Pasquale Rotondi

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Pasquale Rotondi (born May 12, 1909 in Arpino , † January 2, 1991 in Rome ) was an Italian art historian and restorer who saved around 10,000 paintings and other Italian art treasures from destruction and theft during World War II . In reference to the rescue of thousands of Jewish forced laborers by the German industrialist Oskar Schindler , Pasquale Rotondi is known in Italian art history as the “Schindler of Italian works of art” (Italian: Schindler delle opere d'arte italiane ) and the “Savior of the beautiful” (Italian Salvatore del bello ). A corresponding one-hour documentary by Italian television RAI bears the title “Pasquale Rotondis List” ( La lista di Pasquale Rotondi in Italian ) in analogy to Steven Spielberg's feature film “ Schindler's List ” .

Life

Pasquale Rotondi was born in Arpino in 1909 and, after studying art history, worked as art curator for the city of Urbino from 1939 . After the outbreak of World War II , in early June 1940, he began making paintings, sculptures, archaeological finds, books, manuscripts and other cultural assets from museums and collections in the Marche region and the cities of Rome , Venice and Milan in the castle of Sassocorvaro owned by the Ubaldini family to store near Urbino. Apart from him, only his chauffeur Augusto Pretelli and a few administrators working in the castle were involved in the transport of art. The works of art he rescued included works by the painters Raffael , Giorgione , Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio , Peter Paul Rubens and Titian . The repatriation of the art treasures began around five years and three months later after the end of the war.

Pasquale Rotondi stayed in Urbino until 1949 and then moved to Genoa to take a position as curator. From 1961 to 1973 he was director of the Instituto Centrale per il Restauro , the Italian central institute for restoration, in Rome . From 1973 he acted as an advisor to the Vatican on the restoration of the Sistine Chapel . He died in Rome in 1991 as a result of a traffic accident.

Commemoration

The Rotondi Award is named after Pasquale Rotondi , one of the four geographical categories "Regional" (Italian Sezione Marche for the Marche region), "Nationwide" (Italian Sezione Italia ), "Europe" (Italian Sezione Europe ) and "Worldwide" ( Italian Sezione Mondo ), which has been awarded every year in June in Sassocorvaro since 1997 by a jury of art historians, cultural managers and artists for outstanding efforts in the preservation of art and cultural monuments.

In Sassocorvaro Castle there is currently a museum under the name “Arche der Kunst” (Italian Arca dell'Arte ), in which faithful replicas of the works of art rescued by Pasquale Rotondi are exhibited.

Publications (selection)

  • Il Palazzo Ducale di Urbino. Two volumes. Urbino 1951; English edition: The Ducal Palace of Urbino: Its Architecture and Decoration. London 1969
  • Il Palazzo di Antonio Doria a Genova. Genoa 1958
  • La Galleria Nazionale di Palazzo Spinola a Genova. Milan 1967

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Rotondi, Pasquale
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian art historian and restorer
DATE OF BIRTH May 12, 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH Arpino
DATE OF DEATH 2nd January 1991
Place of death Rome