TSA

History of the Souvenirs – Gifts

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History of  the Souvenirs When traveling, there is always someone who returns home with a souvenir. It can be a miniature, reproductions of sculptures, keychains, postcards or almost anything with the name of the visited site. But:   Who invented the modern souvenir? Giovanni Volpato (1732-1803), an Italian engraver and potter from 18th century Rome, is considered the modern inventor of souvenirs. Giovanni Volpato was a brilliant self-made man, full of initiatives and with great artistic and entrepreneurial gifts. Born …

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Las Meninas or The Ladies-in-waiting, 1656 Velazquez Painting

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Las Meninas or ‘The Ladies-in-waiting’ 1656 painting in the Museo del Prado in Madrid Las Meninas is one of the most original and revolutionary works in art history. When Diego Velázquez began to paint this painting in 1655, he did not do it thinking of the public exhibition that he has today, but for private contemplation and delight. The work was intended for the private summer office of King Felipe IV of Spain, in the old Alcazar of Madrid.   …

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Real of Eight – Real de a ocho and Global Currency

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Piece of Eight – The First Global Currency – Real de a Ocho It was the first global currency that preceded the British gold pound sterling and also the United States dollar. It was widely used and its hegemony in world trade extended for more than 300 years. Americans relied on his model to develop their own dollar, called the Spanish dollar or Spanish pillar dollar. The political protagonism, the historical projection and the prestige of Spain as a great …

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Venus Anadyomene

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Venus Anadyomene or “Venus rising from the sea” Venus Anadyomene Is an iconographic representation of the goddess Aphrodite coming out of the sea made famous by the painter Apelles. The original representation of Apelles disappeared, but it is described in Pliny’s Naturalis Historia, where it is mentioned as an anecdote that the painter used Campaspe, Alexander the Great’s concubine, as his model. According to Athenaeus, the idea of Venus rising from the sea was inspired by Phryne, who during the …

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Prado Museum – Spain

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Guido Reni, an Exhibition at the Prado Museum Guido Reni This ambitious exhibition, sponsored exclusively by the BBVA Foundation, includes almost a hundred works from more than 40 museums, institutions and public and private collections in Europe and America to offer a complete vision of the career of this great Bolognese artist of the seventeenth century and draw attention to its decisive contribution to the configuration of the aesthetic universe of the European Baroque. Visitors to this exhibition, which has …

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