Di-seg-no is an Italian Renaissance word
used to describe both the capacity to conceive a design
and the ability to actualize that design.
Disegno is a full-service fine art firm based in Savannah, Georgia with expertise ranging from old masters to contemporary. Our team offers art advising and appraisals, collection management and development, design and exhibition services, as well as interpretative research for museums, historic homes, and private collections throughout the southeast region and beyond.
We honor transparency and discretion, demonstrating fluency in the current art market and an expert command of the history of art. We tailor our services to each client and specialize in high-value object appraisals and evaluations.
Nicole Blackwood - Founder and Director
Nicole (Nola) is an old-master specialist with expertise in painting, prints, and antique maps. She completed the Comprehensive Appraisal Studies Program (CASP) at the Appraisal Association of America in New York, where she is currently an associate member and is compliant with the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP). Her services include art advising and appraisal reports for replacement value insurance purposes, fair market value, and estate planning.
She earned an MA and PhD in art history from London’s Courtauld Institute of Art, focusing on the European tradition of painting and printmaking from 1450 to 1850. Since moving to Georgia, she has become increasingly knowledgeable about American and European decorative arts, working for various house museums and private collections in Savannah and Charleston as an independent consultant and historical interpreter, and attending the Winterthur Institute and the Attingham Summer School. She has taught at several universities in North America, held fellowships at Harvard, Yale, and the University of Toronto, and worked at museums in the United States, Canada, and England. She brings an expansive knowledge of the history of art and refined connoisseurship to her clients, cultivated through two decades of research in conservation, material analysis, and contemplative looking in collections and museums across the globe.
Nicole continues to publish and lecture widely in her field of Renaissance art, and on pre- and post- colonial North America. She is currently researching and writing about the history of the Trustees’ Garden in Savannah (begun in 1733), and is the President of the Friends of the Owens-Thomas House and Slave Quarters at the Telfair Museums, where she also serves on the Collections Committee. Recently, she began a series of interviews with artists, curators, thinkers, and collectors on the subject of beauty published on FORMA.
Through her partner company Art & Amble, she also arranges bespoke tours in Savannah, Charleston, and Europe.
Giovanna Quattrone - Associate Director
Giovanna is an art-market specialist with expertise in post-war and contemporary art, providing art historical and provenance research for collection management, acquisitions, and valuation purposes. She brings extensive experience of the art market through her positions at both Lofty – an online marketplace for fine and decorative arts – and Athena Art Finance – an asset-based consulting firm that provides art dealers, galleries, and collectors access to financing alternatives. Through her role as an analyst on the art valuation and research team at Athena in New York, she handled evaluations for assets ranging between one to sixty million dollars and assessed blue chip and museum quality artworks. Discrete, professional, and knowledgeable, Giovanna has an exceptional grasp of the current market forces and economics of art, and is confident in both advising and valuations.
She earned a BA in Art History and Arts Management from the College of Charleston, and an honors MA in Art Business from the Sotheby’s Institute of Art in New York. Her robust understanding of all aspects of the art market provides invaluable insight to our clients as they seek to connect with firms, galleries, and organizations within the international art world in order to build their collections, sell works of art, or provide evaluations and assessments. With her sharp eye, transactional expertise, and up-to-date knowledge of forecast trends gained through regular attendance at high-value auctions and contemporary art fairs, combined with her diligent research skills, she can assist in both selling a work of art or acquiring your most desirable find. Please view our services page for more details.
Since moving to Savannah, Giovanna has advised and consulted on numerous art-related projects across the country and also works freelance in marketing and events management.
Banner Image: Michelangelo Buonarroti, Archers Shooting at a Herm (detail), 1530-33, red chalk. Royal Collection Trust / © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2018.
Portraits: Parker Stewart Photography.