Andrea di Giusto, Madonna and Child with Saints, 1424–50. SMK – National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen (KMS1750). SMK, public domain
Italian paintings featuring gold at the National Gallery of Denmark: Reflection, Devotion, Experience (c. 1320–c. 1450)
Accademia di Danimarca, Rome 🇮🇹, 16 November 2026
Marina Vidas's new study of the Italian gold grounds at the National Gallery of Denmark (SMK) in Copenhagen will be launched at the Danish Academy in Rome. The book covers eleven Tuscan gold-ground panels from c. 1320 to c. 1450, the core of the museum's early Italian holdings. Artists include Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Andrea di Giusto and Lippo di Andrea di Lippo.
Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Saint John the Baptist, 1337–42. SMK – National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen (KMS8314). SMK, public domain
According to the publisher, Vidas reads the panels in their known or possible church and domestic settings. She looks at how gold grounds, narrative, colour, frames, light and location shaped the experience of medieval and Renaissance viewers. Provenance, attribution, reconstruction and devotional use get close attention, given how fragmentary many of the works are.
Lippo di Andrea, Saint Benedict, the Annunciation and a Kneeling Nun, 1418–22. SMK – National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen (KMS235). SMK, public domain
The volume is no. 62 in the series Analecta Romana Instituti Danici. Supplementum, published by Edizioni Quasar in Rome (2026; 106 pp.; 21 × 29.7 cm; ISBN 978-88-5491-729-3; €32).
Practical notes
The author and Professor Francesca Manzari (Sapienza University of Rome) will present the book on Monday 16 November 2026, 18:45–20:45, at the Accademia di Danimarca, Via Omero 18, 00197 Rome. Registration is required via Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.it/e/presentazione-libro-tickets-2003700266435
