La riscoperta della scuola pittorica piemontese e l’attività di Federico Pezzi, libraio e antiquario tra Restaurazione e Unità d’Italia.
Serena D’Italia
The phenomenon of the Napoleonic suppressions of religious orders in Piedmont was the cause of the arrival on the antiquities market of a large number of works of art, often produced by so-called “primitive” artists, i.e., active before the height of the Renaissance. This fact favoured the emergence of a new type of collecting, also thanks to the parallel development of art-historical studies, which simultaneously attempted to identify the existence of a recognisable Piedmontese school of painting.
Particularly important among the antiquarians active in this transitional period was Federico Pezzi, a still little-known character, who started work as a bookseller but soon began selling medieval and early Renaissance works to important collectors of his time.