This fascinating and forgotten language that paintings and sculptures use to speak to us is the subject of my new book, The Art of Colour: The History of Art in 39 Pigments. These histories unlock surprising layers in masterpieces we thought we knew by heart. Every colour we encounter in a great work of art, from the ultramarine that Johannes Vermeer wove into the turban of his Girl with a Pearl Earring to the volatile vermillion that inflames the fiery sky of Edvard Munch's The Scream, brings with it an extraordinary backstory. The statue, which was branded “an offence to women”, was unveiled during a ceremony attended by the former prime minister Giuseppe Conte.Colours have minds of their own. The work, by the sculptor Emanuele Stifano, was intended as a tribute to La Spigolatrice di Sapri (The Gleaner of Sapri), written by the poet Luigi Mercantini in 1857. In 2021, a bronze statue portraying a woman in a transparent dress in the Campania town of Sapri sparked a sexism row. “This is much more important than the mermaid,” said Marciano.įemale statues in other areas of Italy have caused similar controversy. The students also created a statue dedicated to the victims of workplace accidents, which will be unveiled on Monday. “It’s a shame as the art students deserve to be praised instead of criticised,” he said. It would have been very bad if we had represented a woman who was extremely skinny.”īeppe, who lives in Monopoli, said the sculpture, which has been kept covered until its inauguration, had caused much discussion in recent days, with some people criticising it as “too provocative”. He added: “You see adverts on television with models who are very thin, but the mermaid is like a tribute to the great majority of women who are curvy, especially in our country. Marciano said he did not want to cast judgement on the students’ inspiration, but that he viewed the work “as a representation of reality, in this case of the female body”. “The council was shown the scale model and said it was good, and then decided the completed sculpture would be placed in the square.” “The students got together and came up with the idea of a mermaid,” Marciano said. He explained that the students were tasked by the mayor of Monopoli to create several statues for the town, including one on the theme of the sea. Photograph: Monopoli TimesĪdolfo Marciano, the headteacher of the Luigi Rosso art school, defended the statue, saying it was a “tribute to the great majority of women who are curvy”. Adolfo Marciano, the headteacher of the Luigi Rosso art school, hailed the statue as a ‘tribute to the great majority of women who are curvy’.

Art & fear by david bayles