I was happy to hear of this as I had grown tired of the seeming dowdy look and feel of these original rooms.
Not much has changed though. They really just added more work which in time will make things worse.
As it is I had to wade through many not great paintings to organize and pick out my favorites. Not much changed my mind except the idea that our time may prefer the lesser art. Here things are disparate and out of order. I myself would skip the whole area if that was all there was.
But it is the Art that one senses that would have one with the sense for Art fight through anything to get to it.
I think it is mainly the form.
The content issues are secondary even if they do contribute to the equation.
In the early Italian the main issues are for me the surface design, very compact and intense, where Modern to a large extent came from.
From this surface a more intricate drawing style comes through here Crivelli through Mantegna and maybe best in Botticelli.
This painting reminded me of Elena Sisto's show up now at Bookstein. She was probably thinking more of Matisse or probably more it is just apart of her aesthetic by now, but I'm sure she knows where Matisse was coming from.
I like the relation to Piero della Francesca and Philip Guston loved Piero. Guston seems far fetched but the pink was somewhat a reminder and then the wonderful shape in the lower right containing two people, is great.
This piece I never noticed but stood out in new hanging.
So the drawing I speak of is in this Crivelli below. Seems the exaggerated expression comes from Giotto maybe.
Its hard to see in this Mantegna but the subtlety is something as the drawing leads into the background.
The compression of the hands is what I like, and Botticelli made some of the best hands in Art.
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