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General Non-Fiction

Forse è tutta questione di luce

(Maybe it's All a Matter of Light)

Adriano Salani Editore, October 2022, pp.496

A famous art historian leads us into the world of art and collecting with the help of its most representative protagonists.

A journey in search of a definition of what taste means in art, as well as in life.

An insider’s picture, an act of love for Italy and its culture.

The life of Alvar González-Palacios is a great adventure in the world of art, of important 20th-century collectors and antiquarians, some of whom the author befriended during his career as a student then a scholar. A life made up of encounters, and the 87 portraits he presents us (with the addition of a self-portrait) are connected by the common thread of the author’s outlook, disenchanted but involved, subtly ironic but affectionate: from Federico Zeri to Roberto Longhi, from Jean Paul Getty to Costantino Bulgari, from Bernard Berenson to Alberto Arbasino, from Anna Banti to Mario Spagnol, from Peggy Guggenheim to Liliane de Rothschild, from Anthony Blunt to Philip Pouncey, as well as many others. Against the backdrop of works of art, artists, exhibitions and museums, he reveals the backstage area of a world that has its own rules, ruthlessness and surprises, because nothing can be taken for granted in these extraordinary, at times inconvenient, obsessive lives that are often searching for the right balance between beauty and oddness.

Adriano Salani Editore, October 2022, pp.496

  • “A wonderful book (…) a voice whose tone conveys the thousand voices (…) of great art historians, collectors and connaisseurs.”

    Antonio Gnoli, , Robinson, La Repubblica

  • “This ‘biography-by-encounters’ allows us to see beyond the mirror […] to discover the man behind the mask of the connaisseur.”

    Stefano Bucci, Corriere della Sera

  • “With his stories, Alvar becomes a highly enjoyable companion, a light in the current fog.”

    Natalia Aspesi, Robinson, La Repubblica

  • “An anthology of 87 characters penned with precision and irony.”

    “What is particularly enchanting about Gonzales-Palacios is his mastery – an ability that has the intense flavor of Proust – which he uses to crystallize, here and there and between the lines, a series of indelible aphorisms: impressive tidbits of a spirit that reveals itself.”

    Maichol Clemente, Il Sole 24 Ore

  • “Curiosity, enthusiasm, but equally a hint of healthy disenchantment. These ingredients make art historian Alvar González-Palacios’s latest book – filled with anecdotes about all the greats – so enjoyable. […]  unmissable for any art history lover.” 

    Giuseppe Frangi, Domani

Rights Sold

World Spanish Rights reserved to the author.

Alvar Gonzales-Palacios

Alvar Gonzales-Palacios, a Cuban who was naturalised Italian, is one of the most eminent art historians. He studied with Roberto Longhi, edited the review Arte Illustrata and, from 1976 to 2009, the Antologia di Belle Arti for several years with Federico Zeri. He is the author of extensive research on decorative arts, including the catalogue of furnishings at the Quirinale palace and that of the mosaics and hard stones in the Spanish royal collections. His studies on Luigi Valadier have had several exhibitions: at the Louvre, at Villa Medici and at the Frick Collection. In 1999, he published the autobiography Le tre età. In 1998, he was awarded the Légion d’Honneur and, in 2008, the Encomienda dell’Orden de Isabel la Católica in Spain.

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