Man has always sought contact with Heaven, in Byzantine and Russian iconographic art the painter manages to build a secret ‘mirror’ in which the Divine can manifest itself

Russian icons at the Pitti Palace – symbols and alchemy

Man has always sought contact with Heaven but it is in the Byzantine iconographic art and then in the Russian one that the painter has managed to turn a wooden board, wisely cut and worked, into a secret “mirror” in the which the Divine could manifest.

The master iconographer, using color and an ancient technique based on precise traditional canons, was able to impress on that table a type of “writing” for symbols that still retains its secret language today. After a brief historical introduction, the visit will focus on the symbolic-alchemical reading of the Russian icons, from the Medici-Lorraine collection, which Palazzo Pitti hosts in three rooms on the ground floor. During the visit we will be able to admire frescoes from the Medici era and splendid neoclassical decorations of which the Palatine Chapel is a fine example.

The visit will take place in the three Medici rooms on the ground floor of Palazzo Pitti where the Russian icons have been placed and will continue in the Palatine Chapel: Serena Baldi (iconographic painting teacher) will give the symbolic-alchemical reading of some icons chosen among the richest in hermetic meanings; meanwhile the guide Stefania Squarzanti will give the symbolic description of the frescoes in the rooms, and of the decorations of the Palatine Chapel reopened to the public on the occasion of the exhibition.

For info:

cell. +393407039834

email: firenzealchemica@gmail.com