Roberto Longhi (28 December 1890 – 3 June 1970) was an Italian academic, art historian, and curator. The main subjects of his studies were the painters

Caravaggio Michelangelo Merisi (Michele Angelo Merigi or Amerighi) da Caravaggio, known as simply Caravaggio (, , ; 29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610), was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life. During the final four years of hi ...

and

Piero della Francesca Piero della Francesca (, also , ; – 12 October 1492), originally named Piero di Benedetto, was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. To contemporaries he was also known as a mathematician and geometer. Nowadays Piero della Francesca i ...

Early life and career

Longhi was born in December 1890 in Alba in Piedmont. His parents were from

Emilia Emilia may refer to: People * Emilia (given name), list of people with this name Places * Emilia (region), a historical region of Italy. Reggio, Emilia * Emilia-Romagna, an administrative region in Italy, including the historical regions of Emi ...

. He studied with Pietro Toesca, in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

, and Adolfo Venturi in Rome. The latter made him book reviews editor of the journal ''L'Arte'' in 1914. Between 1913 and 1917, Longhi, primarily an

essay An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...

ist, published text in ''L'Arte'' and ''La Voce'' on

Mattia Preti Mattia Preti (24 February 1613 – 3 January 1699) was an Italian Baroque artist who worked in Italy and Malta. He was appointed a Member of the Order of Saint John. Life Born in the small town of Taverna in Calabria, Preti was called ''Il Ca ...

Orazio Borgianni Orazio Borgianni (6 April 1574 – 14 January 1616) was an Italian painter and etcher of the Mannerist and early- Baroque periods. He was the stepbrother of the sculptor and architect Giulio Lasso. Borgianni was born in Rome, where he was doc ...

and

Orazio Gentileschi Orazio Lomi Gentileschi (1563–1639) was an Italian painter. Born in Tuscany, he began his career in Rome, painting in a Mannerist style, much of his work consisting of painting the figures within the decorative schemes of other artists. After ...

. Over the course of his career Longhi developed a fascination with Caravaggio and his followers. his book ''Quesiti caravaggeschi'' uestions on Caravaggio(1928–34), was followed by ''Ultimi studi caravaggeschi'' atest Caravaggio studies(1943). In 1951, Longhi curated a ground-breaking exhibition on Caravaggio at the Royal Palace in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

, ''Mostra di Caravaggio e dei Caravaggeschi''. In 1968 he authored a monograph on the artist. Whilst establishing himself as a notable Caravaggio scholar, Longhi retained a lively interest in Piero della Francesca, editing a monograph in 1928, representing him as the leading painter of the

Quattrocento The cultural and artistic events of Italy during the period 1400 to 1499 are collectively referred to as the Quattrocento (, , ) from the Italian word for the number 400, in turn from , which is Italian for the year 1400. The Quattrocento encom ...

. Longhi believed Piero della Francesca played a decisive role in the development of Venetian painting. This monograph, which

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 ...

opined could hardly be improved upon, established itself as a classic of art-historical literature. Between 1920 and 1922, Longhi made a

Grand Tour The Grand Tour was the principally 17th- to early 19th-century custom of a traditional trip through Europe, with Italy as a key destination, undertaken by upper-class young European men of sufficient means and rank (typically accompanied by a tuto ...

of Europe. He never visited Russia, nor some American collections, like the

Kress Collection Samuel Henry Kress (July 23, 1863 – September 22, 1955) was a businessman, philanthropist, and founder of the S. H. Kress & Co. five and ten cent store chain. With his fortune, Kress amassed one of the most significant collections of Italian R ...

of the

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...

, Washington. However, his first-hand viewing of many works, like those in the

Borghese Gallery The Galleria Borghese () is an art gallery in Rome, Italy, housed in the former Villa Borghese Pinciana. At the outset, the gallery building was integrated with its gardens, but nowadays the Villa Borghese gardens are considered a separate tourist ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, led to the rediscovery of many lost masterpieces such as two panels of a

Giotto Giotto di Bondone (; – January 8, 1337), known mononymously as Giotto ( , ) and Latinised as Giottus, was an Italian painter and architect from Florence during the Late Middle Ages. He worked during the Gothic/Proto-Renaissance period. Giot ...

altarpiece. Longhi also rekindled interest in a large number of followers of Caravaggio, such as

Hendrick ter Brugghen Hendrick Jansz ter Brugghen (or Terbrugghen) (1588 – 1 November 1629) was a Dutch painter of genre scenes and religious subjects. He was one of the Dutch followers of Caravaggio – the so-called ''Utrecht Caravaggisti''. Along with Gerrit va ...

(he edited a monograph in 1927) and some painters from

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 ...

. His book ''Officina Ferrarese'' (1934) still stands as an exemplary study. Along with the publication of the ''Officina'', Longhi started his academic career, first as Professor at

Bologna University The University of Bologna ( it, Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna, UNIBO) is a public research university in Bologna, Italy. Founded in 1088 by an organised guild of students (''studiorum''), it is the oldest university in continuo ...

(from 1935), and later in Florence.

Role in Nazi art looting

During the Second World War, Longhi advised Eugenio Ventura, a dealer in Florence, who was investigated for his involvement in an exchange of pictures confiscated by the Nazi looting organisation known as the ERR or

Reichsleiter Rosenberg Taskforce The Reichsleiter Rosenberg Taskforce (german: Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg or ''ERR'') was a Nazi Party organization dedicated to appropriating cultural property during the Second World War. It was led by the chief ideologue of the Nazi Par ...

. He also advised

Count Alessandro Contini-Bonacossi Count Alessandro Contini-Bonacossi (18 March 1878 - 22 October 1955) was an Italian politician, art collector, dealer and philatelist. In 1939 he was made a Senator of the Kingdom of Vittorio Emanuele III. Early life Contini-Bonacossi was born in ...

(1878-1955) until 1945.

Postwar

In 1950, Longhi co-founded and edited with

Anna Banti Anna Banti (born Lucia Lopresti; 27 June 1895 – 2 September 1985) was an Italian writer, art historian, critic, and translator. Life and works Banti was born in Florence. In her youth she spent time in Rome, attending the University of R ...

''Paragone'', a bi-monthly magazine on art and literature still running to this day. Longhi also curated a number of exhibitions, including ''Mostra della pittura bolognese del Trecento'' (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna, 1948); ''I pittori della realtà in Lombardia'' (Palazzo Reale, Milan, 1953); and ''Arte lombarda dai Visconti agli Sforza'' (Palazzo Reale, Milan, 1958). Cimitero degli Allori, Roberto Longhi

Longhi died on 3 June 1970, and is buried at

Cimitero degli Allori The Cimitero Evangelico agli Allori ("The Evangelical Cemetery at Laurels") is located in Florence, Italy, between 'Due Strade' and Galluzzo. History The small cemetery was opened in 1877 when the non-Catholic communities of Florence could no long ...

in Florence.

References

Bibliography

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External links

Roberto Longhi
Biography in Archivio della scuola Romana {{DEFAULTSORT:Longhi, Roberto 1890 births 1970 deaths 20th-century Italian people Italian art historians Italian art critics Italian art curators Italian magazine editors People from the Province of Cuneo University of Bologna faculty