History Stripped Bare revealed recent work by Di Matteo, one of Italy’s leading painters – although he did not paint in this project. Instead, he directed one of Italy’s well-known Neapolitan copyists, Salvatore Russo (who usually painted versions of traditional masters), to reproduce a series of anonymous book illustrations documenting human civilisation. However, Di Matteo had one proviso: all of the figures featured in these tableaux had to be painted naked. So instead of exacting copies of quattrocentro masters, Russo delivered 100 panels featuring ‘naked humanity’, ranging from Neanderthal man, Mussolini and Berlusconi to The Beatles and the Queen Mother’s visit to New Zealand.
Presented in association with the Institute of Italian Culture, Melbourne.
Publication
History Stripped Bare
