, and compared with selected works by the most outstanding artists of Siena and Florence. The second object to which attention will be paid will be a monumental replica of the Renaissance dowry box (cassone), decorated with a copy of a fifteenth-century painting by Giovanni dal Ponte. The presentation of the seven liberal arts is a testimony to the intellectual culture of the beginning of the 15th century. The chest itself, on the other hand, is an example of the nineteenth-century fascination with the art of the Italian Renaissance.

The lecture will allow us to look at museum objects from a new perspective, discovering not only their artistic qualities, but also the inspirations, historical contexts and stories that make them unique.