Generous donation to the Capodimonte Museum: the Fratelli Alinari Drawings Library joins the collections

Fratelli Alinari’s Library of Drawings becomes part of the collections of the Gabinetto dei Disegni e Stampe del Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte thanks to the generous donation of Claudio de Polo Saibanti. A recipient of the title of Commendatore al Merito della Repubblica and an entrepreneur who has always been committed to promoting Italian art internationally, Claudio de Polo Saibanti served as president of Fratelli Alinari from 1984 to 2022 and was founder of the National Museum of the History of Photography in Florence.

The impressive publishing work, consisting of 28 volumes plus a tome of indexes, was produced in terms of scientific contributions by Officine Grafiche Bodoni of Verona, directed by Giovanni Mardersteig, in the 1970s.

The 1,120 plates reproduce drawings belonging to Italian schools from the 14th to 17th centuries. The images were printed in Florence by Fratelli Alinari using the world’s last machines capable of employing collotype, a refined craft technique devised in the mid-19th century. The total print run was limited to 200 copies: this is the largest work ever produced using this printing technique.

The donation was presented at the Capodimonte Museum and Real Bosco by director Eike Schmidt during a meeting entitled The Power of Images - A Legacy for Future Generations, a title that also coincides with de Polo Saibanti’s autobiography published by La Nave di Teseo. The work, conceived, supported and brought to completion by Vittorio Cini, is considered a landmark for art history studies internationally: thanks to this publication, about 40 percent of the drawings changed attribution.

The Gabinetto dei Disegni e delle Stampe di Capodimonte holds more than 2900 works including drawings and watercolors and about 24,000 prints. Among the most famous pieces are preparatory cartoons for frescoes that can be traced back to Michelangelo Buonarroti, Raphael Sanzio and their respective workshops, as well as sheets by major Italian artists of the 16th and 17th centuries. The collection has also been enriched over time through more recent donations, including works ranging from Giacinto Gigante to Vincenzo Gemito.

“We are grateful to Claudio de Polo Saibanti for this important donation, an act of patronage that once again underscores the historical and cultural relationship between Italy’s great museums and Alinari, which was born and has grown for more than a century and a half through private initiative and is now a public entity of the Region of Tuscany,” commented the Director of the Capodimonte Museum and Royal Woods, Eike Schmidt. “The Cabinet of Drawings and Prints, curator Vincenzo Stanziola, is open to scholars by appointment and it is our intention to increasingly enhance its heritage with special events.”

Photo: Museum and Real Bosco di Capodimonte

Generous donation to the Capodimonte Museum: the Fratelli Alinari Drawings Library joins the collections

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