Vatican Museums

On Thursday 14 June, the final Thursdays in the Museums before the summer break, the Pope’s Museums will host a conference entitled “Beyond the Image. Hidden inscriptions on Athenian vases. Extraordinary discoveries in the Archaeological Museum of Florence and the Gregorian Etruscan Museum”, which will be chaired by the Director of the National Archaeological Museum of Florence, Mario Iozzo.

The meeting – introduced by Barbara Jatta, Director of the Vatican Museums – is intended to present the brand-new, sensational discoveries made regarding Greek vases, in particular the Athenian ones held in both the Florentine museum and in the Vatican. The “hidden” inscriptions have revealed a form of communication, a sort of secret code between potter and painter, which guided the decisions of what was to be painted on the vessels. This discovery thus demands a reappraisal of all the masterpieces of Greek pottery art known to us.

Maurizio Sannibale, curator of the Vatican Museums Department of Etrusco-Italic Antiquities, will also speak on the theme.