James Spensley

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James Spensley

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James Richardson Spensley studied Medicine and Surgery at the London Hospital; after graduating, in 1891, he practiced as an internal surgeon and assistant to Professor Down (the discoverer of the syndrome that bears his name). In 1896 James was sent to Genoa to assist of the crew members of the British coal ships that used to land there. Once in Genoa, where he spent 19 years, he quickly entered the society of the city. As an English gentleman and, above all, as a great sportsman, he enrolled in the recently founded Genoa Cricket and Athletic Club, and immediately proposed the extension of sports activities to football, becoming in fact the pioneer of football in Italy.

As an educated, eclectic and well-mannered man, James entertained people from all social classes at the tables of the cafés in the centre, discussing many different topics, from philosophy to mathematics, from ancient letters to hieroglyphics. In addition to the daily effort to visit and take care of the crews, he provided his work as a doctor free of charge to the poorest inhabitants of the Old Town, often also donating to his patients the money necessary for the therapies.
He knew everything about the historic centre and his neighbourhood: names of places, history, art, curiosities and he took pride in acting as a guide for his fellow countrymen when they were passing through Genoa. In 1910 he was one of the main promoters of Scouting in Italy.

 

Constitutive act

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Constitutive act

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The fundamental document for the history of Genoa and football in Italy consists of the Book of the Birth Certificate, which begins with the name of the society "Genoa Cricket & Athletic Club" and with the date of the foundation "Formed 7th September 1893", which took place in Via Palestro 10/4, which was at the time, the seat of the British Consulate. The book continues as a sort of double-entry book-keeping system with entries, represented by membership fees and, years later, by receipts for the matches played, and debits for management costs, material purchase and expenses for the organization of sport matches. The first names of Italian and Swiss members appear in 1898, on the eve of the foundation of the Italian Football Federation.

 

 

Gregorio De Ferrari, Transit of Santa Scolastica

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Author/ School/ Dating:

Gregorio De Ferrari (Genova, 1647-1726)

Object Type:

Painting

Technique and Dimensions:

Oil on canvas

 

This large altarpiece was painted by Gregorio De Ferrari in the early eight-eenth century to be placed in the Abbey of Santo Stefano. Scholastica, founder of the Benedictines, is caught during her passing: around her the humanity of a few poor objects and above, the bright promise of Resurrec-tion for her soul carried to heaven by angels. The work is considered one of the summits of the Genoese artist's production, translation into painting of the extraordinary frescoes made in the Genoese palaces.

 

Anton Maria Maragliano, San Rocco and San Sebastiano

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Author/ School/ Dating:

Anton Maria Maragliano (Genova, 1664-1739)

Object Type:

Sculpture

Technique and Dimensions:

Carved, painted and golden wood


The two statues believed to be long lost, were fortunately found during the CEI cataloging of the Church of Ss. Nicolò and Erasmo di Voltri. They were commissioned on 14 February 1726 by the confreres of the Compagnia del Carmine to the sculptor for the altar of S. Sebastiano, paying 110 lire to the sculptor and eighty lire to Gottardo Torre for the pictorial decora-tion and gilding. They are an example, in small size, of Maragliano's sculptural and scenographic ability.

 

The cycle of the months

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Author/ School/ Dating:

Ligurian Workers, early 13th Century

Object Type:

Fresco decoration

Technique and Dimensions:

Fresco

 

Genoese area, cycle of the months, fresco, first half of the 13th century, Cloister of the Canons of San Lorenzo
The cycle was found in one of the private rooms of the Canons: on a wall with blue and red lozenges a festoon runs with some months of the year (from January to June) characterized by specific activities and work activi-ties. The importance of the cycle lies in the rarity of the subject, totally pro-fane in character with scenes treated with a summary and fast rendering. The Cycle of the Months can in fact be placed within the first quarter of the thirteenth century, during the great construction site of the Cathedral of San Lorenzo.

 

Luca Cambiaso, The Last Supper

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Author/ School/ Dating:

Luca Cambiaso (Moneglia, 1527 – San Lorenzo de El Escorial, 1585)

Object Type:

Painting

Technique and Dimensions:

Oil on canvas, height 221 x 488 cm

 

The large painting depicts a moment of great emotional tension, such as to animate the gestures and faces of the apostles, bewildered at the words of Christ who denounces future betrayal. In this work, coming from the refec-tory of the convent of San Bartolomeo degli Armeni, Luca Cambiaso takes on Leonardo's lesson of the movements of the soul but also experiences a composition animated by a rational order and a profound search for symmetry, evident in the position of Christ, axis of the composition. Luca Cambiaso enters the scene, on the right of the vast canvas, caught while painfully meditating on what will happen, shortly thereafter, to Christ.

 

Frontal embroidered on a design by Ottavio Semino

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Author/ School/ Dating:

Genoese School, 16th century

Object Type:

Artifact

Technique and Dimensions:

Satin and silk embroidery

 

The work is one of the few examples of sixteenth-century Genoese embroidery whose commissioning and history is known. The Fathers of the Mu-nicipality in fact ordered Ottavio Semino sixteen cartoons destined to adorn the canopy of the Corpus Domini procession for which a box was also requested in which the realization was attended by Luca Cambiaso, Bernardo Castello, Perin del Vaga and Ottavio Semino. The precious embroidery, of which the figures of the four Evangelists remain, was entrusted to Francesco de Ursis who made it in painted satin, silk embroidery and embroidery applied for the frames.

 

Blue of Genoa

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Author/ School/ Dating:

Blue of Genoa

Object Type:

Painting

Technique and Dimensions:

Linen fiber dyed with indigo and painted with white lead

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The antependium (early twenties of the sixteenth century) is a refined example of the silky artifacts embroidered between the sixteenth and seven-teenth centuries, considered a symbol of wealth and status symbol. Coming from the church of San Benedetto al Porto, it was probably a gift from the Doria family to their parish church. The prestige of the gift is testified by the embroidery technique, in which gold is used in the main scene with the Deposition, as well as in the sumptuous relief decoration of the frame and in the eighteen Bernardine monograms which, like so many suns, embody the name of Christ .

 

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Barnaba da Modena "Polyptych of San Bartolomeo"

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Author/ School/ Dating:

Barnaba Agocchiari, called da Modena (Modena, about 1328 - about 1386)

Object Type:

Painting

Technique and Dimensions:

Tempera on panel, 257 x 217 cm

 

The polyptych of San Bartolomeo is one of the most important works among those painted by Barnaba da Modena during his long stay in Genoa (around 1360-1383). In the central compartment is shown Saint Bartholomeo, the Apostle of the Indies (in reality his preaching took place in Armenia, Ethiopia or southern Arabia) and recognizable by the knife, symbol of one of his tortures. On the sides there are eight stories taken from the Life of the Saint, within the Golden Legend of Iacopo da Varagine. The work comes from the Abbey of San Bartolomeo del Fossato, between Genoa and Sampierdarena.

 

 

Funeral monument of Cardinal Luca Fieschi

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Author/ School/ Dating:

Funeral Monument of Cardinal Luca Fieschi

Object Type:

Sculpture

Technique and Dimensions:

White marble carved

 

Upon his death, in 1336, Cardinal Luca Fieschi - leading exponent of the great Genoese Guelph family - entrusted his will to be buried in the Cathedral of San Lorenzo. On his own will, a grandiose sepulcher was built which was to seal his role as Prince of the Church and head of the Fieschi family. Demolished at the beginning of the seventeenth century, part of the fragments have been recomposed in the Diocesan Museum. It is a grandiose funeral complex created by Pisan sculptors and a symbol of the high quality of Ligurian fourteenth-century sculpture.

 

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