Carlo Pedretti, considered
Italy's top expert on Leonardo da Vinci, died at his villa
outside Pistoia on Friday.
Pedretti, who would have turned 90 tomorrow, conceived his
passion for Leaonardo at an early age in his native Bologna.
By his 13th birthday he had taught himself to write left
handed and read backwards as did Leonardo.
Pedretti's first articles about Leonardo were published in
1944 at the age of 16.
An article in Milan daily Corriere della Sera of 31 January
1952 carried the headline: "At the age of twenty-three he knows
everything about Leonardo."
For the past seven decades Pedretti has been regarded as the
foremost authority on the life and works of Leonardo da Vinci.
In his foreword for the book "Carlo Pedretti - A Bibliography
of His Work On Leonardo da Vinci And The Renaissance
(1944-1984)", compiled by Joyce Ludmer, famed art historian
Kenneth Clark states: "He (Pedretti) is unquestionably the
greatest Leonardo scholar of our time..."
Pedretti was a professor emeritus of art history and the
Armand Hammer Chair in Leonardo Studies at the University of
California, Los Angeles, and the author of more than 50 books
and 700 essays and articles in various languages, on the many
aspects of his speciality.
He was a member of the ministerial committee for the National
Edition of the Manuscripts and Drawings by Leonardo da Vinci.
His honours, conferred in Italy and abroad, included the Gold
Medal for Culture of the President of the Italian Republic in
1972, and in that same year, the Congressional Citation, which
is the highest award from the Government of the United States.
He was also awarded the honorary citizenship of the city of
Arezzo (2001) and got an honorary degree from the universities
of Ferrara (1991), Urbino (1998) and Milan (Catholic, 1999), as
well as that of the University of Caen in France (2002).
He was an honorary member of the ancient Academy of Euteleti
at San Miniato and other prestigious organizations and
institutions in Italy and abroad.
Pedretti was also a regular contributor to the cultural pages
of Corriere della Sera and Vatican daily L'Osservatore Romano.
In 1992 he edited the International Exhibition "The Bridges
of Leonardo", produced by the Cultural Excalibur Linen Lavorgnas
in partnership with the City of Malmoe in Sweden.
He was noted as an expert consultant in authenticating
disputed works by Leonardo.
In 1985 he attributed to Leonardo a wax model (c.1506-08) of
a bucking horse with rider, possibly an equestrian portrait of
Charles d'Amboise, the French Governor of Milan from 1503-1511
and Leonardo's friend and patron.
The wax statuette, including B&W photographs, were first
published as a work by Leonardo in 1987, in "Leonardo da
Vinci-In The Collection of Her Majesty the Queen At Windsor
Castle" a special project entrusted to Carlo Pedretti.
In 1998 he attributed to Leonardo, as a preparatory study for
the Battle of Anghiari, a drawing of the painter Riccardo
Tommasi Ferroni (1934-2000).
On April 24, 2008 he was awarded honorary citizenship of the
town of Vinci, Leonardo's native hamlet, where there is a museum
to the artist.
photo: Pederetti (L) with journalist and historian Piero Angela
at a Leonardo show in 2011
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