There's a free exhibition of modern Abruzzo landscape paintings in Casoli's Ducal Palace during August. Well worth a detour on your Abruzzo vacation !

If a bunch of lions is a pride; and an assortment of sheep is a flock; what then would you call a group of artists ? I have absolutely no idea whether this is a proper collective noun or not, but a palette of artists just seems so…right.

And why ? Because on August 9 – and running until August 20 – a palette of highly-celebrated, highly-accomplished British artists will be exhibiting their impressions of Abruzzo at an exhibition entitled Artisti Inglesi Paesaggi d'Abruzzo – (English Artists' Abruzzo Landscapes) – staged at Casoli's newly-refurbished Ducal Palace. An event to be noted for your Abruzzo vacation.

Belonging – as I do – to the 'Have I hung this the right way up ?' school of art appreciation, (in itself a distinct improvement on my earlier 'Hey, nice frame…' period), I can only gawp in slack-jawed, wide-eyed wonder at the talent that's going to be on show in Casoli.

Among those exhibiting – Michael Sandle, a Royal Academician, artist and sculptor, with three oils he painted while spending a year in Abruzzo back in the 1950s; and I'm excited by the prospect of viewing Adrian Hemming's rich landscapes and and Michael B. White's exhuberant and quirkily-titled work.

I'm intrigued too by seeing Amanda Platell's name on the list of contributing artists to this Abruzzo Landscapes exhibition. Better-known in the UK as a political advisor, writer, and commentator Amanda Platell's making her first foray here as an exhibiting artist – along with one or two other up-and-comers who've been added to the established names on the list.

A chance here to grab a bargain from perhaps a future stellar artworld figure, because exhibits are for sale and celebrated Anglo-Italian artist Paolo Guidi has even promised to donate all the proceeds from his work to L'Aquila Earthquake Relief Funds.

Artisti Inglesi Paesaggi d'Abruzzo is the brainchild of top interior designer Bimbi Bellhouse and her artist husband Spencer Power, who divide their time between London and Abruzzo. Bimbi and Spencer see this exhibition as a latter-day version of the work produced by English artists when Italy was a stop on the 'Grand Tour' of Europe that was all the fashion during the 18th century.

But those Grand Tourists contented themselves by visiting mainly Rome, Florence, Venice and Naples. Three hundred years on – and with every last square centimetre of Rome, Florence, Venice and Naples painted at least twice, by at least ten different artists – it's timely and right that the often extraordinary Abruzzo landscapes are recognised and brought before a wider audience.

Artisti Inglesi Paesaggi d'Abruzzo is on from August 9-20 at Casoli's Ducal Palace. Opening hours are 1000-1300 and 1600-1900 and admission's free. It's well worth a detour on your Abruzzo vacation, so try and get along.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 27th, 2009 at 8:26 am and is filed under About Abruzzo, Daily Life, Where To Go. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.