Conjectures

Laughter and jests, perhaps disguised as something else, might be the true subject of a work of art – especially if the artist is Jan Steen.

A conjecture as to the person depicted in a little-known work by Gustav Klimt interwoven with the motif of the “Black model of European painting”.

The countless reflections of a portrait by Ingres which, according to a compelling conjecture, inspired painters from different generations.

Poet Rosita Copioli’s flash of inspiration about the basrelief of Mercury in Rimini’s Malatesta Temple.

The wooden St Rocco from the Basilica of the Santissima Annunziata, much admired by Giorgio Vasari, was almost taken to Germany during World War II.

The myth of Diana, as told in Ovid's Metamorphoses, painted by Bartholomeus Spranger, Titian and Van Dyck.

Author Dacia Maraini's conjectures before a painting of two little girls by Antonietta Raphaël.

An unusual portrait of Dante, far from the traditional iconography of scowling exile, conceals a mysterious note bearing the name Degas.