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  • A NOT-FOR-PROFIT
    PLATFORM PROMOTING
    OLD MASTERS AND
    ANTIQUITIES TO A 21ST
    CENTURY AUDIENCE.
  • HERALDING A NEW
    CONCEPT IN ARTS
    ENGAGEMENT, INSPIRING
    AND ENTERTAINING.
  • MASTER CLASSES,
    CURATED VISITS, FILMS,
    AND RESEARCH-LED
    PUBLICATIONS
    PROMOTING EXCELLENCE.

A New Chapter in Preservation: Selene and the Vatican Apostolic Library

The Colnaghi Foundation is delighted to announce the installation of a Selene Photometric Stereo System at the Vatican Apostolic Library, developed by Factum Foundation and made possible through the generosity of the Patrons of the Vatican Apostolic Library.

Installed on 17 September 2025, this cutting-edge system marks the Vatican Library’s entry into the global Selene Circle, a network of cultural institutions dedicated to advancing heritage preservation through digital recording. Over the next ten months, the Selene will be used to record in unprecedented detail the Bartolini Collection, an extraordinary archive of 231 matrices by the twentieth-century Italian engraver Sigfrido Bartolini.

This initiative strengthens our commitment to preserving cultural heritage through innovation, ensuring that the works of great artists remain accessible for study and appreciation by future generations.


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Regency Collectors: Buying and Displaying Old Masters in Early Nineteenth-Century Britain by Peter Humfrey

The Colnaghi Foundation was delighted to present an evening book launch and panel discussion to celebrate the publication by Peter Humfrey (Emeritus Professor of Art History, University of St Andrews).


The evening featured a panel debate with the author, in conversation with Professor Jeremy Howard, former Head of History of Art at Buckingham University; Dr Susanna Avery-Quash, Senior Research Curator at the National Gallery, London; and Dr Brian Allen, former Director of Studies at the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, now Chairman of Hazlitt. The discussion will be moderated by Candida Lodovica Chi, Director of the Colnaghi Foundation.

About the book

During the Regency, Old Masters entered the London market in unprecedented numbers. Through seven case studies, from Darnley and Grosvenor to Amabel de Grey and Samuel Rogers, Humfrey explores how collections were formed, displayed, and shaped by taste, finance, and self-presentation.

Colnaghi Studies Journal 17

We are delighted to announce the October 2025 volume of Colnaghi Studies Journal, no. 17.

The seventeenth volume features articles reconstructing the collection of the Earls Harcourt at Nuneham Courtenay; supplementing the catalogue raisonné Richard Parkes Bonington: The Complete Pictures; and reassessing the contribution of Henry James Stuart Brown to English etching. Additional articles trace the reception of “modern” Italian art in late nineteenth-century Britain and that of Giorgione among collectors and connoisseurs in the early twentieth century.

This edition also includes a retrospective of the seminal 2014-2015 Paris exhibition Velázquez and a review of the 2024 Festschrift dedicated to the collector Carlo Croce, Under the Lens: The Art of Discovery.

We hope you enjoy reading this latest volume!

Best wishes,

The Colnaghi Foundation Team


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