Carlo Pedretti (6 January 1928 – 5 January 2018) was an Italian
historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...
. In his lifetime, he was considered one of the world's leading experts on the life and works of
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially res ...
. He was a professor of art history and
Armand Hammer
Armand Hammer (May 21, 1898 – December 10, 1990) was an American business manager and owner, most closely associated with Occidental Petroleum, a company he ran from 1957 until his death. Called "Lenin's chosen capitalist" by the press, ...
Chair in Leonardo Studies at the
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...
from 1960 until his retirement in 1993.
Life
Carlo Pedretti was born in
Bologna
Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...
. By his 13th birthday Pedretti had taught himself to write left handed and read backwards as did Leonardo. Pedretti's first articles about Leonardo were published in 1944 at the age of 16.
From 1960 until his retirement in 1993, Pedretti was a professor of art history and
Armand Hammer
Armand Hammer (May 21, 1898 – December 10, 1990) was an American business manager and owner, most closely associated with Occidental Petroleum, a company he ran from 1957 until his death. Called "Lenin's chosen capitalist" by the press, ...
Chair in Leonardo Studies at the
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...
. He was instrumental in animating the
Elmer Belt Library of Vinciana
The Elmer Belt Library of Vinciana is a special collection at the University of California, Los Angeles which focuses on Leonardo da Vinci-- life, art, thought, and enduring cultural influence. It is the most extensive research collection concern ...
. He was the author of more than 60 books and 500 essays and articles in various languages. He moved to Italy in 2013 to live in the Villa di Castel Vitoni in Lamporecchio and direct the Rossana and Carlo Pedretti Foundation. He was also a regular of the cultural pages of the
Corriere della Sera
The ''Corriere della Sera'' (; en, "Evening Courier") is an Italian daily newspaper published in Milan with an average daily circulation of 410,242 copies in December 2015.
First published on 5 March 1876, ''Corriere della Sera'' is one of It ...
and de
L'Osservatore Romano
''L'Osservatore Romano'' (, 'The Roman Observer') is the daily newspaper of Vatican City State which reports on the activities of the Holy See and events taking place in the Catholic Church and the world. It is owned by the Holy See but is not a ...
. In his foreword for the book ''Carlo Pedretti - A Bibliography of His Work On Leonardo da Vinci and The Renaissance (1944-1984)'', art historian
Kenneth Clark
Kenneth Mackenzie Clark, Baron Clark (13 July 1903 – 21 May 1983) was a British art historian, museum director, and broadcaster. After running two important art galleries in the 1930s and 1940s, he came to wider public notice on television ...
states: " edrettiis unquestionably the greatest Leonardo scholar of our time..."
Pedretti died on 5 January 2018, one day before his 90th birthday.
Honors and memberships
The honors conferred upon Pedretti in Italy and abroad included the Gold Medal for Culture of the
President of the Italian Republic
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*President (government title)
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Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
in 1972, and in that same year, the Congressional Citation by the United States Congress. He was awarded honorary citizenship of the cities of Arezzo (2001) and Vinci (2008) and honorary degrees from the Universities of
Ferrara
Ferrara (, ; egl, Fràra ) is a city and ''comune'' in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital of the Province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream ...
(1991), Urbino (1998), Milan (Catholic, 1999), and
Caen
Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000, Pedretti was a member of the Permanent Commission for the National Edition of the Manuscripts and Drawings by Leonardo da Vinci.
Selected bibliography
C. Pedretti (ed.), ''Leonardo Da Vinci on Painting: A Lost Book (Libro A)'' (Los Angeles, 1964).
C. Pedretti, ''Leonardo: A Study in Chronology and Style'' (Los Angeles, 1973).
C. Pedretti, ''Leonardo: The Machines'' (Florence, 1999) (transl. Catherine Frost).
C. Pedretti, ''Leonardo & Io'' (2008) (Autobiography in Italian)