BALDINUCCI, FILIPPO. - Born in Florence in 1624, died in 1696.
A man of letters and an art enthusiast, he wrote *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 that earned him admission to the Accademia della Crusca, is the first history of art conducted with the methods of modern philological criticism, having been based by the author on verified documents and on refutations of information provided by his predecessors and contemporaries, from Vasari to Bellori and Malvasia. For 17th-century art, Baldinucci’s work demonstrates direct and scientifically vetted information.
Baldinucci also wrote the most accurate biography of Bernini (1682), commissioned by Queen Christina of Sweden, a life of Brunelleschi (published posthumously), and the treatise on *Il Cominciamento e progresso dell’arte d’intagliare in Roma* (1686). Also noteworthy is his *Vocabolario toscano dell’arte del disegno* (1681), the first work of its kind. As artistic advisor to Cardinal Leopoldo de’ Medici, he was entrusted with organizing the Medici collection of drawings (which still forms the core of the Gabinetto degli Uffizi) and published a rare catalogue of it (*Listra de’ nomi de’ pittori di mano de’ quali si hanno disegni*, Florence 1673). He was an avid collector of drawings (about a thousand of which were sold to the Louvre in 1806); he also practiced drawing and amateur painting.
NOTIZIE DE' PROFESSORI DEL DISEGNO DA CIMABUE IN QUA
IN WHICH IT IS SHOWN HOW, AND BY WHOM, the beautiful arts of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture, having emerged from the rough and Gothic styles, were restored to their ancient perfection in these centuries.
WORK
BY FILIPPO BALDINUCCI OF FLORENCE
Divided into Centuries and Decades
BY
GIOSUE III
GRAND DUKE OF TUSCANY
FLORENCE, at San Bartolomeo, 1681. By the Cusani of the Saints and Private Individuals.
(Not. Enc. Catt.)
BALDINUCCI, FILIPPO – Title page of *Notizie de' professori del disegno* etc., Florence 1681.
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[⁰]: (Not. Enc. Catt.)