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A fascinating, beautifully illustrated narrative of a neglected group of Italian decorative and scenic artists and their impact on American visual culture in the nineteenth century.
Written by former Victoria Mansion curator Arlene Palmer, this volume is the result of many years of research of Giuseppe Guidicini, the previously unknown Bolognese artist who in 1860 was responsible for the design and decoration of the extraordinary wall and ceiling paintings that fill Victoria Mansion in Portland, Maine. Palmer’s meticulous pursuit of Guidicini’s history, from his training in Italy to his accomplishments in such cities as New York, Cincinnati, and Richmond, led to the discovery of a small but highly influential network of Italian immigrant decorative painters and scenic artists who made exceptional contributions to the artistic, architectural, and theatrical heritage of the United States between 1820 and 1880.
Guidicini and his compatriots brought Italian traditions to theatrical scenery and introduced an opulent style of painted ornamentation into American interiors that was inspired by classical antiquity and the Italian Renaissance. Their spectacular “fresco painting” of opera houses and theatres resulted in commissions to decorate commercial structures, churches, and private homes from Maine to Louisiana to California—and even to Cuba and Brazil.
Arlene Palmer is an independent scholar who was involved at Victoria Mansion for over thirty years, as trustee, research fellow, and, from 2004 through 2018, as curator. Her research of Giuseppe Guidicini's wall and ceiling paintings in the Mansion was the catalyst for this project. After graduating from Goucher College and completing an M.A. in the Winterthur Program of the University of Delaware, Ms. Palmer was a curator at the Winterthur Museum, an adjunct faculty member of the University of Delaware, and an independent museum consultant specializing in glass and ceramics history. Among her many publications in those areas are such major books as Glass in Early America (1993) and Artistry and Innovation in Pittsburgh Glass, 1808-1882 (2004). For Victoria Mansion, she wrote A Guide to Victoria Mansion (1997) and a revised edition in 2012, as well as numerous articles. In 2023, Ms. Palmer's essay about the American sculptor Paul Akers (1825-1861) was published in American Latium: American Artists and Travelers in and around Rome in the Age of the Grand Tour, a special issue of Atti dell'Accademia Nazionale di San Luca, Rome. As trustee and board president of Opera Maine, Ms. Palmer is keenly interested in the history of opera in the United States.