Alessandro Marabottini: The Scholar-Collector Who Championed Baroque Art

Alessandro Marabottini (1923-2012), an Italian art historian and collector, is remembered for his early advocacy of Baroque art when it was largely ignored by academia. Born in Florence to a noble family, he studied medieval art under Mario Salmi and later became a professor at the University of Messina and the University of Perugia. In 1951, he befriended British art historian Francis Haskell, influencing Haskell's book 'Mecenati e pittori.' Marabottini organized a major exhibition on Antonello da Messina in 1979 and wrote a comic book about the artist. He also authored mystery novels, including 'Le tentazioni di Sant'Antonio' (2003) and the unpublished 'Delitto accademico.' Upon his death, he bequeathed his collection of 677 works to the city of Perugia, housed at Palazzo Baldeschi. The Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Perugia now displays the collection, curated by his former student Caterina Zappia. To mark the tenth anniversary of his death, La nave di Teseo published his novel 'Collemammole,' a family saga set in the Guidotti family villa. The collection catalog was released in 2016 by De Luca.