Cesare Brandi

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Cesare Brandi (born April 8, 1906 in Siena , † January 19, 1988 in Vignano, Siena) was an Italian art historian, art critic and essayist. He was a specialist in the theory of restoration .

Life

Brandi graduated from the University of Florence in 1928 with a degree in humanities in the history of art . His diverse activities extended to the field of contemporary aesthetics under the sign of Benedetto Croce and the theory of restoration, he also published numerous travel diaries. In the Corriere della Sera , he spoke on topics such as the environment, preservation of cultural heritage and more or less successful restorations.

From 1930 he worked for the preservation of monuments, first in Siena, from 1933 in Bologna . In Siena he created a groundbreaking catalog on Senesian painting . During the three years of activity in Bologna, he set up his first restoration workshop. In 1935 he organized an exhibition on painting in Rimini in the 14th century . In 1938 he was called to Rome and commissioned by Giulio Carlo Argan to found the Regio Istituto Centrale del Restauro (today Istituto superiore per la conservazione ed il restauro ), which very quickly became Italy's largest state institute for the restoration of cultural assets. Brandi headed it as its director until 1961 and, especially in the initial phase, stood out for his tenacity and assertiveness towards the responsible ministry. The interdisciplinary collaboration between art history, monument preservation and practical restoration practiced at the ICR has made it a model for institutions of this type. The neutral retouching ( Tratteggio ), which finally freed the restoration from its proximity to forgery , began its triumphant advance from here.

In 1959, together with Giulio Carlo Argan, and in 1980 Brandi was awarded an Antonio Feltrinelli Prize for art criticism. Since 1961 he has been teaching, first at the University of Palermo , then at the University of Rome . He also wrote art reviews for the Corriere della sera and wrote an art historical documentary for Italian television.

Since 1964 he was a corresponding member of the Accademia dei Lincei , he was elected socio nazionale (full member) in 1982.

"The restoration must aim to restore the potential unity of a work of art, provided that this is possible without committing a historical or artistic forgery and without erasing the traces of time on the work of art."

- Cesare Brandi: Teoria del Restauro

Publications (selection)

  • Teoria generale della critica , Turin, Einaudi, 1974; Rome, Editori Riuniti, 1998
  • Teoria del restauro . Lectures collected by L. Vlad Borrelli, J. Raspi Serra and G. Urbani, Rome 1963 - Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, Turin, Einaudi, 1977.

literature

  • Il pensiero di Cesare Brandi dalla teoria alla pratica. Atti dei seminari di Munich, Hildesheim, Valencia, Lisboa, London, Warszawa, Bruxelles, Paris; a 100 anni dalla nascita di Cesare Brandi / Cesare Brandi's thought from theory to practice. Il Prato, Saonara (Padova) 2005, ISBN 978-88-6336-005-9 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ ANL Annuario 2011, p. 184; the prize money was 5,000,000 lire.
  2. ↑ In 1980 the prize money was 20,000,000 lire: ANL Annuario 2011, p. 194.
  3. ↑ ANL Annuario 2011, p. 410.
personal data
SURNAME Brandi, Cesare
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian art historian, art critic and initiator of scientifically based restoration
DATE OF BIRTH April 8, 1906
PLACE OF BIRTH Siena
DATE OF DEATH January 19, 1988
Place of death Vignano, Siena