Archivi di Architettura a Palermo. Memorie della città (XVII-XX secolo)

Il volume raccoglie saggi relativi ad alcuni tra i principali archivi di disegni di architettura a Palermo, in relazione, dunque, anche agli architetti protagonisti: Basile, Palazzotto, Marvuglia, ed altri. Si tratta del catalogo della mostra dal titolo Il portale degli Architetti e degli Ingegneri: quando tecnica e arte si incontrano, curata dal MiBac-Soprintendenza Archivistica per la Sicilia nell'ambito delle Giornate Europee del Patrimonio 2011, Palermo, ex convento della Magione, 24 settembre-5 ottobre 2011). Pubblicato al'interno della Collana editoriale "La Lucertola, collana di Arti, Lettere e Scienze", n. 2. Presentazione di Marcello Fagiolo

Giacomo Serpotta e il "pareggiamento delle arti": la decorazione degli oratori fra manipolazione vitalistica e vocazione classicista

ABSTRACT GIACOMO SERPOTTA AND THE “EQUALIZATION OF THE ARTS”: DECORATION OF THE ORATORIES BETWEEN VITALISTIC MANIPULATION AND CLASSICIST VOCATION Ettore Sessa The value of the whole of Giacomo Serpotta's artistic vision in the orchestration of the figu¬rative apparatuses of his oratories was certainly one of the principal primers of his historical-critical raising in the modernist period. In 1901 Mauceri and in 1911 Ricci and Basile heighten a profile of it, however synthetic, of angling and above all of different breath from the rediscovery realized in positivist age. Classifiable, in fact, among the eighteenth century precedents of Gesamtkunstwerk aesthetical plant (according to a rather diffused custom within the artistic historiography of modernist culturaI area or of decadentist origin, as in different formalistic demonstrations of the wealthiest society Belle Époque) the progress of Serpottas artistic way towards tangible expressions of the idea of «the whole work of art» has a unmistakable im¬print of his and, at the same time, a feasibility thanks to the plasticism of gestures and to the uni¬tary multiplicity of his modeled. In his oratories arrangements the "realist" component, not exempted from hedonistic sensual witty remarks, acts on a foundation of Hellenic taste (also in the use of profiles and architectural elements). With wise modulation and with dosing diversified for intensity, according the nature of the subjects, combines history (see the «teatrini» with perspective sceneries, among which the Lepanto battle), micro history (from feminine allegorical subjects, to attractive dames modernly adorned with ends and brocades, to "picciotti" proudly ragged and to the anecdotal of the daily life), mysticism (from the devotional subjects to the allegories of the virtues), obscurity (from numerological components to philosophical attributes) and, finally, mythology (from the allegorical correspondences between Christianity and paganism to classical simbology). Despite the actual halving of this group of oratories (was destroyed by traumatic events as earthquakes and war actions, or by villainous demolitions big part of Serpottas works, among which the SS. Sacrament oratories to Kalsa and those of Saint Maria del Ponticello), the comparison among the palermitan examples reached us entire allows the individualization of the characters of originality typical of the generaI composition, over that of those figurative unanimously accredited among the most valid of the late- Baroque European sculpture. The typical scheme of these oratories, places with a strong secular imprint (predisposed as for cultural reunions how as for the preclusive congregational assemblies, to which the only ones not admitted affiliate were the artists), has as constants: the hall with a rectangular plant; the skiff or pavilion vault with plaster decorations dissimulating the constructive geometry; the sculptural wall register above of a high plinth; windows on the greatest sides (in number of three); two doors in the counterfacade, originally with desk for the assemblies in central position, below the principal devotional allegorical composition. The first oratory to which Giacomo Serpotta imposes an unitary imprint, except the cappellone only defined between 1717 and the following year) is that of SS. Rosary in S. Cita; he has worked since 1685 to 1688 on behalf of SS. Rosary Company. Serpotta is twenty nine, but already since almost ten years, after the apprenticeship with subordinate roles, he showed himself almost beginning in mute with the decorations of Madonna of the Pity church in Monreale, where he operated like Procopio De' Ferrari's collaborator, and perhaps with his interventions in 1678 in the lateral walls of S. Mercurio oratory, to which follow the 1679 decoration works in the Charity oratory in St. Bartholomeo of the Incurable people (no more existing), perhaps S. Pietro and S. Paolo statues dating back to 1680 for the greatest altar in Gancia church, the marble model for Charles H's equestrian monument for Messina (then realized in 1684) and during the two years 1683-1684 the scenic decorations for the transept altars of Carmine Maggiore church (where he collaborates with his brother Giuseppe and realizes the couples of twisted columns gilded and commented by a theory of plaster miniature scenes disposed according to a spiral development). Immediately after S. Cita oratory he realized, between 1688 and 1691, the decorative apparatuses of the Sacrament oratory in S. Nicolò to Kalsa (destroyed because of 1823 earthquake). Only eight years after the completion of this work (about which it was hypothesized that it were an advancement in comparison to the intervention in S. Cita) Giacomo Serpotta is entrusted by S. Francesco from Assisi and S. Lorenzo Companies to realize the complex allegorical and explanatory cycle of the plasters of S. Lorenzo orato¬ry. He worked partly on Giacomo Amato's sketches (to which are probably owed the reform interventions that confer to this oratory a great architectural "squaring" in comparison to others), completing the presbytery within 1706, while already from 1701 he is busy in the definition of the walls. In 1703 he began the counter facade with the monumental wall framework and high-relief representation of St. Lorenzo Martyrdom

The small protein SCO2038 controls Streptomyces coelicolor differentiation by modulating tryptophan biosynthesis

Background In Streptomyces coelicolor amino acid metabolism is an important clue of the morphological and physiological differentiation program and, differently from other bacteria, the expression of amino acid biosynthetic genes is not subjected to endproduct negative regulation. In some amino acid biosynthetic gene clusters, such as tryptophan, histidine and proline, small orfs (about 100-300 nucleotides) were identified. These small orfs, such as sco2038, encode proteins whose cellular role have to be elucidated to highlight possible novel and crucial molecular mechanisms controlling amino acid synthesis and, thus, differentiation program. Objectives The aims of this work are: 1. the understanding of the effects exerted by tryptophan on primary metabolism, morphological differentiation and antibiotic production; 2. the study and characterization of the SCO2038 function as modulator of tryptophan biosynthesis. Methods - Differential proteomic analysis based on 2D-DIGE and MS procedures. - SEM analysis. - Generation and characterization of sco2038 mutants - Identification of potential SCO2038 interaction partners by pull down assay coupled with MS identification and Bacterial Adenylate Cyclase Two Hybrid System. - qRT-PCR analysis. Conclusions The obtained results revealed that tryptophan controls the expression of metabolic and regulatory proteins and promotes aerial mycelium formation, spores production and actinorhodin antibiotic biosynthesis. Moreover, the small orf sco2038, encodes a 7 KDa protein playing a key role in modulating tryptophan biosynthesis and thus, morphological differentiation. In the light of these results we propose to rename sco2038 as trpM, the gene encoding the tryptophan biosynthesis Modulator TrpM

Note sulla maniera di Giacomo Serpotta a Palermo: relazioni, influenze, cantieri

Il testo definisce alcuni aspetti finora poco indagati dell’attività di Serpotta all’interno del cantiere, ovvero le relazioni che possano essere intercorse con i massimi artisti attivi a Palermo a quell’epoca. Se ne ricava un maestro molto addentro al sistema socio-professionale utile alla sua ascesa che prende corpo fin dagli esordi. Si pone, inoltre, in evidenza il ruolo creativo dell’artista in ambiti a lui collaterali, come nella scultura, in cui assunse il ruolo di caposcuola. Si propone un’ipotesi che vedrebbe il maestro molto autorevole e disinvolto dal punto di vista creativo all’interno dei cantieri e, quindi, in possibile contrasto con la visione rigorosamente accademica degli architetti, ma ben visto dalla committenza confraternal

La committenza confraternale. Giacomo Serpotta e il fasto degli oratori palermitani tra XVII e XVIII secolo

Il contributo prende in esame alcune delle principali opere dello stuccatore Giacomo Serpotta (1656-1732) alla luce della committenza confraternale e nell’ottica del tema del convegno sulla “sovrabbondanza” del barocco, volendo dimostrare come con il Serpotta dalla decorazione in stucco trapelasse una trama teologica di significativa profondità ispirata prevalentemente dai laici devoti e dai loro assistenti spirituali, per cui la decorazione non appare mai fine a se stessa ma riflette la grandezza del creato e l’ampiezza della grazie divina nella via della salvezza

Le “Stanze dei Vescovi” e il nuovo Museo Diocesano di Palermo

Il contributo traccia la storia del Museo Diocesano di Palermo e delinea la linea scientifica per il nuovo assetto museologico, in particolar modo relativamente agli ambiti tematici prescelti e alle sale in fase di apertura, dotate di un nuovo allestimento curato dallo scrivente

Giacomo Serpotta. Gli oratori di Palermo. Guida storico-artistica

Il volume monografico prende in esame la vasta produzione di Giacomo Serpotta specificatamente all'interno del sistema degli oratori nella citt\ue0 di Palermo, edifici sacri di natura privata e di committenza laica ma religiosa, dunque con specifiche caratteristiche tipologiche e funzionali. La ricerca parte dall'identificazione degli oltre quaranta luoghi presi in esame, e prosegue con la ricostruzione storica, compresa la particolare committenza dei singoli monumenti, e degli apparati decorativi che investono tutta la sfera della produzione artistica, affrontata in sintesi anche nei capitoli introduttivi. Tutte le schede descrivono dettagliatamente gli oratori accompagnando il visitatore passo passo e descrivendo le emergenze artistiche ivi presenti. Alcuni oratori con iconografie pi\uf9 complesse sono accompagnati da una mappa utile ad individuare pi\uf9 facilmente la posizione delle principali immagini sacre. Egualmente, in ognuno degli oratori serpottiani non ci si limita alla descrizione del cantiere e delle opere presenti, ma si propone un'interpretazione teologica. Centrale rimane proprio la rivoluzione di Giacomo Serpotta in questi luoghi che viene spiegata sulla base di un ampio panorama sull'argomento che parte dal XVI secolo e giunger\ue0 fino al XIX. Il volume riassume i punti salienti dell'attivit\ue0 di Serpotta e degli oratori con una bibliografia generale di oltre 330 testi