biography

Stefano Tumidei was born on August 15th, 1962 in Forlì. After the degree in Art and Literature, in 1986, with a thesis on Melozzo da Forlì and the Romagna painting in the late fifteenth century, Tumidei studied in Florence (1988-1989) at the Longhi Foundation. In 1990 he got specialized at the University of Bologna with a thesis on Antonio Trentanove and eighteenth-century sculpture in Romagna, and in 1993 he obtained his PhD with a thesis on Melozzo da Forlì. From 1994 to 2000 he was curator of the Civic Museums of Ancient Art in Bologna and head of the Civic Museum of Industrial Art "Galleria Davia Bargellini"; in 1995 he was appointed as honorary inspector of the Soprintendenza ai beni storico artistici in Bologna. In 1994 Tumidei started teaching "Methodology of art-historical research" at the Faculty of Letters and Philosophy of the University of Bologna and in 2000 he became professor in History of Modern Art at the same faculty. He held numerous courses, among with: Bernini and the sculpture of the seventeenth century, the figurative arts in Emilia in the sixteenth century, the role of art connoisseurs. Since 2002 he was a member of the scientific commitee of the Federico Zeri Foundation where he played a decisive role both in the setting up of the cataloging project, and in the planning of the scientific activity. In 2004, on behalf of the Zeri Foundation, he organized the course "The arts in Rome in the 13th century" and in 2007 he was the promoter, together with Anna Ottani Cavina, of the exhibition "Federico Zeri dietro l'immagine. Opere d'arte e fotografia (Bologna, 2009-2010). Stefano Tumidei died in Bologna on May 9th, 2008.