Library: about 5000 units; works of art in the collection: 77 units; movable property: 502 units; correspondence (letters and postcards): 16,000 units approx. arranged in 106 folders; various documents and papers related to the family: 14 folders; various documents and papers related to Villa Brandi (press review, inventories, OA files, administrative deeds): 11 folders; documents and deeds of the work of Cesare Brandi at the Superintendence of Monuments and Galleries of Siena: 1 folder; pen sketches: 1 folder; manuscripts (unpublished writings, drafts, notebooks and notes for publications): 97 folders; photo library: 6446 units approx. arranged in 95 containers, 2 DVDs, 1 pc and 1 hard disk; original supports from the photo library: 15 folders; family photographs: 5 boxes, 1 folder and 1 DVD; slides: 3 boxes.
The folders in the archive are all numbered with the exception of the 14 folders that keep documents related to the family and the 11 folders of documents relating to Villa Brandi. All correspondence and manuscript folders are numbered, while photographs, prints from the photo library, family photographs, movable property of Villa Brandi and works of art have their inventory number. Finally, the volumes of the library of Villa Brandi present a paper inventory file.
The Brandi legacy includes in addition to the Villa with its furnishings and collection of works of art, a library of five thousand volumes, a correspondence of over sixteen thousand pieces (including letters, postcards, telegrams and courtesy cards), a photographic collection of about seven thousand images and many manuscripts, notes, bibliographies, newspaper and articles related to the numerous publications, which reflect the important intellectual production of Brandi as an art historian, critic, superintendent and poet. In addition to this, there are written testimonies of his travels, papers related to the interventions to protect the Italian heritage and to his activity as a teacher in universities.
contents
People and organizations
Giorgio Morandi Giulio Carlo Argan Toti Scialoja Renato Guttuso Libero de Libero Luigi Magnani Alberto Burri Giacomo Manzù Umberto Mastroianni Filippo De Pisis Romano VladArtists, schools, periods
17th century Sienese School Renaissance 15th century 16th century 18th century 19th century 20th century Florentine SchoolGenres and themes
history of art painting conservation art history art criticism epistolary travel journal news article Correspondance sculpture site-specific art 20th-century artWith the death of Cesare Brandi in 1988, by his will, the Villa di Vignano was donated to the Italian State with the condition that it became a museum and kept the characteristics of a dwelling. In addition to the Villa, with its two farms and farmhouses, the legacy referred to everything contained in it and therefore to the collections and papers that at the time were scattered in drawers, chests and cardboard boxes. It took seven years for Brandi's will to come to fruition. Together with the maintenance of the assets of the Villa, one of the interventions immediately carried out at the time of the transfer of the Brandi inheritance to the State was in 1995 the transfer of all paper and photographic documents to Palazzo Chigi Piccolomini at the Postern of Siena, entrusted to the Sienese Superintendencies . The library, on the other hand, was left in its original location in Villa Brandi, as well as part of the art collection, while the rest was taken to the National Picture Gallery in Siena. Subsequently, the reorganization of the papers began, followed immediately after by those of inventory, maintenance and restoration for the photographic collection. The materials were selected and divided by type, the correspondence was almost all listed and a pest control campaign was started with the insertion of the material in containers with technical characteristics suitable for storage.
Fornari Schianchi, L. (Ed.). (2006). Quattrocentoventi lettere inedite: Cesare Brandi, Luigi Magnani. Siena-Prato: Gli ori
Rubio Brandi, V. (Ed.). (2007). Il gusto della vita e dell'arte: lettere a Cesare Brandi di Afro, Burri, Capogrossi, Cassinari, Ceroli (...). Siena-Prato: Gli ori
Barzanti, R. (Ed.). (2009). Lettere 1927-1967, Cesare Brandi-Ranuccio Bianchi Bandinelli. Siena-Prato: Gli ori
Pasquali, M., & Bazzocchi, M.A. (Ed.). (2011). Lettere 1934-1945, Cesare Brandi-Giuseppe Raimondi. Siena-Prato: Gli ori
The Archive is extremely relevant for all research relating not only to the figure of Cesare Brandi and his incessant intellectual work but for all relationships and comparisons with the intense vitality of twentieth-century culture, through a rich paper fund that illustrates his events. between private and public life.
Cores of documents referred to and produced by Cesare Brandi can also be found in other museums and private collections, also considering the many private and institutional relationships shared by the scholar.