The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies VILLA I TATTI Via di Vincigliata 26, 50135 Florence, Italy

Volume 35 E-mail: [email protected]    Tel: +39 055 603 251 / Fax: +39 055 603 383 Autumn 2015

Letter from Florence

It’s the end of June 2015, and Anna and I are preparing to leave Mensola, and Boccaccio and Petrarca, and Laura Battiferra I Tatti for the last time. It has been an intense and wonderful too. We are grateful to all of them for opening our eyes to five-year period at the Villa, with exceptional groups of the beauty of this valley, and enhancing the experience of our Fellows, Visiting Professors, and guests joining us from all walk with their words. corners of the world. And it has seemed a very quick period, too. The last year has gone in a flash. It seems only yesterday Our walk also offers us a chance to talk about what’s going on that we were harvesting our grapes, and already our vineyards in the day, the ups and downs, the ins and outs of la vita tattiana: are once more covered in luxuriant foliage while the olive who is leaving, and who is coming next to I Tatti, the lectures, groves are rich with the promise of new oil for the fettunta. conferences, and concerts in preparation, and the books that Anna and I love this little Mensola valley and never miss an have just appeared and those that are due out soon. But it’s opportunity to admire the beautiful, peaceful order in which also a marvelous opportunity to see how the restoration of the everything – vigne, oliveti, giardini e case – is kept by our staff. niche is progressing, to find out from Margrit the name of a new bloom, to quiz Paolo and Gianluca, in the first warmth of One of the many pleasures of living at I Tatti has been going a February day, about how they manage to trim the boxwood on a walk around the garden after lunch each day. In early just-so, or to ask Claudio the name of the black and yellow spring we have always heeded Walter Kaiser’s instructions to snake that we notice with a shudder, on a hot May’s day, not fully enjoy the anemones that grow on the meadow below coiling around an apple or fig tree, but resting on – of all places the azalea terrace. The first anemone tends to appear towards – the top of our central boxwood hedge! What garden of Eden the end of January, then two or three more a few days later, would this be without a serpent? and soon so many and so colorful that the grass above the wisteria walk seems straight out of an Impressionist painting. There are so many joys that come from being here at In all seasons we pause, at Anna’s insistence, at the bottom of I Tatti. For example, knowing that each day, in the studies of the ilex allee, and, while I inspect the trees searching for new the Deborah Loeb Brice Loggiato, in the Berenson library, perfectly round holes the woodpeckers may have drilled, she in the Fototeca there are Fellows who are given the time looks over the fence at the Maiano meadow to catch a glimpse – that most precious of luxuries – to pursue their research: of any deer bounding across the grass back to the safety of thinking, reading and writing on topics that may seem exotic the scrub-covered banks of the Mensola – perhaps to chase to the outside world, but here are part of the very fabric of a few Fiesolan nymphs still lingering there. As we walk down our intellectual discourse and daily exchange. Or knowing along the stream, we often remember the story of Affrico and that, at lunch each day, our gathering allows for unexpected Continued on page 2

Cambridge Office: Villa I Tatti, Harvard University, 124 Mt. Auburn Street, Cambridge, MA 02138-5762 Tel: +1 617 496 8724 or +1 617 495 8042 / Fax: +1 617 495 8041 / Web: http://www.itatti.harvard.edu continued from page 1 discoveries, and special, unpredictable connections to be of a drawing room, Botticelli’s painting of a joyful moment established among scholars of all ages from distant parts of in Boccaccio’s tale of Nastagio degli Onesti. The workshops, the world with different approaches, traditions, and beliefs – the conferences, the lunches, the trips: they are immensely connections that could not be re-created in a busy university, enjoyable and transformative in themselves, but in addition or even here, if this were merely a research center and not a they build bridges between Fellows, between disciplines, community. Or in the moments of quiet, when the Villa is between cultures, between countries. I am delighted empty, slipping into the library to check a book, or stopping when I consider how, in the past few years, in addition to along the corridors to gaze at will at an Egyptian cat of the strengthening its Anglo-American-Italian foundations, I Tatti 8th century BC, or a Signorelli, a Sassetta, a Lotto, a Cima, an has extended its wings to so many other countries, from anonymous Buddha. Or just sitting down on the south terrace, Spain to Greece, from Iceland to Turkey, and from Latin looking at the first golden persimmons, like gifts left by a America to China and Korea. I was never prouder in the passing god amidst the dark green foliage, and down below, past five years than when hearing Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, the line of pink geraniums on the roof of the Limonaia, the French, Turkish, Hungarian, even Icelandic, being spoken cypresses motionless in the air, and the Roman pine, guardian along with Italian and English at the lunch table. Or when, Lar of I Tatti, soaring majestically against the blue sky. opening a conference sponsored by I Tatti in a 16th century, Renaissance-styled Dominican monastery in Oaxaca, Beyond I Tatti, there are the memorable moments on the Mexico, I could see and hear so many scholars from Mexico, 2 trips that the Fellows organize each year. I will never forget Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Peru speaking about the echoes, c our visit to the Sistine Chapel, when, our group having been ramifications and repercussions of the Italian Renaissance in allowed to stay on after the chapel was closed to the public, Latin America. Or, on meeting dozens of young men and all the Tattiani, Visiting Profs and Director included, lay in women in a high-rise building in the middle of Shanghai, silence on the benches, just looking up and marveling. Or the discovering their eagerness to talk and to hear about Leon winter trip that a Fellow arranged to the small San Martino Battista Alberti, Leonardo da Vinci and Niccolò Machiavelli. castle across the flat fields outside Bologna. We arrived at the Castello in the light snow, the owner let the drawbridge down These are just a few of the moments that make up the very and beckoned us all in, to plenty of warm coffee and biscuits rich time that I Tatti offers. But there is so much more to the by an enormous fireplace. Or the trip to Florence with a Villa. All I have to do is think of the people who help make group of friends of I Tatti, when we were given the privilege it run so smoothly and so effectively. Forget the clock on top of visiting Palazzo Pucci and admiring, hanging on the wall of the tower that Mary added: that is about the only thing continued on page 10

THE 2014 - 2015 I TATTI COMMUNITY

Full information on all the 2014-2015 academic community can be found under COMMUNITY, FORMER APPOINTEES, 2014/2015 on our website: www.itatti.harvard.edu

Villa I Tatti ALINA PAYNE APPOINTED I TATTI’S 8th DIRECTOR Alina Payne, Alexander P. Misheff Professor of History of Art and Architecture at Harvard University, was trained as We are delighted to announce that as of an architect (McGill) and received MA and PhD degrees July 1, 2015, Alina Payne is Paul E. Geier in art/architecture history (University of Toronto). She Director of Villa I Tatti taught at Oberlin College and the University of Toronto, and joined Harvard University in 2003. In 2006 she was awarded the Max Planck and Alexander von Humboldt Prize in the Humanities (2006-12).

She is the author of The Architectural Treatise in the Italian Renaissance (Cambridge University Press, 1999; Hitchcock Prize 2000), Rudolf Wittkower (Bollati-Boringheri, 2010), 3 From Ornament to Object. Genealogies of Architectural Modernism d (Yale University Press, 2012), The Telescope and the Compass. Teofilo Gallaccini and the Dialogue between Architecture and Science in the Age of Galileo (Leo Olschki, 2012). Volumes of essays she has edited include Teofilo Gallaccini. Writings and Library (Leo Olschki, 2012), Dalmatia and the Mediterranean. Portable Archaeology and the Poetics of Influenc (Brill 2014), Vision and Its Instruments. Art, Science and Technology in Early Modern Europe (Penn State Press, 2015), and Antiquity and Its Interpreters (co-editor; CUP 2000). She is currently seeing through publication three volumes of essays: The Companion to Renaissance and Baroque Architecture (Blackwell/ Wiley, 2016); Histories of Ornament: Between Global and Local (co-editor; Princeton University Press, 2016) and Revision, Revival and Return. The Renaissance in the Nineteenth-Century (co-editor; Villa I Tatti and Harvard University Press, 2016).

She has published numerous articles on Renaissance and modern architecture, on historiography and artistic theory, and on Mediterranean topics and lectured on topics ranging from Vitruvius to contemporary issues. She has been Visiting Professor at Villa I Tatti, Hertziana/Max Planck Institute in Rome, KHI/Max Planck Institute in Florence, the University of Palermo, the University of Rome II and École Pratique des Hautes Etudes (Paris). She is currently researching her next book on Renaissance architecture and the intersection between the arts on the terrain of materiality which will be the subject of her lectures as Chaire du Louvre in Paris Alina Payne (fall 2016).

Our new website launched in fall 2014. Visit www.itatti.harvard.edu for news and information, and to find out about fellowships, concerts, conferences, and more.

Fall 2015 The Biblioteca Berenson

he academic year just past was to 2010/11, when we first began Tagain a busy and productive season generating reliable circulation stats, the for the Berenson Library. Highlights number of volumes in the core research included winning a grant for a large collection that has been charged out or digital project, working extensively browsed has increased steadily; this year on the book collection at the Villa the total more than doubled the level Papiniana, providing digital versions registered five years ago. In another of some of the library’s rare treasures, impressive highpoint, more than 14% of 4 and achieving noteworthy results in individual titles in the main collection c acquisitions and circulation. were consulted at least once. The library continues to be enriched We also began to make some of the with abundant acquisitions of new library’s most exceptional print holdings books and other resources. Nearly accessible online. Sixty-three rare or 4,000 items in print were added, along unique music manuscripts and early with a small number of other materials printed books, comprising more than such as recordings and microfilms. This 8,000 pages, were digitized and made figure includes 3,158 monographic available through the HOLLIS catalog. titles – second historically only to We also digitized our copy – one of last year’s 3,500 new books. While only three known worldwide – of acquisitions stay focused on Italian Giorgio Vasari’s Ritratti de’ più eccellenti peninsular subjects, they extend farther pittori scultori et architetti contenuti nelle vite afield. During this and last year, among … (Giunti, 1568), a curious counterpart other areas we especially reinforced to his fundamental Vite that consists holdings on late medieval and early solely of the accompanying portrait modern “Mediterranean” and “Asian” plates, without text. In part the impulse topics. Some 250 titles were added to make this work available online on subjects such as the Venetian and stemmed from two Fellows, Laura Genoese colonies throughout the Moretti and Sean Roberts, who pooled Balkans and the Mediterranean, the their expertise in prints to collaborate Ottoman Empire, north Africa, Spain, on an unexpected study of the Ritratti – east and central Asia, and world travel a quintessential “I Tatti moment.” literature. This past summer we began a large New titles generally of note include project, soon to be complete, involving two hefty encyclopedic works issued by the library of Roberto Papini (1883- the Istituto della Enciclopedia italiana: 1957), a historian of art and architecture Machiavelli (2014) and Costantino with a multi-faceted career as a scholar, I (2013), each in three volumes; the museum director, official of the State catalog of the remarkable Nasser Fine Arts Administration, and university Khalili Collection of Islamic Art (New professor. Papini bequeathed his library York: Nour Foundation in association and house (the villa Papiniana) to with Azimuth Editions and Oxford Bernard Berenson, and both came into University Press, c1992- ) of which I Tatti’s possession in 1976 at the death 17 of 27 planned volumes are out of his wife Livia de Kuzmik. The library so far; and several facsimile editions remained in situ, in poor conservation of Renaissance Italian illuminated conditions and largely neglected. When manuscripts. So that anyone interested the Berenson Library catalog was can keep abreast of incoming titles, we converted to electronic format in the began a listing of monthly accessions on 1990s, some books at the Papiniana were the I Tatti website (http://itatti.harvard. minimally (and often badly) cataloged edu/berenson-library/titles-recently- and added to the library’s database. The added-berenson-library). majority was left in obscurity. I Tatti’s library exists and grows to Our project aimed at establishing facilitate scholarship, so it is especially administrative control over this largely satisfying to note that consultation hidden collection, improving its storage of books and periodicals has been conditions, assessing its contents, and progressively on the rise. With respect making its holdings discoverable.

Villa I Tatti J. Paul Getty Trust to photographically replicate the Berenson photo collection. Drawing now on digital technology, it transforms this earlier collaboration to enhance access to the collection and multiply research opportunities. The original enterprise aimed to produce a preservation copy of the Fototeca’s holdings Empty then full shelves at the Papignana and to establish a second location, in To start, a book-moving firm removed wide-ranging interests and activities as America, where researchers could 5 the approximately 6,500 volumes from a scholar, museum professional, official, consult the reproductions. Focusing d their shelves in the upper-floor library, and teacher. A fair number of his on the Renaissance Italian content, cleaned them, arranged them on carts, books duplicate items already in the some 115,000 photographs of paintings, and moved them to the ground floor catalog, yet surprisingly many even on sculptures, architecture, and manuscript for processing. The metal shelves were Italian Renaissance topics do not, and illuminations were re-photographed, dismantled, repaired, and repainted, these and many other potentially useful front and back, to capture both the while the niches housing them were works for I Tatti scholars now enrich the images and the handwritten notes by backed with insulation to protect books library’s holdings. The collection also Berenson and others. New prints of from damp once they returned. contains many relatively uncommon both sides were made and are now Meanwhile, downstairs a team items on 19th and 20th century art and at the Getty Research Institute. The of library staff toiled at makeshift architecture, especially Italian, and we’re 230,000 negatives are preserved on 451 workstations through the exceptionally pleased to make them accessible now to reels of film held by I Tatti. torrid summer heat. They surveyed interested researchers. The award covers most of the cost of books for conservation problems and While most of the library staff helped in digitizing the negatives, with the scope flagged those needing attention. They some way with this project, three cheers of generating good reference-quality identified works that could fill gaps in go especially to library assistants Giulia reproductions. Once they are scanned, the main library and rare books to be Galeazzi and Paolo Milazzo, a new the images will be made accessible moved to a controlled environment. colleague this summer. They assumed online probably in some form of Where necessary they improved the lion’s share of the work and showed group-level records by artist, in a series existing bibliographic records (less than outstanding dedication to moving the of virtual visual monographs. Over 2,000) and found, imported, or created project ahead quickly and efficiently. time, images will be cataloged in detail records for the remaining 4,000-plus My thanks to them, and to all who for more granular levels of access and titles. Finally, they generated local shared in this effort. other means of displaying, researching, Berenson Library holdings records and Finally, we were very pleased that a and using this celebrated historical applied possession stamps, bookplates, proposal from the Berenson Library collection will be explored. barcodes, and call number labels to was one of twenty-two projects to win every single item. All told, a Herculean funding this year as part of Harvard task! By the end of August about Library’s Open your Hidden Collections Michael Rocke three-fourths of the books had been program. The library was awarded Nicky Mariano Librarian fully processed, and were returned to $38,755 for “Revealing Renaissance and Director of the their locations upstairs. Processing of Art: Mass Digitization of the Berenson Biblioteca Berenson the remainder continues at I Tatti and Library Photo Archive.” This project should end by mid-autumn. The library grows out of a joint initiative in that has re-emerged reflects Papini’s the 1980s between I Tatti and the

Some members of the library team. l -r: Director Michael Rocke, Acquisitions Librarian Jocelyn Karlan, Head Cataloger Valerio Pacini, Serials and Continuing Resources Librarian Paris O’Donnell, and Library Assistants Giulia Galeazzi & Paolo Milazzo.

Fall 2015 News from the Berenson Fototeca & Collection beautiful color images from the digital printed by Officin Libraria. The catalog wwwwwwwww photographic campaign carried out at includes 414 digital pictures and about he Fototeca Berenson, as the Pinacoteca Civica of Savona with 1,800 historic photos documenting Tannounced in last year’s newsletter the generous support of Treacy and the Berenson Collection, including (see Michael Rocke, Fall 2014, p. Darcy Beyer have now been cataloged. works that no longer form part of the 5) has recently undergone a major These are available online through VIA, collection, either because they have transformation both in terms of its been lost or were donated by Berenson appearance and its function. Now to various museums around the world. called the Ahmanson Reading Room In striving to recreate, where possible, for Special Collections, it has become the layout chosen by Berenson to a controlled space for the consultation furnish his home, we made an interesting of all the special collections owned by discovery involving the St. Michael 6 Villa I Tatti, meaning that photographs Enthroned by Michele Giambono. c can now be consulted together with Completely by chance, I found the sources often closely linked to them, painting’s original frame, which had allowing for the possibility to cross been removed by Berenson years ago, search with the materials of the Archive, locked away in storage on the property. the Biblioteca’s rare book collection, Scholars at work in the new This work has now been repositioned Ahmanson Reading Room or the works of the Art Collection. All in this frame and returned to its rightful photographic material is now housed place in the dining room. This early on shelves designed to ensure optimum Harvard’s image catalog. fifteenth century Venetian painting has conservation, while the rehousing Our attention to analogous historical in fact been selected as the cover image material has led to the recent important of the new catalog. acquisition of the archives of Fabio Unfortunately, objects in the collection Bisogni (VIT’72-01), a scholar with can be damaged unexpectedly: it was strong connections to I Tatti following thus for the Japanese bronze elephant- his years spent here as a Research shaped incense burner which decorates Associate. Above all, this archive reflects the staircase on the ground floor and is his interests as an iconographer and much loved and “touched” by visitors scholar of Sienese art, and includes a vast to the Villa, and for a pendant detached collection of photographs that form an from the rich porcelain chandelier in impressive visual the guest room nicknamed documentation of “the Ritz” by Edith Sienese art from Wharton during a stay the Middle Ages at I Tatti. Luckily, in both to the nineteenth cases the damage was century. minimal and the pieces l-r: Machtelt Israëls (VIT’05) Ilaria Della Monica, Carl Strehlke, & Marco Jellinek The link between were repaired immediately. with the new Berenson Catalog the Fototeca and In future years, the new the Art Collection Conservation Fund in of the collection is already underway is highlighted The bronze elephant damaged Honor of Lino Pertile and and roughly 80% complete. Most of by the current by overly tactile visitors Anna Bensted (see p. 13) will the old wooden shelving, designed by cataloging project mean that we are also better Ferdinando Poggi in the 1960s and to in memory of Melvin R. Seiden. When equipped to face such emergencies which generations of I Tatti scholars the project is complete, photographic head on. were accustomed, were unfortunately documentation of all the works of no longer fit for purpose due to damage Villa I Tatti’s Art Collection will be caused by the infiltration of moisture available online. The first phase of the from the perimeter walls. Happily, project involved European paintings Giovanni Pagliarulo however, these shelves are now enjoying and graphic works, and its completion Agnes Mongan Curator of the Fototeca Berenson, Curator of the a ‘second life’ in the photo library of coincincided with the publication Berenson Art Collection the Visual Arts Department of the of the beautiful new printed catalog University of Florence. edited by Carl Strehlke and Machtelt Christopher Daly As for our digital projects, the Israëls, published by Villa I Tatti and

Villa I Tatti Seminars and Conferences for Chinese Scholars The 2015 Summer Seminar for Chinese Scholars on the theme of Understanding Space in Renaissance Italy ran from 27 June - 18 July and was once again a great success. Twelve junior scholars from Greater China, most of whom had never visited Italy, were selected to spend three weeks in Florence. Here, they worked toward a greater understanding of the meaning and function of space in the art and architecture of Renaissance Italy and of Florence in particular. In addition to group sessions at I Tatti the program - co-directed by Jonathan Nelson and Fabrizio Nevola (VIT’05) - took full advantage of Florence’s many remarkable monuments and sites, and discussion developed as the scholars walked from one location to another and investigated the urban infrastructure of their host city. The seminar participants will meet again at Nanjing University (NJU) in October 2015 for a post-seminar meeting prior to the joint I Tatti / NJU conference on The Italian Renaissance and Chinese Receptions from October 16 - 17. This event follows the 2014 7 conference held at the Harvard Center Shanghai and Fudan University, d and is I Tatti’s second conference organized in collaboration with a Chinese institution. The summer seminars in Florence and conferences in China over the last three years have all been possible thanks to the generous funding of the Getty Foundation through its Connecting Art Histories Initiative.

The annual ‘Duomo climb’ : an I Tatti tradition Lia Markey, Hanna Kiel Fellow

On a chilly but sunny February day an enthusiastic group of Fellows met Research Associate Peggy Haines outside Santa Maria del Fiore for the annual Duomo climb. Celebrating her 50th anniversary in Florence, Peggy delighted the group with her detailed knowledge of the structure. She first handed out diagrams for study and brought the group inside under the cupola to recount in great detail the history of the building, informing Fellows of documents regarding the use of macigno, of the complex design of the Gothic form, and of the politics behind Brunelleschi’s involvement. Many of the Fellows bravely overcame their fear of heights and claustrophobia to ascend the dome thanks to Peggy’s calming demeanor. Stops along the way to examine the various levels, the herringbone brickwork and double paned Lila Wallace - Reader’s Digest Visiting Professor Mary Vaccaro walls put the more nervous Fellows at ease and made the construction Melville J Kahn Fellow Jessica Goethals of the dome comprehensible. The highlight of the tour was a special at the top of the Duomo peek through an internal window within the lantern that allows one to look down into the cathedral from the highest point inside. This view provided a glorious and unforgettable vantage point and a tremendous and unexpected gust of wind! After the tour, Peggy rewarded the intrepid climbers with tea and cenci at Robiglio.

Fall 2015 Ziya, who performs an assortment of percussion instruments, the ensemble Early Music brought together French-Canadian Pierre-Yves Martel (viola da gamba), Lebanese Charbel Rouhana (ud and at I Tatti voice), and the Turkish musicians Neva Özgen (kemençe) and Didem Basar 9 October 2014 (kanun) to perform traditional music La porta d’Oriente: musical traditions from the Eastern Mediterranean. of the Eastern Mediterranean. The concert included compositions Constantinople by the extraordinary Dimitrie Cantemir (1673-1723): “twice t is probable that almost no one Prince of Moldavia, scholar, author, in the Limonaia on a beautiful philosopher, historian, polyglot, Ievening of October 2014 had ever ethnographer, geographer, musician heard music such as that performed and composer for the Ottoman court”. the players back together for an encore: by the ensemble Constantinople. The The remainder of the programme a reprise of Didem Basar’s Kervan. 8 concert celebrated a newly funded focused on works composed by the The programme notes offered c joint fellowship between Villa I Tatti individual performers, with voices and copious accounts by ambassadors, and the Research Center of Anatolian instruments in assorted combinations. artists, musicians, travellers, scientists Civilization of the Koç University In their solos, they demonstrated and slaves, which gave glimpses of a (RCAC), in Istanbul, for advanced the virtuoso capabilities of their musical world far removed from our research in the interaction between instruments, from the kanun with own. The booklet, whose images and Italy and Byzantine or the Ottoman its many strings, to the kemençe, in accounts were gathered from materials Empire, ca. 1300 to ca. 1700. We were compositions filled with complex in the Berenson Library and Archive, delighted to call upon the ensemble rhythms and constantly changing concluded with quotes from writings Constantinople, which since its meters. In the duo Cheshmeh Charbel on Eastern music by famed travellers foundation in 2001 by two Iranian Rouhana sang in Arabic accompanying amongst the Berensons’ intimate born musicians - Kiya Tabassian, himself on the ud, while Kiya Tabassian friends - Gertrude Bell, Freya Stark, artistic director, and his brother Ziya then sang in Farsi playing the setar. Rebecca West, Patrick Leigh Fermor - Tabassian - has provided a forum for The musicians projected a huge sense and the Berensons themselves. cross-fertilization of musical cultures. of energy and joy in their performance; Besides Kiya, who plays setar, and an overwhelmingly positive response Susan Weiss to the evening’s performance brought Robert Lehman Visiting Professor wwwwwwwww spectacles: bull hunts, battles on bridges, Giovanni Croce and Monteverdi, acrobatic displays, a never-ending which featured mime, masks, interludes parade of maschere (mummers escorted for lute relating to carnival games, by musicians), regate, musicians on and many a carnival surprise. By no gondolas, and theaters floating down means the least was the participation the canals. The streets and squares were of Professor Pertile himself, who gave full of strolling players and the famed a brilliant performance of a 17th c. mountebanks of Venice who made ‘learned Doctor’ in the Bergamasque 9 June 2015 Carnevale veneziano use of music to sell their wares. This dialect of his youth. The programme I Fagiolini concert, in honor of Professor Lino booklet included contemporary images Pertile, presented some of the lighter of public diversions for carnival in This programme brought to our ears an forms of musical entertainment from Venice, and a selection of accounts echo of the music heard within the city the late sixteenth and early seventeenth left by European visitors over the of Venice in the early modern age during centuries: masquerades, musical games, centuries, including this observation by carnival: the music of the calli, piazze madrigal comedies and other bizzarrie the aventurier Ange Goudar: “…one and palazzi. The carnival entertainments performed as diversions in the palazzi inhales a soft air, extremely dangerous to of Venice were legendary and drew and the piazze during the long Venetian virtue; the whole city is a gaudy scene countless visitors in the period carnival season. Since these forms of shows, entertainments and diversions, between December 26 - the feast of exploit humour in its various guises, the all alike frivolous...” (The Chinese spy, Saint Stephen - and Shrove Tuesday, programme also explored the concept 1765). However dangerous to virtue, when the city on the lagoon became a of comedy in Italian music of the late the entertainments presented by the pullulating hive of festivity and license. Renaissance. Fagiolini were delightful, brilliantly From St Stephen’s Day to martedì The English ensemble I Fagiolini gave performed, and a memorable farewell grasso the city was an immense urban a spectacular performance of music for Director Lino Pertile. theater, offering the most extraordinary by Orazio Vecchi, Adriano Banchieri,

Villa I Tatti of historical fortepianos; the students Croce bolognese (1738) and two little were thus able to spend a great deal of works of trattenimento, of which we time in study on fine instruments. We seem to hold the only existing copies: hosted six young musicians, some of Giovanni Tinti’s Giardino di vaghi whom have followed our Masterclass fio i (1620), and an Opera nuovo della from its beginnings, and who have villanelle (ca. 1560). Two acquisitions, continued to join us each year, however, were of exceptional interest. notwithstanding the fact that they The first is the only known copy of are already well launched on their the first edition of Abatessa’s Cespuglio NEWS careers as soloists and are winning di vari fio i, overo intavolatura de chitarra FROM THE international awards. And we were spagnola, published in Rome in pleased to welcome three new 1624, which contains 23 dances MORRILL MUSIC students (two from Moscow and one for Spanish guitar (the contents from Augsburg), in the early stages of are only partly to be found in the LIBRARY their Conservatory studies. At the second edition published in Orvieto We are pleased to announce that conclusion of the week, coinciding the following year). The second after successful negotiation with the with the end of Orientation Week, was a gift of outstanding value: the 9 ecclesiastical authorities of Casale the participants performed in only known copy of the Sonetti di d Monferrato we have been able to the Limonaia on the remarkable diversi eccellentiss. autori in lode del Sig. conclude our project of digitizing the Johann Schantz fortepiano owned Girolamo Frescobaldi, published in significant corpus of manuscripts of by the Laboratorio di Restauro del Rome by Frescobaldi’s pupil Pietro Renaissance polyphony held in the Fortepiano. Paolo Sabatini in 1628, to celebrate Archivio Capitolare. Thanks to our Musician in residence this year was Frescobaldi’s appointment as organist project, the Archivio now has high- harpsichordist Anne Marie Dragosits. to Ferdinando II, Grand Duke of quality conservation digital copies Besides collaborating with countless Tuscany. This is a splendid addition to of all these important codices, and orchestras and early music ensembles, our collection of poetic texts about - we have also been able to contribute Anne Marie regularly holds master or in honour of - Italian musicians and copies of these manuscripts to classes throughout Europe and is singers of the late 16th and early 17th currently lecturing at the centuries. Being the only copy extant Mozarteum in Salzburg. - and with, moreover, manuscript While in residence at I Tatti, additions in a contemporary hand - it Anne Marie prepared for is of huge historic interest and value. her CD of music by Johann We are deeply grateful to Professor Jakob Froberger, which she Frederick Hammond (VIT ’72) for will record later this year this most generous gift, and I am on a historical instrument infinitely honoured that he presented made by Girolamo de Zenti it to the library in recognition of my in 1653. Anne Marie offered forty years’ service as Morrill Music our community three post- Librarian at Villa I Tatti. prandial recitals of music by German and Italian baroque keyboard composers, Kathryn Bosi the AHRC-funded project “The concluding each with works by Morrill Music Librarian Production and Reading of Music Froberger. Her informal presentations Sources, 1480-1530”, directed by of her recitals greatly added to our Professor Thomas Schmidt at the understanding and pleasure; we University of Manchester. Moreover, will long remember her delightful some sixty-three of our own rare or exposition of Froberger’s Lamento per unique holdings are now accessible in la dolorosa perdita della Real Maestà di digital format through the HOLLIS Ferdinando IV, Rè de Romani (1654) catalogue: our thanks to Tiziana which concludes with an ascending Resta for her splendid work with this scale of two octaves, symbolising his project. ascent to heaven (underscored, in The academic year began with the manscript source, with the words our usual Masterclass for talented Requiescat in Pace Amen). young keyboard players under the Rare and unique works acquired for expert guidance of Professor Ella the Music Library this year included Sevskaya, and in collaboration with two additions to our collection of the State Conservatory of Moscow. works by that delightful monk of As usual, the Laboratorio di Restauro Bologna, the composer and writer del Fortepiano kindly made its Adriano Banchieri: Discorso della instruments available to our students, lingua Bolognese (1630), and Di and we also had access to the resources sulpizia romana trionfante (1668). We of the adjunct Accademia Bartolomeo also acquired a very rare copy of Cristofori with its splendid collection Descrizione della vita di Giulio Cesare

Fall 2015 continued from page 2 at the Villa that doesn’t work. Every I Tatti has never been more committed particularly dear to me: day, Anna and I have had reason to be to the humanities, and the world has grateful to everyone who works here never been more in need of humanism. We know, we know, a poor fellow you are, performing his or her task with the skill, attention and pride of a musician who A few days ago, I received a lovely We know, for the wind has told us plays in an orchestra – as I have been email from Japan, which ended with known to call our community – and this line: “You are really the lord of the deeply cares for the overall quality of Villa I Tatti, beloved by all inhabitants.” Who carries away men’s sighs, its music. But we are also grateful to the Even allowing for Japanese legendary wonderful, generous and tremendously courtesy, this is an amazing compliment, The endless struggles which are fought loyal members of the I Tatti Council, and while I’m not planning to ask to the new Amici dei Tatti group, and President Faust and the Corporation in your heart and you cannot subdue. to our predecessors who have been to take note, I thought I would share so supportive, and whom we have got with you and indulge for a moment to know so well, through the past five the fantasy and kindness of my years, Walter Kaiser and Joe Connors. Japanese friend. The truth is that I have Looking ahead, I am delighted that it lived in many places in my life, from Ben lo sappiamo, un pover uom tu se’. 10 is my colleague, Alina Payne, who will the most humble to the most glorious, c be taking up the baton. I think she will but I never felt the lord of any, least Ben lo sappiamo e il vento ce lo disse find things ship shape, but I know she of all of this magnificent, insuperable, will also steer this grand and glorious unforgettable one. In fact, while Anna Che rapisce de gli uomini i sospir, team to ever greater heights. has occasionally, in the past five years, been mistaken for Mrs Berenson, Anna and I have had an unforgettable, nobody, not even the most polite of come dentro al tuo petto eterne risse and, in a personal way, very enriching our Japanese visitors, ever mistook me five-year term at I Tatti. I leave with for Mr Berenson. Of Villa I Tatti I have ardon che tu né sai né puoi lenir. Bernard and Mary Berenson in mind, been the proud and fortunate steward, grateful that, exactly one hundred and keeper and caretaker. I should add And even that would be an fifty years on from the month Bernard that I’ve kept it not only for Harvard, exaggeration. We are all guests in this was born in 1865, his dream of making but for all future seekers and lovers of earthly paradise, and sooner or later we I Tatti a place where humanistic the arts and humanities; I’ve kept it, if must move on. subjects would be studied and pursued I may say so, for the world, which I continues to be realized and developed. would think is what BB meant when Today more than ever we can say that he gave it to Harvard. scholars from the world over can and do come here to immerse themselves I realize that, while trying to be Lino Pertile in their studies, so that they may then humble, I may seem to boast. But, as go back to their students, their readers, the Bolgheri cypresses say to the poet Director, 2010 - 2015 their audiences, and bring to them the Giosuè Carducci, after he tells them of rich fruits of the time spent here. Villa all his ‘achievements’, in a poem that is

The Italian Renaissance in Latin America: An I Tatti conference in Oaxaca, Mexico In April 2015 Villa I Tatti held its first ever conference in South America, in collaboration with the Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). Until now, most studies of the Renaissance that address what is now known as Latin America have focused on European perspectives. This conference explored how European visions of the world were changed by the discovery and occupation of a new continent, an area that presented an unknown and immense territory of geographies, civilizations, and objects. Scholars from many countries and disciplines explored how Renaissance ideas were transferred, used, examined, assimilated or rejected in Latin America, from the 16th century to the present. The conference drew attention to Latin American views on the Renaissance, and examined the distinctive and original transformations of the Renaissance in Latin America.

Jonathan Nelson Lino Pertile with Renato González Mello, Director of Assistant Director for Academic Programs and Publications the Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas of UNAM

Villa I Tatti NEWS FROM THE BERENSON ARCHIVE This past year has been one of intense the English art historian Kenneth activity for the Berenson archive, Clark. It is a substantial text with a which has seen a heightened interest rich and invaluable apparatus, edited and involvement on the part of the by Robert Cummings. The acute scholarly community. Over the past and passionate dialogue between months, we have been working Berenson and Wladimir Weidle, a hard to complete the reorganization Russian intellectual who lived in Paris, and the descriptions of the papers was investigated in an article edited of Andrea Francalanci, historian of by Giovanna De Lorenzi and featured with Spanish Romanesque sculpture, medieval and early modern dance in the small volume published by instigated by his friendship with (and a dancer and choreographer Edifir (Bernard Berenson, Wladimir the American medievalist Arthur 11 himself) who was a true pioneer in Weidle and the bees of Aristaeus, d Kingsley Porter. the field. Following his untimely while an interesting article by Paolo

death in 1993, his mother donated Simoncelli (VIT’82), dedicated to the I could not conclude without this rich material to I Tatti. Until now correspondence between Berenson mentioning the ‘work in progress’ it has only had a summary contents and the politician and lawyer Italian that is the edition of Mary Berenson’s list, but at the end of this project the Vittorio Emanuele Orlando, was diaries - texts which have been material has been described in detail published in a recent edition of invaluable to the many scholars in the finding aid prepared by Maria Archivio Storico Italiano. Last, but by of various disciplines who have Virginia Rolfo. no means least, an entire issue of the consulted them in recent years. Their Several recent publications are journal Memofonte was dedicated to publication involves preparing digital testament to the increasing attention Berenson and France. images of the texts, their transcription scholars are paying to our repository. Denise Costanzo gleaned information for research, and a slender apparatus The beautiful volume “Dear BB” from the papers of Laurance and of notes edited by the Biblioteca contains the correspondence Isabel Roberts to produce a fine Berenson. We have currently finished between Bernard Berenson and article on Laurance’s years as Director scanning the entire corpus of one of his best-known assistants, of the American Academy in Rome. twenty-nine volumes, while the first transcriptions of the texts have been On March 21, 2015 we held a study made. Their content and nature is day during which the until now exceptional, and they will surely be little-explored subject of Berenson of untold value as we continue to and Spain was discussed. We analyzed reconstruct an accurate history of unpublished notes taken by Mary I Tatti and its world. Berenson during 70 days of travel across the country in 1919, the Ilaria Della Monica influential role played by Bernard in setting up the Prado Museum, and Archivist Berenson’s extended engagement

l -r: Nelda Ferace, Fortunato Pratesi, & Ilaria Della Monica; Dario Brancato, Tony D’Elia (VIT’ 10) & Joanna Woods-Marsden (VIT’80,’10) at RSA Berlin 2015; Andrew McCormick, Fred Koontz, Debby Brice, Jonathan Nelson, James Brice, Anna Bensted, Bill Wallace, & Michael Rocke in Pistoia.

Fall 2015 Fellows’ Trip To Rome

When this year’s organizer, Fellow Cyril frescoes depicting the history of Gerbron, began planning the two-day the Farnese family. Cyril provided excursion, he wanted to give the I Tatti key insights into the blend of community a glimpse of rarely seen myth and history, noting the sights of Rome, such as the Palazzo Farnese’s appropriation of Aeneas Farnese and the Villa Medici. as their ancestor. Surprisingly, the We began the excursion by visiting the French ambassador joined the Diocletian Baths and “Michelangelo’s conversation, commenting on the Cloister.” The site provided the wall paintings she views daily. We community with an opportunity stepped into the Baroque period to reflect on how ancient in our tour of the Palazzo 12 Roman spaces were Falconieri, seat of c preserved and the Accademia reappropriated in d’Ungheria, the Renaissance. where we In the afternoon, visited rooms we visited the designed by Oratorio del the architect Gonfalone, Francesco once home Borromini, to a Catholic and then Renaissance, such as Raphael, would confraternity. ascended to the roof visit the Domus Aurea for artistic Cyril Gerbron terrace to take in the inspiration. We ended our excursion guided the group’s beautiful panorama of the with a visit to Villa Medici, currently the viewing of the oratory, city. Our tour was graciously seat of the French Academy in Rome focusing on the frescoes arranged by Fellow Dávid Falvay. and formerly the estate of Ferdinando depicting the scenes of the Passion and Thanks to the arrangements of Fellow I de’ Medici. Francesca Alberti, a current the intricately carved wooden ceiling. Francesco Lucioli, our day ended with Villa Medici Fellow, organized a lovely Cyril drew special attention to the a traditional Roman meal with such lunch and extensive tour of the Villa emblems of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese delights as carciofi alla giudìa and fiori which included the grounds, the rooms setting the stage for our next stop, the di zucca. We were shown a different of Cardinal Ferdinando de Medici, and Farnese Palace. Currently the seat of part of the city at dinner, feasting at the roof terrace. Fellow Lia Markey the French Embassy, the Farnese Palace Al Pompiere in the area of the former added her insights on Ferdinando’s art was first designed in 1517 for Cardinal Jewish ghetto. depicting the New World, rounding out Alessandro Farnese who became Day two began with an early a trip made memorable by the expertise Pope Paul III in 1534. We toured the morning visit to a hidden jewel of of the Fellows. Roman Baroque architecture, the church, Sant’Andrea al Quirinale, designed by Gian Jennifer De La Guardia (l) Lorenzo Bernini. Fellow Laura & Denva Jackson (r) Moretti provided an overview of Bernini’s architectural Graduate Fellows 2015 innovations, noting the integration of painting and sculpture within the church. The visit ended with a viewing of Pierre Legros’ sculpture of Saint Stanislaus Kostka. Afterwards we returned to ancient Rome with a visit to gardens, the ancient floor mosaics, the Domus Aurea. Our knowledgeable and several galleries. The highlight guide led us through the underground of the visit was the discussion of the palace and noted how artists of the

Villa I Tatti THE ART CONSERVATION FUND in honor of Lino Pertile and Anna Bensted

In late 2014, a new fund for the it is kept in good condition. Several conservation and safeguarding of Villa paintings are now in serious need I Tatti’s remarkable and unique art of conservation: some have suffered collection was established: the Art damage to their supports and frames Conservation Fund in Honor of Lino due to woodworm or general Director’s office in early 2016. Pertile and Anna Bensted. wear and tear; others require the consolidation of loose or flaking paint, Our priority now is to continue to I Tatti’s art collection is still displayed or delicate surface cleaning to remove raise the funds necessary for the ongoing maintainance of this very much as it was a century heavy layers of dirt, grime, 13 ago, just as Berenson and soot. In many cases, special collection. d had wanted. These the transparent varnish paintings, sculptures applied in Berenson’s day and objects add to the has yellowed, completely stimulating atmosphere distorting the original so conducive to research tone and colors of the at I Tatti and grace the paint underneath. In pages of many scholarly 2014, following an publications. The works extensive review of also offer a precious window into the collection, the Opificio delle the development of art criticism and Pietre Dure identified 25 works in art installation. Renaissance artists, particularly urgent need of treatment. including Giotto, Pietro Lorenzetti, Sassetta, Domenico Veneziano, and During Lino Pertile’s last year as Cima da Conegliano, are displayed in Director we initiated a campaign to juxtaposition with exquisite Chinese raise funds for this very worthy cause. or Islamic art. The collection allows Through the generosity of many members of the I Tatti community to friends, benefactors, and Fellows we gain from the experience of living with have already been able to begin work great works of art and is also enjoyed on some of the most urgent cases, by the many visitors who come to including the Francesco di Giorgio Restorer Elena Bartolozzi works on the I Tatti year after year. Martini ‘Abduction of Helen’. This has Francesco di Giorgio Martini ‘Abduction of been receiving treatment for several Helen’ in the laboratory of the Opificio delle The collection, however, needs months and is scheduled to return to Pietre Dure, and Curator Giovanni Pagliarulo specialist care in order to ensure that its rightful position outside the I Tatti inspects the progress made so far.

The Art Conservation Fund is a permanent fund, designed to support and maintain the collection over the coming decades. You can donate to this worthy cause through one of the options below:

Checks, made payable to “Harvard University/Villa I Tatti” can be mailed to the Cambridge office at Villa I Tatti, Harvard University, 124 Mount Auburn Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA, or in Europe they can be mailed to the Development office at Villa I Tatti, Via di Vincigliata 26, 50135 Florence, Italy, and should be earmarked for The Art Conservation Fund in Honor of Lino Pertile and Anna Bensted.

For online donations, please visit http://itatti.harvard.edu/news/announcing-art-conservation-fund and follow the link to the online giving page.

To discuss other donation methods, or to make a pledge payable in three years, please contact Graziella Macchetta at [email protected] or call +1 617-495-8042.

Fall 2015 Former Fellow Paul F. Grendler awarded Premio Internazionale Galileo Galilei

On 4 October 2014, Paul F. Grendler, Professor Emeritus of History, University of Toronto, was awarded the Premio Internazionale Galileo Galilei at John M. Hunt the University of Pisa. This prize is awarded annually to a non-Italian scholar who in the judgment of a jury Wins I Tatti Prize of Italian scholars has made distinguished contributions to Italian scholarship over the course of his or her for Best Essay by a career. Grendler (VIT’71,’72), has written nine books on the Italian Renaissance and has been editor-in- Junior Scholar 14 chief of Encyclopedia of the Renaissance (6 vols., 1999) c and Renaissance: An Encyclopedia for Students (4 vols., for his essay Carriages, Violence, and 2004). Masculinity in Early Modern Rome.” This annual prize is awarded to a junior scholar for the best scholarly article on an Italian Renaissance topic, published in Nicholas Terpstra’s Cultures of English or Italian. John Hunt is an assistant professor of medieval Charity wins Marraro Prize and early modern history at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. His research focuses broadly on The American Historical Association awarded its street life, popular culture, and Marraro Prize, for the best book in English on Italian community in early modern history in any epoch, to Nicholas Terpstra’s Cultures Rome and the Papal States. of Charity: Women, Politics, and the Reform of Poor Relief in Renaissance Italy. Part of the series “I Tatti Studies in Italian Renaissance History”, it was published by Villa I Tatti is delighted to Harvard UP in 2013. Terpstra (VIT’95,’09,’13), chair announce that Lino Pertile of history at the University of Toronto, is a former has been elected Fellow and Visiting Professor at I Tatti. This is the 13th Marraro prize since its inception in 1974 to be to the awarded to a former I Tatti appointee. Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei. AWARDS and PRIZEs AWARDS

pecial peritatti A S A Right: Visiting Fellow Renate On 11 June 2015, over 100 Fellows from all corners of the Burri presents Lino world returned to I Tatti for a summer Aperitatti and the Pertile with a copy opportunity to reunite with their peers and discuss current of “On the Future projects over an aperitif in the gardens. This Aperitatti was of I Tatti” in the particularly special, however, as it was Lino Pertile and Anna languages of the Bensted’s last under Lino’s directorship. To mark the occasion, community. Below: several appointees recited excerpts from Berenson’s “On Fellows read Berenson’s words in the Future of I Tatti” in their native languages and Visiting various languages, Fellow Renate Burri presented Lino with a hard copy of the including Russian, text translated into a total of thirty two languages. Giovanni Romanian, Pagliarulo and Louise Bourdua (VIT’11) then introduced the Dutch, Latin, and Art Conservation Fund in Honor of Lino Pertile and Anna Japanese. Bensted (see page. 13), while Carl Strehlke and Machtelt Israëls (VIT’05) closed the occasion with a lovely surprise - a presentation copy of the forthcoming Berenson Catalogue.

Villa I Tatti Gardner Museum for a tour of Donatello, Amici dei Tatti Michelangelo, Cellini: Sculptors’ Drawings from Renaissance Italy. It was wonderful Villa I Tatti has achieved a position of to hear Michael Cole (VIT’07) and prominence that is without parallel. It Alina Payne talk about the importance is not an exaggeration to claim that the drawing held for sculptors of the period greatest scholars working in the Italian and then compare designs on paper to Renaissance have been the recipients their related three-dimensional works. of an I Tatti Fellowship. However, this would not be possible without Our heartfelt thanks must also go to JJ the generosity of our donors. Among and Roberta Pellegrino, who so warmly them, the Amici dei Tatti with their welcomed our Amici dei Tatti and no strong interest in the historic period less than three I Tatti directors (Joseph known as the Renaissance enjoy close Connors, Alina Payne, and Lino Pertile) contact with our Fellows, with whom and an acting director (Katy Park) to Angela Dressen & Eve Borsook they share the belief that the study of their home in April for a reception as a goodbye to Lino Pertile and a 15 welcome to Alina Payne. d For the part the Amici play in supporting this institution, and for contributing to a sense of confidence in the future of I Tatti, we are deeply grateful. We take this opportunity to thank the Amici dei Tatti and, especially, to thank Chair Julie Tobey for her indefatigable belief in I Tatti’s mission and her commitment to the continuous success of the Amici dei Anna Bensted, Pedro Memelsdorff (VIT’04) Tatti program. Anthony Newcomb, & Lino Pertile this crucial moment in Western history must be supported and encouraged. Graziella Macchetta Development Associate This year, the Amici enjoyed invitations to exclusive events including a gathering and private viewing of the art collection at the home of Hester Diamond and a private tour of the exceptional exhibition Sculpture in the Age of Donatello at the Museum of Biblical Art in New York City, curated by Timothy Verdon (VIT’87) and Daniel Zolli (VIT’13). The tour was CRIA Fellow Sarah Gwyneth Ross led by Andrew Butterfield & Francesca Fantappiè (VIT’94) and was followed by a Top left: The Sculpture in the Age of delightful cocktail party at the home of Donatello exhibition at the Museum of Julie and David Tobey, which allowed Biblical Art. the Amici to enjoy a close up view of their preeminent collection of Italian Above: The Amici dei Tatti enjoy a reception Old Master drawings. to say goodbye to Lino Pertile and welcome Alina Payne at the beautiful home of JJ and In December, the Boston Amici Roberta Pellegrino in April 2015. members met at the Isabella Stewart

To find out more, or to join the

Amici dei Tatti, please visit our website at l - r: Gregory Williams, Angela Capodivacca (VIT’14), & Lino Pertile itatti.harvard.edu/amici-dei-tatti

Fall 2015 Council Notes in Siena, led by former I Tatti Fellow Gabriele Fattorini (VIT’ 13).

On April 29, Lino Pertile held his last Council meeting at the Cosmopolitan Club, New York City. Susan Roberts, 16 Chairman of the c Council, expressed appreciation for or thirty-six years, members of the Lino and Anna, and Council Chair Susan Roberts chats to Mellon Villa I Tatti Council – the most welcomed I Tatti’s 8th director, Alina F Fellow Ming Zhu outside the Deborah Loeb active supporters of this remarkable Payne. This year, Council members Brice Loggiato. institution – have framed a leadership Anne Coffin and Bill Hood rotated off, continuum that invests in I Tatti’s but we hope they will consider rejoining again, to her home for a lovely and fun mission. The Council members’ the Council at some point in the future. party. commitment and their contribution of In the evening, Council members and time and expertise foster and promote a their partners met at the home of Virgie The following day, we welcomed unique community of scholars. We take Klein for a cocktail party in honor of ninety guests to the Council Spring this opportunity to thank our Council Lino and Anna. This delightful evening Lecture at the Cosmopolitan Club. for its consistent engagement with I gave Council members the opportunity Incoming director Alina Payne Tatti. was our speaker. In her lecture, “Wrapped in Fabric: Palace Facades, The third Ottobre a I Tatti took Mediterranean Textiles, and Ornament place on October 9-11 2014. This in the Renaissance”, she examined the event, while giving us the chance to relationship between luxury goods welcome our closest and most faithful traded in the Mediterranean in the supporters, is an annual opportunity 15th and 16th centuries and charted for them to meet and engage with the development of these objects into the Fellows, as well as learn about new strategies for the architectural their research and gain a first-hand ornamentation of Tuscan palaces in understanding of institutional changes that period. Following the lecture, a and developments. After a welcoming lively dinner for Council members I Tatti tea, the program began with a and their spouses in the library room visit to the restoration laboratories overlooking the Manhattan skyline was of the Opificio delle Pietre Dure. Members of the Villa I Tatti Council at dinner marked by moving and entertaining Cecilia Frosinini introduced us to following the Council Spring Lecture in New speeches: the perfect and meaningful Raphael’s La Muta and discussed some York City, April 2015 setting for the Council’s goodbye to of the factors that contribute to the Lino and Anna. deterioration of works of art and the to express their admiration for Lino and merits of conservation when it comes Anna. We earnestly and warmheartedly Graziella Macchetta to safeguarding artistic treasures against thank Virgie for welcoming us, once Development Associate further injury or decay.

The next morning at I Tatti, some THE VILLA I TATTI COUNCIL Fellows offered short presentations of a Alina Payne, Director b their projects, and in the afternoon Susan M. Roberts, Chair we headed into the city center where Julie Tobey, Chair, Amici dei Tatti Jonathan Nelson led our guests through Pure, Simple, and Natural, an exhibition Darcy Beyer John A. Gilmore Guillaume Malle Treacy Beyer Walter Kaiser Joseph Pellegrino, Jr. of works by artists such as Andrea del Debby Brice Virgilia Pancoast Klein Neil L. Rudenstine Sarto, Santi di Tito, and Bronzino at the James Cherry, Jr. Frederick S. Koontz Sydney R. Shuman Uffizi. We concluded Ottobre a I Tatti Anthony M. Cummings Mary Gibbons Landor David Tobey with a day trip on the trail of the great Angela Weisl Sienese artist Domenico Beccafumi ddddddddddddddd ccccccccccccccc

Villa I Tatti Trip Report: A Visit to Dumbarton Oaks For several years, Villa I Tatti has been involved in an exchange program with Dumbarton Oaks, a research institute dedicated to scholarship in the fields of Byzantine Studies, Pre-Columbian Studies, garden design, and landscape architecture. Like I Tatti, Dumbarton Oaks is a Harvard center housed in a historic estate away from the University’s hub in Cambridge. As part of this program, I traveled to Washington to spend a week at Dumbarton Oaks between October and November 2014.

My objective was to meet colleagues involved in projects and work similar to ours, and to locate and consult documentation connected to that held in our own repository. My visit turned out to be a rich and very interesting experience and I was warmly welcomed by colleagues there, who made themselves available to answer my many questions. Like at I Tatti, the seminars and lectures (I participated in a seminar on Byzantine 17 matters) are real occasions to share ideas and learn from the expertise of others. During my visit I met the archivist James Carder, d who explained how he has reorganized the institutional archive and also discussed how his work on the documentation concerning the founders of the Institute eventually led him to create the beautiful section on the correspondence between Mildred Barnes Bliss, Robert Woods Bliss, Royall Tyler, and Elisina Tyler, which can be viewed on the DO website. Shalimar White, Anne Marie Viola, and Anatole Tchikine guided me through the Institute, showing me Arthur Kingsley Porter’s photographs of Byzantine and Romanesque works of art. I have recently been writing an essay on a picture by Jacopo Ligozzi that the Uffizi Gallery has just received as a gift, and Anatole - whom we look forward to welcoming to I Tatti as a Fellow in 2016 - kindly helped me consult the very impressive section of books on botany.

For a scholar interested in Byzantine, Pre-Columbian, and Garden and Landscape studies, Dumbarton Oaks is a real paradise, with its splendid garden (which during my visit was abounding with rich fall colours) and wonderful library and archival resources.

Ilaria D ella Monica Archivist Yashiro and Berenson Art History between Japan and Italy

This online exhibition presents the After he completed his Botticelli extant correspondence - nearly all studies in the 1920s, Yashiro devoted unpublished - between Bernard himself almost entirely to the study Berenson and Yukio Yashiro. At the of Asian art. This leads to a second height of their fame they were among major theme in his letters to Berenson: the most influential art historians in his establishment of the Institute the West and in Japan, respectively. of Art Research in Tokyo, in 1930, Today Yashiro is little known outside and subsequent directorship of this of his native country except for his important center. In letters to his monograph on Botticelli, published mentor, Yashiro explains how at this in English in 1925. Yashiro described Institute he introduced the methods his goals for the book in a remarkable he had learned at I Tatti: careful stylistic letter from 1922 to Laurence Binyon analysis carried out with the auxiliary (who introduced Yashiro to Berenson of a photo archive. Unbeknownst to in 1921): “I shall make clear what most scholars today, Berenson had I, a man brought up in an artistic a direct and lasting impact on how atmosphere utterly different from that Japanese scholars study Japanese art in of Europe, feel of Botticelli, that side of Japan. Botticelli which, as I think, was never, or perhaps very little, appreciated by European connoisseurs.” Only Jonathan Nelson six years after the completion of his Assistant Director for Academic library, which celebrates its 100th Programs and Publications anniversary this year, Berenson Yashiro, View of Florence, ca. 1921 provided the young scholar with advice, encouragement, and scholarly resources. yashiro.itatti.harvard.edu

Fall 2015 THE BERENSON LECTURES IN THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE

optics, architecture, Paolo Galluzzi etc. Graphic refinement, coupled “Machinae pictae”. Idea e with an ever immagini delle macchine nel increasing attention Rinascimento to particular cases, would bring such artisan and An army of cats with a fuse soaked engineers to the in alcohol tied to their tails are pushed to run through the walls of a sieged city in order to bring fire and devastation to the enemy. This is only hybridization process between 18 one of the many shocking and fantastic the theoretician and the c machineries designed by Mariano di technician, Jacopo, aka “il Taccola” (1381-1453 ca), between natural philosophy the first protagonist of Paolo Galluzzi’s and applied mathematical series of three lectures on the history arts, or “mixed mathematics”, of machines and technicians from the as engineering was called. Renaissance to the so-called Scientific Finally, in the third lecture, Revolution, delivered at I Tatti in the Galluzzi focused on Galileo fall of 2014. forefront of the revolution of the Galilei’s process of de-materialization Galluzzi fully acknowledged the recent seventeenth century, when machine- of machines and machine drawing. historiography on the Renaissance making and machine-drawing became Galileo opposed the traditional of the techniques and the role of more and more abstract, universal, view, coming from ancient Greeks engineers and artisans of all sorts in and de-materialized endeavors, through the Arabic tradition into the the Scientific Revolution, but argued giving way to the representation of Renaissance, of machines as working that this is not enough, as the standard the geometrical, and then para fusein, “against nature”, namely idea of the algebraic, laws of their forcing natural processes. For the great period remains construction. Tuscan, machines did not work against dominated However, this is not a nature but according to nature, and by the story without tensions for that reason they had to be based extraordinary and conflicts. In the first on the solid, geometrical knowledge, exploits in lecture, Galluzzi illustrated of natural laws and processes. With the fields of how the flamboyantly Galileo, the technician went full circle architecture, creative Taccola had to face and started to oppose those engineers the arts, and the criticism and even disdain who were ignorant of natural laws. letters. Indeed, from recognized “authors” The intellectualization of machines starting from (among them Filippo that technicians so hardly sought for Taccola in the Brunelleschi) who treated ultimately led to the end of traditional early fifteenth his drawings – presenting machine drawing. Galileo championed century and going up to Galileo virtually no text, and even less the universality and abstract character through Leonardo and a crowd of (not mathematical rules of composition – of mechanical knowledge – now fully so) minor figures, Galluzzi showed that like those of a mere “artifex”. However, assimilated to geometrical knowledge the humanist tradition was alive and Taccola’s fight for recognition as an – against the engineer’s attachment to operating in the field of engineering author, and for drawings to be recognized the irreducible materiality of singular and technical drawing, as more or less as part of the noble intellectual activity machines. Coherently, Galileo’s erudite Renaissance men took upon of “ideation”, was carried on at the turn drawings tended to become diagrams, them the project of reviving ancient of the sixteenth century by Leonardo and the materiality of machines would machines and machinery. Engaging da Vinci, the focus of Galluzzi’s second be sacrificed to the altar of universal in visually translating ancient texts lecture. The Florentine’s anatomical regularities – as he wrote in the (by Archimedes, Vitruvius, Pappus drawings were intended as larger than Assayer, “the book of nature is written of Alexandria, etc.), Renaissance life illustrations of the natural structure in mathematical language”. “mechanical men” contributed to of the body, capable of accomplishing the social and cultural emergence of something that neither words nor even a new character: that of the universal real dissection could do: a synoptic Paolo Savoia technician, able to rely more and view of the whole dynamics of the Graduate Fellow more on drawings, coupled with body. Moreover, Leonardo blurred schematic texts accompanying them, the distinction between the organic in fields as diverse as civil engineering, and the mechanical, carrying on the military arts, land measurement,

Villa I Tatti LUXURY AND THE ETHICS OF GREED A Joint I Tatti - European University Institute Event

This conference, held on 25 - 26 buying power of new classes gained September 2014, aimed to unravel pace, and goods from Asia and the the complex interaction of the Americas increasingly penetrated competing paradigms of luxury and world markets, these paradigms greed, which lie at the origins of evolved and continued to inform modern consumption practices. In increasingly global cultures through the western world, the phenomenon the Early Modern period. At this of luxury and the ethical dilemmas it raised appeared, for the first time since antiquity, in Renaissance Italy. Here 19 luxury emerged as a core idea in the d conceptualization of consumption. Simultaneously greed, manifested

conference, emerging and established scholars proposed a new appraisal and vision of luxury and the ethics of greed throughout the Early Modern World.

This joint Villa I Tatti - European University Institute Event was in new, unrestrained consumption organised by Catherine Kovesi practices, came under close ethical (VIT’09) of the University of scrutiny. Other European countries Melbourne. soon followed suit, and debates around consumption practices also emerged in South Asia, South East wwwwwww Asia, and in Ming China. As the

From the top: Mellon Fellow Ming Zhu & Clockwise from top left: Maude Deborah Loeb Brice Fellow Dá vid Falvay; Vanhaelen (VIT’07), Cyril Gerbron, Lino Pertile assisting the chefs in the I Tatti & Anna Bensted; Peggy Haines with kitchen; Max Marmor of the Samuel H. Kress Summer Seminar participants in the Foundation with Council member Mary Landor Sagrestia d elle Messe; Docent Elisa & artist Maxine Puorro; Sanne Wellen & Camporeale leading guests on a tour Andrea Laini; Mellon Fellow Mikhail Lopatin of the Villa I Tatti gardens & Lila Wallace - Reader’s Digest Visiting Professor Bill Wallace

Fall 2015

STAFF NOTES 2014 / 2015

Alessandro Focosi retired as Maggiordomo During five years at Villa I Tatti in summer 2015, after over 20 years at Anna Bensted held the position of Villa I Tatti. During these years at the Manager of Community Engagement, Villa Alessandro managed the daily a comprehensive role than included activities of the house staff and ensured devising and planning events, managing that the routines and procedures the running of the Villa, hosting guests, necessary to keep the Villa operating and keeping the wider community were in place. His skill as an orchestrator informed through our social media of service meant that larger, more accounts! During even the very busiest formal events ran just as smoothly as of times Anna’s warmth, tact, drive, and the more intimate daily lunches for enthusiasm were inspiring. When she the appointees, and indeed Alessandro and Lino arrived in Florence in 2010 is a very familiar face to generations of Anna took a keen interest in the stories 20 I Tatti Fellows. Now that Alessandro has of the individuals who had witnessed c more time on his hands he has great and been part of I Tatti when it was plans to travel the world with his wife Berenson’s home and during its very Rosa, and we wish him many exciting first years as the Harvard Center, leading adventures and happy journeys in the her to produce I Tatti’s Oral History in years to come! 2013(http://oralhistory.itatti.harvard. edu/)

Allen Grieco

In his dual role of Research Associate and Assistant Director for Gardens and Grounds and Scholarly Programs, Allen Grieco contributed to many aspects of life at Villa I Tatti for 25 years. Allen retired this year from the latter role, in which his considerable knowledge of the history of the site aided him in overseeing the maintenence of the gardens and making informed decisions regarding restoration projects (see page 22.) Allen was also responsible for the management of the farms and the Above: Alessandro Focosi with his wife, production of Villa I Tatti’s olive oil and Above: Anna Bensted. Rosa Molinaro. Below: Andrea Caselli wine, and was heavily involved in the Below:Giacomo Panerai planning process for the construction of the Deborah Loeb Brice Loggiato. Allen is now I Tatti Research Associate Emeritus, and is currently completing a volume to be published by Harvard University Press, which aims to explore different aspects of the way food was consumed, its use to signify social distinctions and, finally, its meaning as a metaphor for varied socio-cultural discourses.

Andrea Caselli took on the role of Giacomo Panerai joined the I Tatti staff Web Services Specialist in February as a waiter in summer 2014 and recently 2015. Born in Florence, Andrea For a full and up-to-date list of Villa became a permanent addition to the had previously worked as a software I Tatti employees organised household team. Giacomo possesses a developer in London. At I Tatti, he has according to department, please see calm disposition and levelheadedness a crucial role involving I Tatti’s websites ‘Staff List’ on the Community page that allow him to work efficiently and online services, and Andrea and the of our website and with great poise, as can be seen other members of our IT team will in the photograph above of Giacomo be working hard to streamline our www.itatti.harvard.edu confidently carrying the Thanksgiving online systems as our IT requirements turkey under the scrutiny of many continue to expand and develop. hungry guests!

Villa I Tatti

IN MemoRIAM

I Tatti records with sorrow the following deaths:

LESSANDRO DANELONI (VIT’ ARIA ANGELA NOVELLI A03) died on 1 November 2014. M(VIT’ 67) died in Bologna on Alessandro came to I Tatti as a Fellow 10 June 2015. During her time at in 2002 when his project focused Villa I Tatti Professor Novelli’s work on the humanist Bartolomeo Fonzio in Florentine Laurentian and post- concerned Parmigianino, and in Laurentian culture. More recently, he particular the artist’s skills as a painter was based in Verona, where he worked and draughtsman. She was a Fellow as a researcher in the department of during the great flood of ‘66 and was Philology, Linguistics, and Literature greatly affected by this event, which led 21 of the University of Verona. He is sadly Julian Kliemann her to suspend her own research project d missed by all those who knew him at for several months in order to take part Villa I Tatti. ULIAN KLIEMANN (VIT’86 -’03) in the salvage operation. An expert on wwwwwww Jdied in Rome on July 6, 2015. During the Ferrarese painter Scarsellino, Prof. his long association with I Tatti, Julian Novelli is fondly remembered at I Tatti Tatti is sad to announce that was first of all a Fellow, when his research by those who knew her. IAlessandro Ferace, husband of Nelda Cantarella Ferace, died on 28 June 2015. focused on the representation of profane Born in Bengasi, Libya, Sandro worked historical events in Italian wall-painting as an editor for the publishing house La from the end of the fifteenth to the wwwwwww Nuova Italia and is known to generations beginning of the seventeenth century. of Tattiani because of the warm He remained in Florence following hospitality he and Nelda extended to so his fellowship year and became I Tatti many Fellows and friends of I Tatti for Research Librarian and subsequently RVING SINGER (VIT’66’67) nearly fifty years. Idied in Brighton, Massachusetts Research Associate. He was a senior in February 2015. A professor of scholar at the Bibliotheca Hertziana – philosophy for over 50 years at the Max Planck Institute for Art History in Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Rome from the 1990s onwards. Julian his work covered a great number of is sadly missed and fondly remembered topics, including cinema, love, sexuality, by his many friends and colleagues at I and the philosophy of George Santayana. Tatti. During a leave of absence from MIT in the 1960s, Professor Singer began a fellowship at I Tatti where his research focused on the history of the concept of love. wwwwwww

Sandro Ferace OMANO NANNI (VIT’10) RDirector of the Leonardo da Vinci EARS R. JAYNE, (VIT’ 63) Library and Museum in Vinci from SEmeritus Professor of English and 1994 to 2014, died in February 2014. A Comparative Literature at Brown graduate of the University of Florence University, died April 11, 2015 in Cambridge, MA. He was 94. During his and a scholar of Leonardo da Vinci, time at I Tatti Professor Jayne worked he came to I Tatti as a Craig Hugh on various projects, including extensive Smyth Visiting Fellow in 2010, when research involving Marsilio Ficino and his project focused on the study of Platonism and English Renaissance technological drawings and the design Poetry. Arriving in Florence in 1962, of machines between the Middle Ages Professor Jayne was one of the very and the Renaissance. earliest I Tatti Fellows during what was only the second year of the Harvard Irving Singer Center’s establishment.

Fall 2015 GARDENS & GROUNDS With support from the Lila Wallace - Reader’s Digest Endowment Fund

circle that is repeated and merged in This report, after twenty five years different ways but that underlies the in charge of the garden of I Tatti, is harmony of an area meant to conclude the last one I am going to be writing the garden and constitute a focal point before retiring. of the whole. It seems fitting Over the course that I dedicate of one hundred these lines to the years much restoration of has changed in 22 the niche at the quarrying pietra c bottom of the serena and above garden which was all in terms of also the very last the artisanal more difficult it is to work. Because feature to be dealt ability to carve of this, most of the contemporary with in my tenure. this traditional quarries extract softer stone which is In the course of Florentine destined to be used in interiors but the quarter of a stone. When which deteriorates rapidly if used in century in which we seek to an exterior setting. Where possible, I had the pleasure replace stone then, the old stone has to be recycled of supervising a that has literally after removing the very superficial much admired crumbled weathered layer and what cannot be garden, each one to dust, or used again must be replaced by the of the features it even more best quality stone still being quarried contains was restored Photograph of the niche at the bottom of the surprisingly in the Apennines. and in some cases for garden taken in July 2015 benches that have At the time of writing the niche is the first time since bent under their completed and is only missing the the inception of the garden. This grass that is meant to set off the was the case of the monumental stone inlays and the two cypresses entrance at the bottom of the that go on either side of the steps in garden at number 2 on which I the circles that “generate” the whole reported a few years ago. The only design. The fiercely hot summer we feature of the garden that had not are experiencing has not allowed received any attention for about for that so that will happen in the 100 years was the niche at the autumn under another watch! very bottom which represents a typical Cecil Pinsent design. Allen Grieco The recently discovered drawings Lila Acheson Wallace Assistant that surfaced at Harvard constituted Director: Gardens and Grounds a surprise for everybody since it and Scholarly Programs had been thought that Pinsent I Tatti Fellows participating in the vendemmia burned all of his drawings at the (grape harvest)in September 2014 end of his life. They show that the niche and the accompanying stone inlays were designed keeping own weight and age, the problem is in mind the basic building block of a finding the right type of pietra serena that comes in endless varieties of quality depending on how much pressure it was under when it was formed in a remote geological era. The deeper the strata the more compact the grain, the more compact the grain the more resistant and hard the stone and therefore, I might add, the Allen Grieco with the I Tatti gardeners and farmers

Villa I Tatti OUR SUPPORTERS We are grateful to all the Individuals, Foundations and Corporations who so generously supported us during the 2014/2015 financial ear. The names of all the individual donors are too many to mention here, but the following is a list of those to whom we are particularly grateful: I Tatti Benefactors: Amici Patrons: Amici dei Tatti: Deborah Loeb Brice John T. Beaty Frances Andrews and Louise Bourdua The Florence Gould Foundation John A.D. Gilmore Louis J. and Josephine D. Appell Rachel Jacoff Thomas N. Gilmore Charles Brickbauer Arthur L. Loeb Virgilia P. Klein Michael F. Butler Anne F. and James F. Rothenberg Christian Lapeyre and Lester Carissimi John and Anne Coffin David M. and Julie P. Tobey Carl Strehlke Dorfman and Kaish Family Foundation Richard A. Goldthwaite I Tatti Patrons: Amici Supporters: Conrad and Marsha Harper Treacy and Darcy Beyer Simon and Francesca Abrahams Bruce Horten Frank A. Campini Foundation Francesco Borghesi Richard W. Hulbert Esq. Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation Gilbert and Ildiko Butler Fredrika H. Jacobs Samuel H. Kress Foundation Robert and Nancy Carney Thomas and Anna Lawson 23 Elizabeth Hunter Morrill Trust Michael O. and Tookie Clark Claudia Lazzaro d Sean and Ann Collins Alexa M. Mason I Tatti Supporters: D. Ronald Daniel and Lise Scott Robert and Alice McCarley James Cherry, Jr. Pierre J. and Ellen de Vegh John McFadden William and Permele Doyle Hester Diamond David O. McNeil Rab Hatfield Catherine B. Freedberg Robert D. Mowry Frederick S. Koontz George and Naomi Gorse Terrence Murray Joseph P. and Roberta Pellegrino Walter Kaiser David T. Owsley Susan M. and Anthony W. Roberts Jon and Barbara Landau Linda A. Pellecchia Mariot F. Solomon Harvey Claflin Mansfield Sarah Gwyneth Ross Prudence Linder Steiner Andrew P. McCormick Walter Rugaber Sydney R. and Stanley S. Shuman Richard M. McGonigal Lolita and Frank Savage Abby and George O’Neill Trust H. Colin Slim Amici Benefactors: Sangjin Park Nicholas Terpstra Victor K. Atkins, Jr. John W. & Jayne Champe Payne Koichi Toyama Victoria Kirkham Frances B. Perry Elizabeth S. Tunick Malcolm H. and Carolyn S. Wiener Guido Ruggiero and Laura Gianetti William E. Wallace and Elizabeth A. Fagan Bruce and Peggy Mainwaring Fred Schernecker Linda Wolk-Simon Daniel I. Schwartz Edward A. Smith Jamie Snead and Steve Ziger William F. and Juliana W. Thompson Mayri Voute

Happy 150th Birthday, BB! Bernard Berenson would have been 150 on 26 June, 2015. When leaving I Tatti to Harvard, he imagined that the Villa should become a “lay monastery” for the leisurely study of Mediterranean culture through its art. Although I Tatti has grown and developed considerably with the passing years, it continues to provide a unique haven of peace, tranquility, and wonderful resources for the talented scholars who come here year after year. A booklet featuring excerpts of Berenson’s text On the Future of I Tatti translated into 32 languages by members of the I Tatti community can be downloaded from our website.

Fall 2015 I Tatti Newsletter Non-Profit U.S. Postage Harvard University PAID 124 Mt. Auburn Street Boston, MA Cambridge, MA 02138-5762 Permit No. 1636

Introducing the 2015 / 2016 I Tatti Community

Full information about the 2015-2016 appointees can be found on our website www.itatti.harvard.edu

Juliet Strachan, editor, design and layout; Flagship Press, printing & distribution. Photographs are by Gianni Trambusti, with contributions from Angela Lees, Lia Markey, Paolo Milazzo, The Opificio d elle Pietre Dure, Michael Rocke, Amanda D. Smith, Pablo González Tornel, and Juliet Strachan.

Former Fellows are indicated in the text with the initials “VIT” after their name followed by the year(s) of their appointment as Fellow, Visiting Scholar or Professor, or Research Associate.