Luisa Vertova (30 December 1920 – 28 June 2021) was an Italian art historian. Her research work mostly focused on Renaissance Italian painters such as

Piero della Francesca Piero della Francesca ( , ; ; ; – 12 October 1492) was an Italian Renaissance painter, Italian painter, mathematician and List of geometers, geometer of the Early Renaissance, nowadays chiefly appreciated for his art. His painting is charact ...

, Mantegna,

Paolo Veronese Paolo Caliari (152819 April 1588), known as Paolo Veronese ( , ; ), was an Italian Renaissance painter based in Venice, known for extremely large history paintings of religion and mythology, such as ''The Wedding at Cana (Veronese), The Wedding ...

Titian Tiziano Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), Latinized as Titianus, hence known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italian Renaissance painter, the most important artist of Renaissance Venetian painting. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near Belluno. Ti ...

Botticelli Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi ( – May 17, 1510), better known as Sandro Botticelli ( ; ) or simply known as Botticelli, was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. Botticelli's posthumous reputation suffered until the late 1 ...

and

Caravaggio Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (also Michele Angelo Merigi or Amerighi da Caravaggio; 29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610), known mononymously as Caravaggio, was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life. During the fina ...

. In addition, she undertook numerous projects as editor of several editions of her mentor

Bernard Berenson Bernard Berenson (June 26, 1865 – October 6, 1959) was an American art historian specializing in the Renaissance. His book ''The Drawings of the Florentine Painters'' was an international success. His wife Mary is thought to have had a large ...

's and her husband

Benedict Nicolson Lionel Benedict Nicolson (6 August 1914 – 22 May 1978) was a British art historian and author. He was the author of ''The Painters of Ferrara'' (1950) and ''Hendrick Terbrugghen'' (1958). Biography Nicolson was born on 6 August 1914. ...

's writings.

Early life and education

Vertova was born to philosopher Giacomo Vertova, a descendant of a noble family in Bergamo. Giacomo Vertova was forced out of his university teaching job due to his anti-fascist ideals. Despite his liberal views, he was described as "intolerant and authoritarian" and led a strict household. Vertova had two siblings, brother Gino and sister Nori. Vertova spent her childhood in

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

, Italy, but when she was six the family moved from Florence to a villa in Fiesole, Italy with their extended family. Vertova originally wanted to be an artist, but art school was considered unsuitable for a girl from a "good family." Vertova studied art history and archaeology at the

University of Florence The University of Florence ( Italian: ''Università degli Studi di Firenze'') (in acronym UNIFI) is an Italian public research university located in Florence, Italy. It comprises 12 schools and has around 50,000 students enrolled. History The f ...

in the 1940s.

Career

During the German occupation of Italy, Vertova survived with her knowledge of the German language. At about this time, anti-fascist friends of her father's took her to meet

, who was under house arrest at Villa I Tatti, in the outskirts of Florence. Two years later, he learned she was ill and malnourished, and so invited her to villa I Tatti to recover. Although she had been awarded a postgraduate bursary to study in Germany, she turned that down - and remained at i Tatti until her marriage. Vertova impressed Berenson and became his assistant, working on his photographic collection, and remained so even after moving to London. She worked with Elisabetta "Nicky" Mariano and Berenson until his death in 1959. Vertova was a consultant for

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, and it has additional salerooms in New York, Paris, Hong Kong, Milan, Geneva, Shan ...

and curated their catalogs. She worked as Old Master Paintings and Drawings Specialist and from the 1960s to the 1980s, she was advisor for most auctions for Christie's in Milan, Florence, and Rome. In 2018, Vertova gave the

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

Foundation her archive of art books, auction catalogs, photos and other documents from her time at Christie's. " Most of the photographs – gelatin silver prints and negative film – are of works of 19th-century Italian art as documented by major photographic studios: Cooper of London, Boccardi of Rome, Luigi Artini of Florence."

Marriage and children

Vertova met

at villa i Tatti while they were both guests of Berenson. They married on 8 August 1955 in the

Palazzo Vecchio The ( "Old Palace") is the town hall of Florence, Italy. It overlooks the , which holds a copy of Michelangelo's ''David'' statue, and the gallery of statues in the adjacent Loggia dei Lanzi. Originally called the ''Palazzo della Signoria'', a ...

in Florence, Italy. There was conflict between Vertova and her family because of gossip that Nicolson was homosexual, but he had already told her. One year later, they had a daughter, Vanessa Pepita Giovanna Nicolson in 1956. At the end of 1955, she moved to England with Nicolson. Vertova felt "isolated and trapped" in England after leaving her career and family in Italy. She had "been her own person, a respected art historian, rather than just 'Mrs. Benedict Nicolson.'" They divorced in 1962. Vertova's relationship with her daughter Vanessa was loving but complex and often difficult.

Works

* Botticelli (Electa, Florence, 1949) * Giovanni Bellini (Electa, Florence, 1949) * Mantegna (Electa, Florence, 1950) * Tiziano (Electa, Florence, 1951) * Vittore Carpaccio, Carpaccio (Electa, Florence, 1952) * L'Arco di Costantino o Della decadenza della forma With Berenson, B. (Milan, 1952) * Botticelli (Vol.3 of Art et artistes: Série les peintres) (Hatier, Paris, 1952) * Mantegna (Art et artistes) (Hatier, Paris, 1952) * Fra Angelico (Vol.8 of Art et artistes) (Hatier, Paris, 1953) * Veronese (Electa, Florence, 1953) * Vittore Carpaccio, Carpaccio (Electa, Florence, 1954) * I disegni dei pittori fiorentini With Berenson, B. & Mariano, N. (Milan, 1961) * I Cenacoli Fiorentini (ERI, 1965) * Firenze: I Tatti (EDAM, Florence, 1969) * Giulio Licino (1976) * Carlo Ceresa: un pittore bergamasco nel '600 (Bergamo, 1983) * Carlo Ceresa (Bolis, 1984) * Caravaggism in Europe With Nicolson, B. (Allemandi, Turin, 1989) * Ben Nicolson (Pitti arte e libri, Florence, 1991) * Luisa Vertova (Pitti arte e libri, Florence, 1991)

References

External links

Archivio Luisa Vertova

Luisa Vertova - WorldCat identities
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vertova, Luisa 1921 births 2021 deaths Italian women centenarians Italian women historians People from Florence