Elda Necchi Cerchiari, author of 'Arte nel Tempo', dies at 95

Elda Necchi Cerchiari, the Italian art historian and critic known for co-authoring the widely used high school and university textbook 'Arte nel Tempo' with Pierluigi Vecchi, died at 95. Born in Genoa in 1924, she studied at the University of Padua under Giuseppe Fiocco and later at the University of Milan, where she graduated in 1947 with a thesis on French critic Eugène Fromentin. She taught art history in Lombardy and Liguria before winning a position at the Liceo Classico Giovanni Berchet in Milan in 1960, where she taught until 1982. In 1957 she co-wrote a three-volume art history manual with Liana Castelfranchi, and in 1960 published 'Il cammino dell'arte'. The six-volume 'Arte nel Tempo' (1961) with Vecchi was followed by the three-volume 'I tempi dell'arte' (1996). She served on the board of ANISA, the national association of art history teachers. In 2013 she founded the Associazione Elda Cerchiari Necchi to honor cultural contributions. She was married to Aldo Cerchiari, a literary figure, critic, and painter who co-designed the Galleria Blu in Milan with architect Camillo Magni; their home hosted artists such as Lucio Fontana, Bruno Cassinari, Aligi Sassu, and Bruno Munari.