Federico Zeri: a scholar and his legacy

On Friday, April 4th, a conference on life and legacy of art historian and scholar Federico Zeri was held

at Il Palmerino. The event was presented by Andrea Bacchi, and art history professor and head scientificdirector of the Zeri foundation since 2014.

Federico Zeri was born in Rome in 1921, and went on to become one of the most influential cultural figures of 20th century Italy. Zeri studied art history at University of Rome under Pietro Toesca who who profoundly shaped his intellectual path. Among his colleges, Roberto Longhi and Bernard Berenson were the instrumental in completing the same cultural mission as Zeri. On the other hand, Zeri was known as “a great classifier of art history”, firmly believing that art history must be built on solid database. Although he did not pursue literary ambition in his writing, his written legacy remains among the most influential and informing, valued for its clarity and precise descriptions. Zeri did not write many books, but authored a significant number of museum and collection catalogs, leaving for the future a carefully divided system of history that he saw.

At the beginning of his career, Zeri worked in the Superintendence of Fine Arts in Rome, as well as Galleria Spada. Though he was never a long member of a university, Zeri continued his work as an independent scholar. From 1948, he corresponded with the Metropolitan museum of Art in New York, requesting photographs of Italian works that might present a riddle to the scientific world. This quest to solve art historical mysteries was a major thrill for Zeri—he approached art history like a detective, piecing together missing elements and creating a broader narrative of art through carefully gathered clues. This pursuit led to a fruitful collaboration with the Metropolitan Museum, for whom Zeri wrote numerous catalogs from 1971 to 1986 on Italian painting collections.

In 1984 Zeri gained significant public attention after firmly stating that the newfound works of Modigliani in Livorno were, in fact, replicas. He also indentified Bronzino’s Saint John, revealed a copy of Piero di Cosimo’s artwork held in Uffizi, and distinguished parts of altar panels that were separated. As a member of board of trustees at Getty museum, Zeri controversially claimed the newly bought Greek kouros statue to be a 19th century replica, which remains unclear. Beyond this, Zeri is remembered by his determination on preserving the Italian cultural heritage, publicly advocating for preserving artistic heritage and its rightful position in the society, as well as its given location. He donated sculptures to Accademia Carrara in Bergamo and to the Vatican museum, completing their collections in a meaningful manner.

Zeri was well known for his obsession for photographs, which he carefully selected and sorted with a carefully created method, classifying them by region, artist, subject and more. He used those photograps not only as sole representations of objects, but also as testimonies of lives and destinies of art works that he encountered. He left over 300,000 photographs, 46,000 volumes of art history and 37,000 of catalogs to University of Bologna. His collection is housed at the Zeri foundation, with the headquarters at Santa Cristina convent in Bologna, which serves as a central hub for art history research. The Foundation, accessible to all free of charge, now holds over 500,000 photographs of artworks. It also offers educational programs, including courses on photo archiving and a summer school for aspiring art professionals.

Federico Zeri died in 1998, just months after receiving an honorary degree from University of Bologna. His legacy continues to impact the Italian and global art scene through his Foundation, as well as following professional and connoisseurs.

Ksenija K.