Beschreibung
In Italian. Two letters written by Francesco Valcanover, one to Professor Sydney J. Freedberg and one to Elizabeth H. Jones. Both are dated July 11, 1968. Both were sent from Venice, Italy. Mr. Valcanover was Il Soprintendente Alle Gallerie Ed Alle Opere D'arte a Venezia (The Superintendent of the Galleries and Works of Art in Venice), also Superintendence of the Galleries of Belluno, Padua, Rovigo, Treviso and Vicenza, beginning in 1966. From 1974 to 1987 he was the Superintendente for Artistic and Historical Heritage of Venice, 'to then conclude his career in the Cultural Heritage in Rome, in the Central Office of the Ministry.' He was also the author of a number of scholarly books about Italian art and artists. 'Sydney J. Freedberg was an art historian who taught for nearly three decades at Harvard and was chief curator of the National Gallery of Art in Washington. Mr. Freedberg's writing on the art of the Italian High Renaissance embodied a formalist approach that emulated the patrician scholarly style of an earlier era. His books included monographs on Parmigianino (1950) and Andrea del Sarto (1961), and a monumental ''Painting of the High Renaissance in Rome and Florence,' which appeared in 1961. He was probably best known, however, for his exhaustive survey titled 'Painting in Italy: 1500-1600,' first published in 1971 and reissued several times since in the Pelican History of Art Series. Mr. Freedberg also served as an adviser at Harvard's Fogg Art Museum, and was briefly its acting director. The second letter from Mr. Valcanover was written to Elizabeth H. Jones, the former head conservator at the Fogg Museum. She served 22 years as head of the Conservation Department of the Harvard Art Museums. I purchased a number of her books directly from her home some years ago, and these three letters were within one of the books. Ms. Jones, beginning in 1967, devoted many months to the preservation and restoration of paintings, sculptures, and structures that were ravaged by floods in Venice, Italy. This is likely where she first met Francesco Valcanover who in his obituary was lauded as 'The great Superintendent who saved the monumental heritage from the high tide of '66.' Working under the auspices of the Committee to Rescue Italian Art (CRIA), Ms. Jones spent the summers of 1969, 1971, and 1972 in Venice. The letter from Ms. Keydel includes the envelope it was sent in. The return address is Il Soprintendente Alle Gallerie Ed Alle Opere D'arte --Venezia. It is dated July 12, 1968. It is a long two-page typed letter. Here is some of what it says: 'Valcanover's letter probably has reached you. He said he wrote to you to say that your coming is looked forward to, if you can spare the time to come and help. He would be delighted to have you come and work on the church of San Marco and he also wants to confer with you about the possibility of working up some reports on the condition of the city and the center at San Gregorio that might be used in talks to raise money. As Valcanover probably indicated, San Marco can be done almost any time so that you could pretty well set the date of your stay. I certainly hope you are not being put in the position of giving up a delightful vacation at the beach or elsewhere by coming to Venice. Frankly, it is such a crazy situation that all my idealistic reveries about 'saving' the city are pretty well obscured by the dear Italians themselves and by the hot weather! But there certainly is one hell of a lot of just plain work to be done (regardless of whether the city is saved).'. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers 004928
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