PRESS RELEASE 22 April 2013 http://expo.khi.fi.it AN ART DEALER'S PHOTOGRAPHS: THE COLLECTION OF ELIA VOLPI. An online exhibition by the Photo Library of the in Florenz - Max- From 22 April 2013 the Photo Library of the in Florenz Max- will exhibit 85 historical photographs from the legacy of the antiquarian Elia Volpi in an online exhibition. Between the late nineteenth and early twentieth century Florence was one of the centres of trade in art and antiques. European and American collectors and museum directors visited the city on the Arno or made use of local contacts in order to acquire works, above all from the Italian Middle Ages and Renaissance, for their collections. Elia Volpi, one of the most important antiquarians of his time, was not only a successful dealer: his activities ranged from painting to restoration and collecting. With the material from the photographic legacy, in part donated by the Vannini Parenti family to the Photo Library of the in Florenz in 1983, the online exhibition not only highlights the most important stages in Volpi's life but it also illustrates the use of photography in the context of the antiques market. Elia Volpi (1858 Colle Plinio Città di Castello 1938) started his career as a restorer and assistant to the Florentine antiquarian Stefano Bardini, before starting his own art and antiques business around the mid-1890s. Besides museum directors, such as Wilhelm von Bode, Volpi's numerous customers included American collectors for the most part, for example Bernard Berenson, Isabella Steward Gardner and the banker Pierpont Morgan. Masterpieces from the history of art such as the Annunciation by Botticelli now on display in the Metropolitan Museum of New York or the Portrait of Cardinal Pietro Bembo by Titian currently to be admired in the National Gallery of Washington were sold in the USA by Elia Volpi. International visitors to Palazzo Davanzati in Florence, the private museum in the style of a Florentine Renaissance residence opened by Volpi in 1920, contributed to the spread of the Neo-Renaissance, especially in America. Hence the initially considerable success of Volpi's auctions, from 1916 also organized in New York, where many even everyday objects put up for sale. However, his name was also involved in one of the great forgery scandals of the time in relation to the sale of some works by Alceo Dossena, which was eventually resolved without any fraudulent intention on the part of Volpi having been established.

The online exhibition reveals how the photographs of the objects he traded were an important tool for the daily work of the antiquarian. For this purpose, Volpi made use of both professional images, which he often commissioned himself, and amateur photographs. On the back of many of them are handwritten notes detailing information on the work and the artist, the origin, as well as calculations relative to the price. Other photographs document the conditions of some works before and after restoration, which was probably carried out by Volpi himself. For the art dealer the images also performed the function of a card index: the back of a portrait of a youth, for example, bears the wording willing to sell, without, however, any mention of the potential buyer. Some reproductions of Volpi's photographs are also found in the catalogues of the various auctions, and it is reasonable to assume that they were taken specifically for this purpose. On some originals showing objects from the Bardini collection, sold at the auction in New York in 1918, it is also possible to see numbers written in ink which were added afterwards and correspond to the numbers of the auction catalogue. During the preparation of the exhibition the digital restoration of the partly damaged photographs was avoided as the task of a photo archive is not to conceal the materiality of the objects but rather, on the contrary, to highlight it and make it accessible to research in its authenticity. The online exhibition, which once again presents a photographic legacy of the archive of the Photo Library, reflects the growing interest in such material on the part of scholars of art history. by the Photo Library of the in Florenz - Max- Concept: Patrizia Cappellini, Almut Goldhahn Texts: Almut Goldhahn Coordination and editing: Almut Goldhahn Online from 22 April 2013 at http://expo.khi.fi.it The next online exhibition will take place in Autumn 2013 and will be dedicated to Florence. Further information: Dott.ssa Stefania Clio Lösch Head of Public Relations in Florenz Max- Via Giuseppe Giusti 44, 50121 Firenze Tel.: +39 055 249 11 90, Fax: +39 055 244394 khi-presse@khi.fi.it www.khi.fi.it/ by the photo library of the of Florenz - Max-

PRESS RELEASE 22 April 2013 Images Madonna with Child, school of Donatello. On the verso Volpi's notes with prices and names, albumin print, around 1900, 13,6-13,8 x 9,6-9,9 cm (Foto), Photo Library of the in Florenz, inv. no. 607459. Spooner, M.: Pintoricchio's Madonna with Child, London, National Gallery, albumin print, around 1900, 20,2 x 15,1 cm (Foto), Photo Library of 607410

Botticelli's Annunciation, Barberini collection, Rome, sold 1905 from Volpi, now New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, silverbromid gelatine print with sepia coloured, before 1905, 21 x 30,7 cm (Foto), Photo Library of 607425 Titian's portrait of cardinal Pietro Bembo, Barberini collection, Rome, sold 1905 from Volpi, now at Washington, National Gallery, albumin print, before 1905, 22,2 x 19,9 cm (Foto), Photo Library of 607430 Terrestrial globe and armillary sphere; on the photo ink-notes of auction catalogue (Auction Bardini collection, New York 1918), albumin print, around 1918, 18 x 15,5-17,5 cm (Foto), Photo Library of the in Florenz, inv. no. 434760 by the photo library of the of Florence - Max-

Alceo Dossena's Angel of Annunciation in sienese style, once Volpi collection, now Pittsburgh, University, albumin print, 25,3 x 17,1 cm (Foto), around 1920, Photo Library of the in Florenz, inv. no. 430768 Portrait of a young man, flemish painter XVII century; on the verso handwritten notes disposto a vendere (willing to sell), albumin print, around 1900, 26 x 19,9 cm (Foto), Photo Library of the in Florenz, inv. no. 607460 by the photo library of the of Florence - Max-