BALDINUCCI, FILIPPO. - Born in Florence in 1624, died in 1696.
A man of letters and lover of art, he wrote the Notizie de' Professori del disegno da Cimabue in qua (6 vols., Florence 1681-1728; the last three, posthumous, were edited by his son Francesco). The work, written in a sober and witty style, which won him admission to the Accademia della Crusca, is the first history of art conducted with the method of modern philological criticism, both because the author drew on verified documents and because of its confutation of information given by his predecessors and contemporaries, from Vasari to Bellori and Malvasia. For the art of the 17th century, B.'s work displays direct and scientifically sifted information.
B. also wrote the most accurate biography of Bernini (1682), commissioned by Queen Christina of Sweden, a life of Brunelleschi (printed posthumously), and the treatise on the Cominciamento e progresso dell'arte d'intagliare in rame (1686). His Vocabolario toscano dell'arte del disegno (1681), the first attempt of its kind, is also of notable importance. Artistic adviser to Cardinal Leopoldo de' Medici, B. was charged by him with arranging the Medici collection of drawings (which still constitutes the nucleus of the Gabinetto of the Uffizi) and printed a rare catalogue of it (Listra [sic] de' nomi de' pittori di mano de' quali si hanno disegni, Florence 1673). He was a passionate collector of drawings (about a thousand, sold in 1806 to the Louvre); a draughtsman and amateur painter.
Bibliography4 works
Elsa Gerlini
NEWS OF PROFESSORS OF DESIGN FROM CIMABUE ONWARDS
BY WHICH IS DEMONSTRATED HOW, AND BY WHOM the fair Arts of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture, having driven out the rudeness of the Greek and Gothic manners, were in those centuries restored to their ancient perfection.
W O R K
BY FILIPPO BALDINUCCI FIORENTINO
TO THE MOST SERENE
COSIMO III GRAND DUKE OF TUSCANY.
IN FLORENCE, per S. P. 1681, C. 1681, C. 1681, C. 1681, C. 1681, C. 1681, C. 1681, C. 1681, C. 1681, C. 1681, C. 1681, C. 1681, C. 1681, C. 1681, C. 1681, C. 1
(phot. Enc. Catt.)
BALDINUCCI, FILIPPO. - Title page of the Notizie de professori del disegno etc., Florence 1681.