Italy

Giovanni Morelli, by Franz von Lenbach, 1886. Heritage Image Partnership/Alamy Stock Photo.

The Birth of Giovanni Morelli

Giovanni Morell—later Morelli—was born in Verona on 25 February 1816 beginning a lifetime of dedication to the art of the connoisseur.

Left-right: Pius XI, Gregory III, Pius IX,cGregory VII, Clement VII, and Pius VI.. Archives Charmet / Bridgeman Images, Rijksmuseum, Fototeca Gilardi/Bridgeman Images, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, and Photo Josse/Bridgeman Images.

Curbing the Power of the Popes

The survival of the papacy has always been dependent on a precarious balancing act between the pope’s religious and secular powers.

‘A Perspective View of the City of Naples’, by Thomas Bowles III, 18th century. Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection. Public Domain.

‘Naples 1343’ by Amedeo Feniello review

Naples 1343: The Unexpected Origins of the Mafia – Amedeo Feniello’s history of the Camorra – has this much in common with the case against them: it’s all about the evidence.

Louis XIV, illustration, French, c.1869. New York Public Library. Public Domain.

The Roman Catholic War on Wigs

The Catholic Church’s ban on wigs in the 18th century was as revealing of attitudes towards disability as vanity and sanctity.

Portrait of St Matthew from a gospel book, Gunda Gunde monastery, northeast Ethiopia, early 16th century. Walters Art Museum.

The Ethiopians Who Changed Rome

A community of Ethiopian monk-scholars in Renaissance Rome brought their learning, language and liturgy into the heart of the Roman Church.