Translation by Francesco Mazzaferro
Julius Schlosser Magnino
La letteratura
artistica 3° ed
[Art Literature]
La Nuova Italia, 1964
[Art Literature]
N.B.: On Julius von
Schlosser, see in this blog also: Julius
von Schlosser’s Italy, Edited by Loredana Lorizzo; The
Celebrations in Vienna for the 150 Years since the Birth of Julius von Schlosser;
Julius
von Schlosser and Two Anthologies of Art History; Julius
von Schlosser. The meaning of the sources for the history of art of the modern
age; Albert
Ilg and Julius von Schlosser: Two Different Interpretations of Cennino Cennini in
Austria-Hungary of 1871 and 1914.
La Nuova Italia, 1964
[1] The first edition came out in Vienna in
1924, published by Kunstverlag Anton, Schroll and Co. The original title was
Die Kunstliteratur.
[2] In the first Italian edition, published
in Florence in 1935, J. Schlosser decided to add the surname of the mother, born
Magnino and of Italian origin, as a tribute to what, to all intents and
purposes, considered his second home.
[3]
The third edition was published in 1964. The Mazzaferro library (in addition to
a facsimile of the 1924 version) hosts a re-issue of the third edition, made in
Bologna in January 1967. With this re-issue, the "Nuova Italia" publisher resumed its activities, abruptly interrupted by the flood in Florence of November 4,
1966. The Letteratura artistica was therefore the first work that the
publisher decided to republish after that disaster
[4] The work is dedicated to the German
philologist Karl Vossler, with whom Schlosser had a fraternal friendship and shared
the same deep admiration for Italian philosopher Benedetto Croce. Schlosser himself
explains the genesis of the work in the Presentation, dated Vienna , Christmas
1922:
"Dear friend,
Not without a well thought reason I am offering
this book just to you, despite the many faults, - I am certain – it may contain
and despite the fact that we work in two such different fields of "philology"... I want... to expose you in a few words the story of this
book,... and in doing so I am following the above advice of one of our great
mutual friend, Benedetto Croce.
The
essays gathered here appeared during the war years, in Sitzungsberichte (Philosophisch historische - Klasse) [n.d.t. Class reports – history and philosophy] of the Viennese Academy of Sciences under the
title Materialen zur Quellenkunde der Kunstgeschichte (10
brochures, 1914-1920) [n.d.t. Materials for the documentation of the sources of
history of art]. However, their start dates back to more than a quarter of a
century ago: their concrete origin is a need and a certain passion I felt as a collector,
which made me put together a library of history and theory of art, especially the
Italian one, almost complete and at any rate remarkable for a private. This
literature has its origin and its substantial importance in Italy, a country which
is well acquainted to me, for tradition, and partly due to the origin of my
ancestors, "(p. VII).
[5] Already in the Introduction Schlosser
clarifies what he meant as letteratura artistica (literature on arts) and ‘art
history sources’, as well as what temporal boundary is the object of his
attention (p. 1):
"As
history of art I mean here ... only the history of post-classical art, or more
accurately of Christian art, in the extension of its historical development, from Diocletian to Napoleon. The
chapters of this book offer a contributions only within this field
chronologically and geographically delimited.
The very concept of ‘science of the
sources’ needs a limitation: herewith are meant the written sources, secondary,
indirect (above all, therefore, the literary testimonies which refer themselves
to art in a theoretical sense, considering the historical, aesthetic or technical
issues), while any impersonal (so to speak) evidence, like inscriptions, paper
documents and inventories, relate to other disciplines and can be dealt here
only in an appendix. "
[6]
The Letteratura Artistica still experiences a remarkable public success. It
looks even more amazing that it is still reprinted in exactly the same version
as in 1967 (after all, it would be impossible to update it). Yet surprisingly, it
has been the subject of relatively limited critical analysis. There are those
who, like Ragghianti, gave a fervent positive view, and who instead reduced it
to a mere consultation handbook (indeed a formidable one, but a dry one and not significant by itself). The latter is, in
some way, the same interpretation as Lionello Venturi provided in his Storia
della critica d’arte (History of art criticism) (see about it: Ricardo de
Mambro Santos, Opera al bivio: Alle origini della moderna storiografia critica
dell’arte. - Work at the crossroads: the origins of the modern historiography
of art criticism). An exception in this sense, is the recent work of Ricardo de
Mambro Santos (Viatico viennese. La storiografia critica di Julius von Schlosser e la metodologia filosofica
di Benedetto Croce -Viennese Viaticum. The critical historiography
of Julius von Schlosser and philosophical methodology of Benedetto Croce),
which, with intuition, is able to place Schlosser’s masterpiece not as a mere
exercise in the scholarly field, but in a wider context, in light of the
profound influence exerted on Schlosser by Croce's aesthetics and
historiography . For the relationship between Schlosser and Benedetto Croce see
also Correspondence Croce – Schlosser, edited by Karl Egon Lönne, and published
in 2003 by Il Mulino .
[7] Finally, a few words on a more personal basis.
The private Mazzaferro collection was born and developed on the basis of the meticolous
study of Schlosser’s masterwork. My father Luciano read it at least ten times in
full and consulted it almost daily for decades. At the time of his passing away
(which occurred on February 11, 2004), in agreement with my mother Franca, my brother
and sister Francesco and Silvia, a copy of the sixth edition, published in The
New Paperbacks Classics of Italy in November 2003, was put inside his coffin, just
in case of any urgent consultation need; a copy was donated to his sister
Ornella and to Giorgio Pagnanelli, the friend of a lifetime.
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