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Ambassadors of Beauty

Italian Old Master Exhibitions and Fascist Cultural Diplomacy 1930-1940
  • Matilde Cartolari
Language: English
Published/Copyright: 2025
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About this book

Italian art embodies an ideal of beauty deeply rooted in Western historical consciousness. In the 1930s, the Italian Fascist regime appropriated this ideal to reinforce its cultural and political relations with other governments. As ambassadors of Fascist cultural diplomacy, iconic masterpieces of Italian art then travelled in exhibitions to London, Paris, Belgrade, and the United States.

Matilde Cartolari examines these exhibitions as sites of intersection between art historiography and the art market, conservation and heritage protection, nationalism and internationalism. Her analysis sheds light on the development of Italy’s Fascist cultural policy from the ephemeral triumphalism of the Ethiopian campaign to the unfulfilled dream of the E42 World’s Fair.

Matilde Cartolari, art historian, studied in Venice, Berlin, and Udine; she is currently a research associate at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität and at the Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte in Munich.

Author / Editor information

Matilde Cartolari, art historian, studied in Venice, Berlin and Udine; currently a postdoc at the University of Munich

Topics

  • Publicly Available

    Frontmatter

    I
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    Contents

    VII
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    List of Illustrations

    XI
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    Acknowledgements

    1
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    Abbreviations

    3
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    1 Introduction

    5
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    2 Gentlemanly Gestures: Italian Art in London (1930)

    21
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    3 Imperial Grandeur: Italian Art in Paris (1935)

    184
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    4 Italian Masters on Tour (1936–1940)

    351
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    5 Conclusion

    438
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    Online Databases and Resources

    450
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    Bibliography

    452
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    Illustration Credits

    486
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    Index of Names

    489
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Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
December 29, 2025
eBook ISBN:
9783111331546
Hardcover published on:
December 29, 2025
Hardcover ISBN:
9783111331256
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
Main content:
500
Illustrations:
157
Coloured Illustrations:
9
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111331546
eBook ISBN: 9783111331546
Hardcover ISBN: 9783111331256
Keywords for this book
Italy; 20th century; Fascism; cultural politics; diplomacy; art; propaganda; Old Masters; exhibition; museum; art market
Audience(s) for this book
scholars in Art History, Cultural Studies, History, Political Sciences
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