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{{expand Italian|date=November 2011|Federico Zeri}}
{{Short description|Italian art historian}}
{{expand Italian|topic=bio|date=November 2011|Federico Zeri}}
[[File:Federico Zeri.jpg|thumb|Federico Zeri in 1974]]
'''Federico Zeri''' (12 August 1921 – 5 October 1998) was an Italian [[art historian]] specialised in [[Italian Renaissance painting]].<ref name=indep>{{cite news | url = https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-federico-zeri-1176615.html | title = Obituary: Federico Zeri | date = 1998-10-07 | last = Hanley | first = Anne | newspaper = The Independent | accessdate = 2014-01-09}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title = Federico Zeri - Monoskop|url = http://monoskop.org/Federico_Zeri|website = monoskop.org|access-date = 2016-02-06}}</ref> He wrote for the Italian newspaper ''[[La Stampa]]'', and was a well known television-personality in Italy.<ref name=nyt/>


Zeri was born in central [[Rome]], and graduated from [[Sapienza University of Rome]] in 1945. Not wishing to enter the academic world, he worked in the [[Ministry of Public Education (Italy)|Ministry of Public Education]] until 1952.<ref name=indep/> In 1948 he was nominated director of [[Galleria Spada]] in Rome.<ref name="fondazione bio"/>
'''Federico Zeri''' (August 21, 1921 - October 5, 1998) was an [[Italy|Italian]] [[art historian]], a specialist in [[Italian Renaissance painting]].<ref name=indep>{{cite news | url = http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-federico-zeri-1176615.html | title = Obituary: Federico Zeri | date = 1998-10-07 | last = Hanley | first = Anne | newspaper = The Independent | accessdate = 2014-01-09}}</ref> He wrote for the Italian newspaper ''[[La Stampa]]'', and was a well known television-personality in Italy.<ref name=nyt/> He had given lifelong effort to acquainting lesser known artists, schools and works.


In 1963 Zeri was among the founding members of the [[Getty Villa]]'s board of trustees. He left in 1984, after his argument that the [[Getty kouros]] was a forgery and should not be bought, was rejected.<ref name=indep/><ref name="dictarthist">{{cite web | url=http://www.dictionaryofarthistorians.org/zerif.htm | title=Zeri, Federico | work=Dictionary of Art Historians | accessdate=8 January 2014 | archive-date=6 March 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306210534/https://dictionaryofarthistorians.org/zerif.htm | url-status=dead }}</ref>
He was born in central [[Rome]], and graduated from [[Sapienza University of Rome]] in 1945. Not wishing to entrench in the academic world, he worked in the [[Ministry of Public Education (Italy)|Ministry of Public Education]] until 1952.<ref name=indep/> In 1948 he was made director of [[Galleria Spada]] in Rome.<ref name="fondazione bio"/>


Following this episode, Zeri became notorious for denouncing [[art forgery|forgeries]] and misattributions. In 1984, when four students in [[Livorno]] hoaxed both the city and [[Amedeo Modigliani|Modigliani]] experts into believing that a group of sculptures they have made were authentic, he was one of the few who called on their amateurish style.<ref name=phony>{{Cite news| issn = 0028-7504| last = Hope| first = Charles| title = The Art of the Phony| work = The New York Review of Books| accessdate = 2014-01-11| date = 2013-08-15| url = http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2013/aug/15/forgery-art-phony/}}</ref> Zeri also argued that some of the frescoes in the [[Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi]], were made by [[Pietro Cavallini]] and not [[Giotto]].<ref name=indep/> Zeri's insistence that a painting can be attributed to an artist, by means of a careful examination or [[connoisseur]]ship, without resort to external evidence such as documents or dates, met controversial responses.<ref name=lugli08>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1080/02666286.2008.10405738 | issn = 0266-6286 | volume = 24 | issue = 2 | pages = 162–175 | last = Lugli | first = Emanuele | title = Connoisseurship as a system: Reflections on Federico Zeri's Due dipinti, la filologia e un nome | journal = Word & Image | date = 2008| s2cid = 191603054 }}</ref>
In 1963 Zeri was among the founding members of the [[Getty Villa]]'s board of trustees. He had left in 1984, after his opinion, that the [[Getty kouros]] was a forgery and should not be bought, was not accepted.<ref name="dictarthist">{{cite web | url=http://www.dictionaryofarthistorians.org/zerif.htm | title=Zeri, Federico | work=Dictionary of Art Historians | accessdate=8 January 2014}}</ref><ref name=indep/>


Zeri edited and researched [[exhibition catalog|catalog]]ues of the collections of many institutions, including the [[Frederick Mason Perkins]] collection in the [[Sacro Convento]] in [[Assisi]];<!-- ISBN 9788842201199 --> [[Accademia Carrara]]; Museo Civico Amedeo Lia, [[La Spezia]]; [[Galleria Spada]], Rome; [[The Metropolitan Museum of Art]], New York; [[The Walters Art Museum]], Baltimore.<ref name="museilinks">{{cite web | url=http://www.fondazionezeri.unibo.it/home_eng/links_/00000337_Museums_with_collection_catalogs_edited_by_Federico_Zeri.html | title=Museums with collection catalogs edited by Federico Zeri | publisher=Fondazione Federico Zeri | access-date=11 January 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140111213332/http://www.fondazionezeri.unibo.it/home_eng/links_/00000337_Museums_with_collection_catalogs_edited_by_Federico_Zeri.html | archive-date=11 January 2014 | url-status=dead }}</ref> and [[National Gallery of Slovenia|Narodna Galerija]] in [[Ljubljana]] (with Ksenija Rozman).
He pointed at other [[art forgery|forgeries]] and mis-attributions. In 1984, when four students, planting sculptures in a canal in [[Livorno]], hoaxed the city and [[Amedeo Modigliani|Modigliani]] experts, he was among the few who called on the amateurish style.<ref name=phony>{{Cite news| issn = 0028-7504| last = Hope| first = Charles| title = The Art of the Phony| work = The New York Review of Books| accessdate = 2014-01-11| date = 2013-08-15| url = http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2013/aug/15/forgery-art-phony/}}</ref> Regarding some frescoes at the [[Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi]] , he argued they are works of [[Pietro Cavallini]] rather than [[Giotto]].<ref name=indep/> Zeri insisted that a painting can be attributed to an artist, by means of a careful examination or [[connoisseur]]ship, without resort to external evidence such as documents. The work is to be systematically characterised by its techniques and ideas, which in turn would evidence the author's circle of artists and schools that influenced his development, and from whom he borrowed, with their relative importance. An hypothetical biography can then be constructed, of an anonymous person that was able to meet all those influences. At which stage, historians might be inclined to attribute other known works to Anonymous. Finally, a matching historical person might be found in documentation.<ref name=lugli08>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1080/02666286.2008.10405738 | issn = 0266-6286 | volume = 24 | issue = 2 | pages = 162–175 | last = Lugli | first = Emanuele | title = Connoisseurship as a system: Reflections on Federico Zeri's Due dipinti, la filologia e un nome | journal = Word & Image | accessdate = 2014-01-12 | date = 2008| url = http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02666286.2008.10405738}}</ref>


Zeri died at the age of 77,<ref name="nyt">{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/07/arts/federico-zeri-italian-art-historian-77.html | title=Federico Zeri, Italian Art Historian, 77 | work=The New York Times | date=1998-10-07 | accessdate=12 January 2014}}</ref> in his villa in [[Mentana]] on 5 October 1998.<ref name="fondazione bio">{{cite web | url = http://www.fondazionezeri.unibo.it/en/foundation/federico-zeri/index.html | title=Federico Zeri | publisher=Fondazione Federico Zeri | accessdate=2019-04-08}}</ref> He bequeathed his estate to the [[University of Bologna]], complete with his [[Private library|library]] and [[Nachlass|papers]], a collection of about 400 ancient [[inscription]]s<ref name="fondazione villa">{{cite web | url=http://www.fondazionezeri.unibo.it/home_eng/federico_zeri/00000225_villa_Zeri.html | title=Villa Zeri and the Epigraphs collection | publisher=Fondazione Federico Zeri | access-date=11 January 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140111223339/http://www.fondazionezeri.unibo.it/home_eng/federico_zeri/00000225_villa_Zeri.html | archive-date=11 January 2014 | url-status=dead }}</ref> and a grand [[Art Historical Photo Archives|collection of photographs]]. Most photographs documented artworks from Italy and elsewhere, some done by himself and some acquired from other collections, including part of the collection of [[Evelyn Sandberg-Vavalà]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Marano|first=Valentina|date=2012|title=Il fondo Evelyn Sandberg Vavalà - Fondazione Zeri|url=https://fondazionezeri.unibo.it/it/pubblicazioni/call-for-papers/articoli-2012/il-fondo-evelyn-sandberg-vavala/index.html|access-date=2021-11-30|website=fondazionezeri.unibo.it|language=it}}</ref> The collections and accompanying database are managed, partly digitized, by the Federico Zeri Foundation.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://research.frick.org/directoryweb/browserecord2.php?-action=browse&-recid=7034 | title=repository: Federico Zeri Foundation | publisher=[[Frick Collection]] | work=Archives Directory for the History of Collecting in America | accessdate=8 January 2014}}</ref>
Zeri composed researched [[catalogue]]s of the collections in the following institutions: The [[Frederick Mason Perkins]] collection in the [[Sacro Convento]] in [[Assisi]],<!-- ISBN 9788842201199 --> [[Accademia Carrara]], [[Museo Civico Amedeo Lia]] in [[La Spezia]], [[Galleria Spada]], [[The Metropolitan Museum of Art]], [[The Walters Art Museum]].<ref name="museilinks">{{cite web | url=http://www.fondazionezeri.unibo.it/home_eng/links_/00000337_Museums_with_collection_catalogs_edited_by_Federico_Zeri.html | title=Museums with collection catalogs edited by Federico Zeri | publisher=Fondazione Federico Zeri | accessdate=11 January 2014}}</ref> and [[National Gallery of Slovenia|Narodna Galerija]] in [[Ljubljana]] (with [[Ksenija Rozman]]). Zeri also was an art history professor at the University of Rome and taught at American universities such as [[Harvard]] and [[Columbia University]].<ref>[http://www.apnewsarchive.com/1998/Italian-Art-Critic-Zeri-Dies/id-bff43c7e010edbccb448b0f90ba5868d Italian Art Critic Zeri Dies]. [[Associated Press]]. (October 5, 1998)</ref>


All through his life, Zeri maintained close connections with [[Bernard Berenson]], [[Roberto Longhi]], and his teacher [[Pietro Toesca]]. <!--Although he was never formally a university professor in Italy, [Next source says U of Firenze]--> He taught art history at the University of Rome,<!--Sapienza?--><ref>[https://apnews.com/bff43c7e010edbccb448b0f90ba5868d Italian Art Critic Zeri Dies]. [[Associated Press]]. (October 5, 1998)</ref> and had visiting positions<ref name="fondazione bio"/> at [[Harvard]], where he delivered a series of lectures on [[Lauro De Bosis]] in 1962,<ref>{{Citation | title = Sequence 9062-3 (Page 46-47) | work = Report of the President of Harvard College and reports of departments. 1962-1963, President's Report. Harvard University Library PDS | accessdate = 2014-01-14 | url = http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hul.arch:15008?n=9062}}</ref> and at the [[Columbia University]] in New York.
Zeri died at the age of 77,<ref name="nyt">{{cite news | url=http://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/07/arts/federico-zeri-italian-art-historian-77.html | title=Federico Zeri, Italian Art Historian, 77 | work=The New York Times | date=1998-10-07 | accessdate=12 January 2014}}</ref> in his villa in [[Mentana]] on October 5, 1998.<ref name="fondazione bio">{{cite web | url = http://www.fondazionezeri.unibo.it/home_eng/federico_zeri/00000224_biography.html | title=Federico Zeri, eccentric Art Historian | publisher=Fondazione Federico Zeri | accessdate=12 January 2014}}</ref> The estate was Bequeathed to the [[University of Bologna]], complete with his [[Private library|library]] and [[Nachlass|papers]], a collection of about 400 ancient [[inscription]]s<ref name="fondazione villa">{{cite web | url=http://www.fondazionezeri.unibo.it/home_eng/federico_zeri/00000225_villa_Zeri.html | title=Villa Zeri and the Epigraphs collection | publisher=Fondazione Federico Zeri | accessdate=11 January 2014}}</ref> and a grand [[Art Historical Photo Archives|collection of photographs]]. Most photographs documented artworks from Italy and elsewhere, some done by himself and some acquired from other collections. The collections and accompanying database are managed, partly digitized, by the Federico Zeri Foundation in the university.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://research.frick.org/directoryweb/browserecord2.php?-action=browse&-recid=7034 | title=repository: Federico Zeri Foundation | publisher=[[Frick Collection]] | work=Archives Directory for the History of Collecting in America | accessdate=8 January 2014}}</ref>

Zeri had close connections with [[Bernard Berenson]], [[Roberto Longhi]], and his teacher [[Pietro Toesca]]. Although he was not a university professor in Italy,<!--Next source says U of Firenze--> he had visiting positions<ref name="fondazione bio"/> in Harvard, where he delivered the [[Lauro De Bosis]] endowed lectures in 1962,<ref>{{Cite | title = Sequence 9062-3 (Page 46-47) | work = Report of the President of Harvard College and reports of departments. 1962-1963, President's Report. Harvard University Library PDS | accessdate = 2014-01-14 | url = http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hul.arch:15008?n=9062}}</ref> and Columbia University.


==References==
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Reflist|33em}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book |author1=Zeri, Federico |author2=Gardner, Elizabeth| title= ''Italian Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Venetian School'' | location=New York | publisher=The Metropolitan Museum of Art | year=1973| isbn=978-0-87099-079-3 | url=http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15324coll10/id/187741/rec/2}}


==External links==
==External links==
*[http://www.fondazionezeri.unibo.it/ Zeri Foundation] {{it icon}} {{en icon}}
*[http://www.fondazionezeri.unibo.it/ Zeri Foundation] {{in lang|it|en}}
*{{treccani|federico-zeri|Zeri, Federico|Simona Ciofetta|Appendix VI|2000}}
*{{treccani|federico-zeri|Zeri, Federico|Simona Ciofetta|Appendix VI|2000}}
{{Authority control|VIAF=17237451}}
{{Authority control}}


{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. -->
| NAME = Zeri, Federico
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
| SHORT DESCRIPTION = Italian art historian
| DATE OF BIRTH = August 21, 1921
| PLACE OF BIRTH =
| DATE OF DEATH = October 5, 1998
| PLACE OF DEATH =
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zeri, Federico}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zeri, Federico}}
[[Category:1921 births]]
[[Category:1921 births]]
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[[Category:Writers from Rome]]
[[Category:Writers from Rome]]
[[Category:Italian art historians]]
[[Category:Italian art historians]]
[[Category:Italian art critics]]
[[Category:Italian art curators]]
[[Category:Members of the Académie des beaux-arts]]
[[Category:Members of the Académie des beaux-arts]]
[[Category:20th-century Italian historians]]

[[Category:Directors of museums in Italy]]

[[Category:Sapienza University of Rome alumni]]
{{Italy-art-historian-stub}}
[[Category:20th-century Italian male writers]]
[[Category:Italian male non-fiction writers]]

Latest revision as of 07:58, 28 May 2024

Federico Zeri in 1974

Federico Zeri (12 August 1921 – 5 October 1998) was an Italian art historian specialised in Italian Renaissance painting.[1][2] He wrote for the Italian newspaper La Stampa, and was a well known television-personality in Italy.[3]

Zeri was born in central Rome, and graduated from Sapienza University of Rome in 1945. Not wishing to enter the academic world, he worked in the Ministry of Public Education until 1952.[1] In 1948 he was nominated director of Galleria Spada in Rome.[4]

In 1963 Zeri was among the founding members of the Getty Villa's board of trustees. He left in 1984, after his argument that the Getty kouros was a forgery and should not be bought, was rejected.[1][5]

Following this episode, Zeri became notorious for denouncing forgeries and misattributions. In 1984, when four students in Livorno hoaxed both the city and Modigliani experts into believing that a group of sculptures they have made were authentic, he was one of the few who called on their amateurish style.[6] Zeri also argued that some of the frescoes in the Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi, were made by Pietro Cavallini and not Giotto.[1] Zeri's insistence that a painting can be attributed to an artist, by means of a careful examination or connoisseurship, without resort to external evidence such as documents or dates, met controversial responses.[7]

Zeri edited and researched catalogues of the collections of many institutions, including the Frederick Mason Perkins collection in the Sacro Convento in Assisi; Accademia Carrara; Museo Civico Amedeo Lia, La Spezia; Galleria Spada, Rome; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore.[8] and Narodna Galerija in Ljubljana (with Ksenija Rozman).

Zeri died at the age of 77,[3] in his villa in Mentana on 5 October 1998.[4] He bequeathed his estate to the University of Bologna, complete with his library and papers, a collection of about 400 ancient inscriptions[9] and a grand collection of photographs. Most photographs documented artworks from Italy and elsewhere, some done by himself and some acquired from other collections, including part of the collection of Evelyn Sandberg-Vavalà.[10] The collections and accompanying database are managed, partly digitized, by the Federico Zeri Foundation.[11]

All through his life, Zeri maintained close connections with Bernard Berenson, Roberto Longhi, and his teacher Pietro Toesca. He taught art history at the University of Rome,[12] and had visiting positions[4] at Harvard, where he delivered a series of lectures on Lauro De Bosis in 1962,[13] and at the Columbia University in New York.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d Hanley, Anne (1998-10-07). "Obituary: Federico Zeri". The Independent. Retrieved 2014-01-09.
  2. ^ "Federico Zeri - Monoskop". monoskop.org. Retrieved 2016-02-06.
  3. ^ a b "Federico Zeri, Italian Art Historian, 77". The New York Times. 1998-10-07. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  4. ^ a b c "Federico Zeri". Fondazione Federico Zeri. Retrieved 2019-04-08.
  5. ^ "Zeri, Federico". Dictionary of Art Historians. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016. Retrieved 8 January 2014.
  6. ^ Hope, Charles (2013-08-15). "The Art of the Phony". The New York Review of Books. ISSN 0028-7504. Retrieved 2014-01-11.
  7. ^ Lugli, Emanuele (2008). "Connoisseurship as a system: Reflections on Federico Zeri's Due dipinti, la filologia e un nome". Word & Image. 24 (2): 162–175. doi:10.1080/02666286.2008.10405738. ISSN 0266-6286. S2CID 191603054.
  8. ^ "Villa Zeri and the Epigraphs collection". Fondazione Federico Zeri. Archived from the original on 11 January 2014. Retrieved 11 January 2014.
  9. ^ Marano, Valentina (2012). "Il fondo Evelyn Sandberg Vavalà - Fondazione Zeri". fondazionezeri.unibo.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2021-11-30.
  10. ^ "repository: Federico Zeri Foundation". Archives Directory for the History of Collecting in America. Frick Collection. Retrieved 8 January 2014.
  11. ^ Italian Art Critic Zeri Dies. Associated Press. (October 5, 1998)
  12. ^ "Sequence 9062-3 (Page 46-47)", Report of the President of Harvard College and reports of departments. 1962-1963, President's Report. Harvard University Library PDS, retrieved 2014-01-14

Further reading

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