AFC Winter Newsletter 2024
/Happy Valentine's Day!
This year we celebrate the occasion with Annibale Carracci's painting of Rinaldo and Armida. This couple's love story features in Torquato Tasso's incredibly popular poem Jerusalem Delivered (La Gerusalemme liberata, 1581), which is set during the crusades. Armida is a Muslim sorceress, who kidnaps the Christian knight Rinaldo. She intends to kill him in his sleep, but instead falls in love. When Rinaldo's fellow knights come looking for him - in the painting they can be seen hiding in the bushes - they give him a diamond mirror. When Rinaldo sees himself reflected, he is convinced to return to war and leaves Armida behind. At a later point in the poem, Rinaldo finds Armida just as she is about to commit suicide because she is so lovesick. He stops her and the couple is reunited.
Annibale Carracci, Rinaldo and Armida (ca. 1601), oil on canvas. Capodimonte Museum, Naples.
Word from the AFC President
Dear American Friends of Capodimonte,
We would like to welcome Director Eike Schmidt to Capodimonte Museum and thank Director Sylvain Bellenger for his eight years of leading the museum through extraordinary change for the better.
Last year, AFC traveled to Paris to attend the opening of Naples à Paris at the Louvre. This year, Capodimonte Museum’s traveling exhibition ---Art & War in the Renaissance: The Battle of Pavia Tapestries--- will visit three U.S. cities: Ft. Worth, San Francisco, and a soon to be announced third venue. The exhibition will commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Battle of Pavia, which took place on 23-24 February, 1525. Originally presented to the Emperor Charles V in 1531, the complete series of seven tapestries depicting the battle was inherited by the Neapolitan d'Avalos family in the 1560s. The family sold the tapestries in the mid-eighteenth century, but reacquired the set in 1815. They have never left Naples as a complete set since their return over 200 years ago.
Thank you to Modio Media! The AFC commissioned Gia Marie Amella and Beppe Mangione to create a film about the Battle of Pavia Tapestries exhibition. The trailer for the film can be watched below.
2024 AFC Trip: Pledge Now to Reserve Your Spot
Director Emeritus and AFC Co-Founder, Sylvain Bellenger, is the co-curator of this exhibition and AFC Program Director, James Anno, is the Museum of Fine Arts Houston curator for the special exhibition. The AFC is planning its annual trip to coincide with the opening in San Francisco at the de Young Museum (October 17-20, 2024, to be confirmed). This trip will also offer the opportunity to meet the Capodimonte's new director, Eike Schmidt.
Rooms are on hold at The Fairmont Hotel for donors who pledge $2,500 or more before March. Space is limited. Major donors at $500 and above will also receive an exhibition catalogue (Rizzoli. Pages: 208. Pub. May 21, 2024). AFC Fellow Emma C. de Jong is a contributor.
Checks may be paid to:
American Friends of Capodimonte
Kaczynski & Associates, Ltd.
17W635 Butterfield Rd., Suite 140
Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181
In Napoli!
Our AFC Fellow offers tours to AFC Members whenever they visit. Are you planning a trip? Let us know! Contact us at:
americanfriendsofcapodimonte@gmail.comFor the latest news and archived programs, check out our events calendar.
Thanks to Emma, at least twice a week on Instagram @american_friends-capodimonte you will find posts on all sorts of relevant information about Capodimonte, including what is opened during construction, special exhibitions, restaurant and teahouse hours, and posts focusing on a single work of art.
AFC Board News
Vice Chair, Nancy Vespoli; Founder and President Emeritus, Vincent Buonanno; Program Director, James Anno; Treasurer, Gretchen Hirschauer; Tory Gath; Henrietta Hakes, Bartley Livolsi, and Francis Prins are now joined by Mary Ellen Countryman who was elected to the board in December and began her two year term in January. Mary Ellen will serve as AFC Treasurer. You may remember Mary Ellen as the former U.S. Consul General in Naples. We thank Benjamin Patton for serving on the board and are looking forward to him remaining involved.
We are a small but mighty nonprofit and we can only support our AFC Fellow with your help. Thank you to the many generous donors and we hope you remain engaged.
Yours sincerely,
Cristina Del Sesto, AFC Board President
2023 Donors (Alphabetically)
Colleen Harvey
Gretchen Hirschauer
Paul & Mary Humenansky
Bart & Julie Livolsi
Maloy Family Fund
John Musto
Benjamin Patton
Ann Pizzorusso
Francis Prins & Ed Villani
Ellen Saville
George Shackelford
Samuel Tinaglia
Nancy and Mike Vespoli
Anonymous
James Anno
Sylvain Bellenger
Carmela Brown
Tim & Fran Buckley
Vincent Buonanno
Coltman Foundation (Charles Coltman & Juliette Lloyd)
Mary Ellen Countryman
Clare Cushman & Amedee Prouvost
Cristina Del Sesto
James & Lisa Dworkin
Helena Foulkes
Tory Gath & Mark Echlin
Henrietta Hakes
Art and War in the Renaissance:
The Battle of Pavia Tapestries
Detail from: Bernard van Orley, THE INVASION OF THE FRENCH CAMP AND THE FLIGHT OF THE LADIES AND SERVANTS (1525-1531), Tapestry. Capodimonte Museum, Naples.
U.S. Exhibition Dates
Kimbell Art Museum: June 16, 2024 - September 15, 2024
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco: October 19, 2024 - January 12, 2025
(A third U.S. venue will soon be announced)
AFC Fellow News
The AFC mission is singular in Italy. Unlike other non-profit organizations that fund the restoration of Italian art, the AFC provides a talented young American curator to the Capodimonte museum through our fellowship program. Since 2017, our contributions to the Capodimonte museum have been signal. Our newest AFC fellow, Emma de Jong, is continuing this tradition. After a competitive application process, her tenure in Naples commenced September 1, 2023. She has hit the ground running in a most impressive way. You may read of her accomplishments below.
James Anno, AFC Program Director
The prints in the Firmian collection are kept in 123 large albums, all housed in a wooden cabinet gifted by the Italian king Vittorio Emanuele.
Update from Current AFC Fellow Emma C. de Jong
Just five months into her fellowship, Emma has already cataloged over seven hundred individual art works from the Carlo Firmian print collection. Once the prints have been photographed, the information she has gathered will be incorporated into the online museum catalog. This digitization project will make the Firmian Collection easily accessible worldwide. She has also been writing a new guide to the Firmian collection in order to improve in-person visits to the print cabinet. She intends for her research to result in several articles on different aspects of the Firmian collection. The prints at Capodimonte have hardly been studied, which means there is still a lot to be discovered! Promoting this collection among print scholars and enthusiasts is one of the aims of her tenure.
At the end of January Emma received the final proofs for her entry in the catalog Art and War in the Renaissance: The Battle of Pavia Tapestries, which will accompany the U.S. traveling exhibition. Her contribution focuses on the preparatory drawings, which are today housed in the Louvre.
Together with the fellows from La Capraia (The Center for the Art and Architectural History of Port Cities), Emma has been visiting the many libraries and archives of Naples. All are located in beautiful historic buildings, from castles and palaces to monasteries.
The best way to stay up to date with the AFC fellow’s latest activities is by following our Instagram account, where Emma regularly posts updates about her work and AFC events.