Polittico 2. Studi della Scuola di Specializzazione e del Dottorato di Ricerca in Storia delle Arti dell'Università di Pisa

Polittico is the tool used by the Department of History of Art at the University of Pisa to communicate and valorise the research works carried out by the best young students at the School of Specialisation and within the Research Doctorate programme. The title refers to the structure of this annual publication, which is composite and varies according to the range of subjects taught within the department, but at the same time is conceptually united by the common characteristic of cultural openness and methodological rigour which lay behind the studies included in the volume. Proof of this, this edition, the second of the series, deals with the most wide ranging topics, from the critical fortune of the medieval mosaics in modern times to the Parmigianino's presumed passion for alchemy, from Zurbarán's peculiar mysticism to the poetics of Borromini analysed through 17th century sources, from restoration practices at the time of Cosimo III de' Medici, to the reflections, in the statues of Canova, on the interest this great neoclassic sculptor held for dance. Four unique contributions on textile hangings, preserved in the most varied places (from Trieste to Liguria, from the Lunigiana to Sicily) bear witness to a study “thread” running through the applied arts that is so deep rooted in this Department. The 19th century figurative culture is dealt with by two articles, one dedicated to the Orientalism of the painter Stefano Ussi, the other looking into the mental laboratory of the French sculptor Auguste Rodin, where invention and repetition feed off each other. The volume also includes works dealing with very recent issues (the study by Chiara Leoni on the theory and history of installations) and pregnant examples of applied philological and historical cinematographic research (the article by Elena Gremigni on Murnau's hand written notes on the play of Faust). Finally, Elena Franchi's research on the protection of the artistic heritage of Pisa during the Second World War offers the reader a precious and unique written and photographic documentation of the most piercing dramatic force.