55 folders
Documents and photos are kept in folders, in alphabetical or thematic order. The arrangement given by the art historian has been maintaned.
The archive consist of about 5000 items of which more than 4000 paper documents (including letters, typewritten press releases, press cuttings, postcards, memo) and 772 photographs (gelatin silver prints and negatives). A collection including 16 books, 10 catalogues of exhibitions and more than 135 auction catalogues is related to the archive. The archive has been arranged by the art historian in 2 fonds: a documentary archive (52 folders keeping documents related to Christie’s sales and letters) and a photo archive (3 boxes). Both documents and photos provide outstanding documentation on art market in Italy between early Sixties and mid-Eighties, when Luisa Vertova, art historian and connoisseur, was charged to be Christie’s International Senior Consultant and Old Master Paintings and Drawings Specialist. In particular, the series offer interesting data about the activities and workflow of the italian offices of the company. It preserves unpublished and original information on the works of art sold at Christie's sales or only offered to the auction house by consignors or seller. The archive has a special cultural interest, for information regarding fine arts attributive and collective history or bibliography.
contents
People and organizations
Federico Zeri Roberto Longhi Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz Christie's Steffi Roettgen Borromeo Borghese Crespi Busiri Vici Gerhard Ewald Millard Meiss Benedict NicolsonArtists, schools, periods
17th century Antonio Canova Renaissance 15th century 16th century neoclassicism 18th century 19th century Romanticism Andrea Mantegna Leonardo da Vinci Titian Domenico Morelli Francesco Hayez Bernardino LicinioGenres and themes
portrait sculpture landscape art Christian iconography mythology drawing manuscript painting jewelleryOther contents
archives history of art old master art history Codex LeicesterThe oldest documents date back to the early 1960s when Vertova took up employment as Specialist at Christie’s International. Most of the documentation was produced in the 1970s, only a residual part of documents was accumulated after 1984, when the scholar left her position at the auction house. In March 2018 Vertova and her daughter Vanessa Nicolson settled to donate the archive to the Federico Zeri Foundation.
The Federico Zeri Foundation has compiled a census of the entire collection which offers a description of documentary materials, photographs, books and auction catalogues. This tool provides also information about the location of files and their hierarchical relationship, their formal titles, type and number of items included.
archival description and inventory
http://catalogo.fondazionezeri.unibo.it/scheda.livello.jsp?decorator=layout_resp&apply=true&locale=it&tipo_scheda=fondo&id=12The archive offers important information concerning the european art market during the second half of the Twentieth century.