The Uffizi remembers Carlo Del Bravo

On Saturday art historian Carlo Del Bravo passed away after a long illness. He was 82, er born in San Casciano Val di Pesa and had long taught modern art history at the University of Florence, a university at which he had studied as a student of Roberto Longhi and graduated in 1959 with a thesis on Liberale da Verona.

Among the first to remember him was the Uffizi Gallery, which expressed its thoughts on the matter in a statement, “very sad news for those who knew him and for the world of culture. His life, his entire career were in fact dedicated to the values of beauty and ethics of thought. His fame abroad - where he received prestigious awards - and his figure as an international scholar were, however, deeply rooted in Florence, where he was Emeritus of the University of Studies. That same university where he had taught for decades, with the highest scientific quality and personal charisma that everyone remembers, combined with a total commitment to passing on to generations of students a passion for research and for a new and rigorous way of experiencing art and looking at works. One can truly speak of a ”school of Del Bravo," as an elected and unique brand of style in work and study. A specialist in Renaissance and sixteenth-century sculpture, he has also made pioneering studies of nineteenth- and twentieth-century art.A member of the Commission for the evaluation and new acquisitions of the Galleria d’Arte Moderna of Palazzo Pitti in Florence, within which over the years he has represented a cultural model at the forefront in terms of choices and methodological direction, Carlo Del Bravo has advocated purchases of fundamental importance over the decades - and one recalls here the drawings by Pietro Benvenuti, the Landscape at Grizzana by Giorgio Morandi, or the exquisite marble stele by Lorenzo Bartolini."

Director Eike Schmidt, together with Simonella Condemi, Carlo Sisi and Ettore Spalletti, his students as well as former directors of the Galleria d’Arte Moderna at Palazzo Pitti, express their condolences: “Carlo Del Bravo is a figure who stands out in the Italian intellectual landscape for his acuity, measure and for the example of integrity he offered to all of us. A few hours after his passing, we can do nothing but thank this great master for the legacy he handed over to us, made up of writings, ideas, and a scientific rigor that never failed.”

Image: Giovanni Colacicchi, Portrait of Carlo Del Bravo, detail (1982; oil on canvas, 81.7 x 69.1 cm; Private collection)

The Uffizi remembers Carlo Del Bravo

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