BELTRAMI, LUCA. - Architect and writer on art, b. in Milan on 13 Nov. 1854, d. in Rome on 8 Aug. 1933. Professor at the Accademia di Brera and director of the office for the preservation of Lombard monuments, he devoted his activity to numerous restorations, including those of the Castello Sforzesco, S. Maria delle Grazie, the Certosa di Pavia, and the façade of Monza Cathedral.
He was extensively active as a scholar: among other works, he published Il codice di Leonardo da Vinci nella biblioteca del principe Trivulzio a Milano, trascritto e annotato (Milan 1891); La basilica ambrosiana primitiva e la ricostruzione completa nel sec. IX (2nd ed., ibid. 1905); Disegni di Raffaello Sanzio nella biblioteca Ambrosiana (ibid. 1906); Documenti e memorie riguardanti la vita e le opere di Leonardo da Vinci (ibid. 1919). This made his polemical writings effective and appreciated, while, on the other hand, it confined his architectural style within schemes of learned eclecticism with a classicizing stamp. Among his original works may be recalled the new façade of Palazzo Marino (1890), facing Piazza della Scala, the Banca Commerciale in Milan and Rome, numerous funerary monuments, and the design for the building of the new Vatican Picture Gallery.