Mary Maiden
E ' known to all lovers and lovers of this fascinating and collecting as many specific sphere and many in it may be the "subjects" and / or topic-collectible the Virgin Mary, Jesus, the Holy Family, saints and to follow the broad Cristiano empyrean - as, already well known and dear to us all, the various and numerous types with which Santini and devotional images came in, quiet and elegant, the homes of devotees and the breviary of Italy and of 'whole of Catholic Europe in the time period of four centuries, from 1500 to the first half of last century.
recent phenomenon in our country, which adds to the aforesaid scenario a further new connotation is - typical element of the so-called serial collecting - the collection of amounts more or less important Santini numbered chromolithograph products from smaller publishing houses, working with large-scale dissemination national and a lesser extent, international in the first and the second half of last century.
Assuming absolutely worthy of respect because the tastes and preferences personal issues and types of each collection, or what purports to be, let me express what I consider a fundamental point of departure for a Santini and Images Collection devoted : quality as primary and essential criteria.
But what is meant by "quality ," referring to the ancient images of popular devotion?
first place, as intrinsically and as the name implies, to me personally and other historic Italian collectors several times and on many occasions reiterated the discussion here on the Blog, a collection of valuable can in no way whatever-whatever since-by condition of "cuts" in it hosted.
This significant factor has not only elevates the collection by giving immediate and obvious aesthetic value, but it elevates nell'indeclinabile comparison with the international antiquities market paper, an important value-added and secondary , translatable in monetary terms with an undoubted higher final estimate of the same.
A derivative of QUALITY ' a collection of vintage Santini is certainly identifiable in RARE' devotional image and, even more, in ' UNITY' that they, want to kind or type, represent.
Both features- rarity and uniqueness - it is obvious that they are invariably present and to be found in devotional images -made, mainly in the convent, made so, according to a cliché , an idea pre-established and precise, but each one, albeit with minor variations and their characteristics, and absolutely original, stating the ' unique and exclusive special which sets them apart, always hand-painted in brilliant colors of natural origin and embellished with elegant gold details pure-here I refer clearly to the refined, beautiful thumbnail-
Rare, but most are UNIQUE Canivets , hand-carved on paper or parchment noble, beautiful and much sought Child Jesus Child Jesus or - made au collage on paper cleverly cut, carved and dotted with needle, almost exclusively Italian pride in the buckets. XVIII and XIX.
E'dunque indisputable that the UNITY 'represented by the ancient devotional image-made cardinal feature is determining the value of the image.
different and more flexible, however, the concept of RARITY ', and this concept becomes even more questionable and takes on different meaning when compared to a reasoned report "vintage - publisher - and, consequently, quantity produced, placed available on the market and still-kind- particular beauty "and" rare "with which it is customary to define the now commonly Santino chromolithographic Serial No. xy of the last century, printed and distributed millions of copies and sought after by collectors to complete the series.
certainly due at the time of severe recession in which we live in our country in particular, the Collectibles Santini of today seems to find a satisfying culmination of passion in the rediscovery and completion of several rounds of such chromolithographs, printed by small publishers and essentially unknown to historical collections in Italy and Europe, definitely much cheaper than the "noble family" - canivets, miniatures, engravings and pictures on parchment devotional objects in the broad sense -
Beyond the specific connotation, however, that every collector freely choose to give to their collection in select the type of Santini assimilated into it, another item for discussion and interesting comparison is the quantitative factor , the number of words in the Santini collection, many collectors attest, with obvious pride, ownership of an exaggerated amount, sometimes thousands, and who knows if ever truly responsive to the reality - even hundreds of thousands of songs.
But is it really the "quantity factor" in determining the value of a collection of Santini?
Unless Santini are not thousands of pieces UNIQUE - indeed, as aforesaid, Canivets, miniatures, engravings copper and at ARTICLES in general-in perfect condition and is particularly beautiful, my personal answer to that question is a clear and unequivocal no.
A dear friend, Monsignor old Tuscany, made me joyfully attended by about two years ago of his personal collection of Santini: just 130, all dating from the sixteenth century and the first half of the nineteenth century, but each they SOLE in its salient features of BUILDING convent in perfect condition and of extraordinary beauty and refined : a collection so small, but priceless historical, religious, cultural and artistic, as well as current quotations for-Santini and devotional images-made within the international antiquities market paper- the highest economic value.
A limited "amount" of Santini, therefore, corresponding to a real, substantial capital.
Paola Galanz
