Francesco Petrucci

Considered one of Bernini's greatest scholars, whose catalogue has expanded with important findings and new critical openings in the fields of painting, sculpture and decorative arts, Petrucci has devoted numerous researches to Baroque portraiture, including books, exhibition catalogues, essays and articles published in scientific magazines. He is universally recognized as one of the leading specialists in Roman Baroque, to the point to be the reference for studies concerning the Roman art of the 17th and 18th century and one of the most accredited scholars by major auction houses in the world, collectors and museums experts. In particular, his opinion is considered essential for paintings attributed to G.B. Beinaschi, G.B. Gaulli "il Baciccio", P.F. Mola, L. Stern, G.Troppa and J.F. Voet, artists to whom he dedicated monographic studies. He is also considered a reference scholar for the Chigi Family art collection. Graduated in architecture at the University of Rome for "La_Sapienza" in 1983 with 110/110 cum laude, he did his thesis in History of architecture entitled "Palazzo Chigi in Ariccia", thesis supervisor was his teacher Prof. Sandro Benedetti, he then attended the international school of specialization in monument restoration at the same University (1984–1985). Since 1998 he has held the position of Curator of Palazzo Chigi of Ariccia, of which he directed the restorations (1990–1999). He also designed the transformation of the Palace into a multifunctional cultural museum structure, integrated in 2007 with the opening of the "Museum of the Roman Baroque" of which he is promoter, consisting of the prestigious donations of the Fagiolo, Lemme, Ferrari, Laschena, Peretti, etc. collections, which he obtained through his own personal contacts. Between 1984 and 1998 he designed and directed the restoration of various Bernini monuments in Ariccia (Piazza di Corte, Palazzo Chigi, Santuario di Galloro, Complesso dell'Assunta, Porta Romana, Porta Napoletana) and the post-modern design of the new Town Hall (1997–98). Director of the historic magazine "Castelli Romani", since 2002 he has been an affiliate professor of art history at the College of Human Sciences, of Auburn University (Alabama, United States).

In 2003 he received at Campidoglio the "2003 European Personality" award, conferred by the Councilor for Culture of the Municipality of Rome Gianni Borgna.

Since December 2016 he has been a member of "Rome Culture and Image Study Center".

Since 2018 he has been member of the "Gruppo dei Romanisti".

In 1989 he met the art critic Maurizio Fagiolo dell'Arco (Rome, 1939–2002 ), his teacher and cultural guide, who had a major impact on his professional and cultural career. In those years Petrucci took care of the inventory of all the movable assets of the Palazzo Chigi, especially with the support of the archival research that he carried out on the accounting documents and on the 17th century inventories of the Chigi archive stored at the Vatican Apostolic Library. The first discoveries he made were published in an article in the "Art Bulletin" in 1992 and then in other contributions published in the same magazine, deserving the esteem and friendship of personalities such as Marcello Fagiolo, Italo Faldi, Oreste Ferrari, Valentino Martinelli, Federico Zeri. In his research on the numerous Chigi paintings and furnishings, he identified a conspicuous nucleus of portraits referable to the hands of the Flemish painter Jacob Ferdinand Voet, Alessandro Mattia da Farnese and Giovanni Maria Morandi, as well as busts by Giuseppe Mazzuoli and Bernardo Fioriti, which were published in the magazines "Bollettino d'Arte", "Storia dell'Arte", "Revue de l'Art", "Antologia di Belle Arti" and "Labyrinthos". These first investigations then led to large monographic studies on Roman Baroque portraiture published years later. Through the friendship and collaboration with Fagiolo dell'Arco he met other renowned scholars such as Sir Denis Mahon, Irving Lavin, Pierre Rosenberg, Alvar González-Palacios, Arnauld Brejon de Lavergnée, Sthepháne Loire, Vittorio Sgarbi, antique dealers such as Ferdinando Peretti, Fabrizio Apolloni, Enzo Costantini, Franco and Alberto Di Castro, collectors such as Fabrizio and Fiammetta Lemme, Luigi Koelliker. Friendship and esteem towards him led some of these personalities to the donation of works to the Baroque Museum of Palazzo Chigi and their important art collections like those of Maurizio Fagiolo dell'Arco (2001), Fabrizio and Fiammetta Lemme (2007), Oreste Ferrari (2008), Renato Laschena (2008), including drawings and paintings donated by Ferdinando Peretti in 2002 and other liberal bequests. Among his fundamental reference works, his monographs: Jacob_Ferdinand_Voet (1639–1689) called "Ferdinando dei Ritratti", Ugo Bozzi publisher, Rome 2005; Bernini Painter, Ugo Bozzi publisher, Rome 2006; Portrait painting in Rome. Il Seicento, 3 vols., Budai editori, Rome 2008; Baciccio. Giovan Battista Gaulli, Ugo Bozzi publisher, Rome 2009; Portrait painting in Rome. The eighteenth century, 3 vols., Budai editori, Rome 2010; Ludovico Stern (1709–1777). Rococo painting in Rome, Budai editori, Rome 2012 (collaboration of D.K. Marignoli); Giovan Battista Beinaschi. Baroque painter between Rome and Naples, Budai editori, Rome 2011 (collaboration V. Pacelli et al.); Pier Francesco Mola (1612–1666). Matter and color in 17th century painting , Budai editori, Rome 2012.

• G.L. Bernini, Bust of Pope Paul V Borghese ( Malibù, J.P. Getty Museum).[1]

The bust disappeared following an art auction from the Borghese collection held in Rome in 1893, it was then rediscovered by Petrucci in Bratislava in October 2014 where he was called by a young French businessman residing in that city. The scholar's story is fascinating: «He wanted me to go alone with him, he took me to a peripheral area of Bratislava, so we entered a basement through a series of iron doors. Arriving in a completely empty room and aired only by a small window at the top, I saw the bust on a platform on the ground covered with a white sheet ». It was the lost masterpiece, which reappeared after about 120 years.

• G.L. Bernini, Salvator Mundi ( Rome , San Sebastiano fuori le mura)[2]

The bust was found by accident. In August 2001 an exhibition dedicated to Pope Clement XI Albani took place in Urbino . Among the photos published in the catalogue there was one representing a bust depicting a statue of Christ. The description indicated that it was located "in the Monastery of San Sebastiano outside the walls, already in the Albani sacristy" and attributed to a certain Pietro Papaleo, a Palermitan sculptor active in Rome in the early 1700s . Francesco Petrucci was visiting the exhibition and while leafing through that catalogue he remained dazzled in front of the beautiful photograph. He immediately realized that the bust was too beautiful for a valid but still minor artist like Papaleo and said: «After my first inspection ... on 7 February 2002 I arranged a visit to the convent of San Sebastiano with Maurizio Fagiolo , who shared my enthusiasm for the work, and we immediately recognized the supreme masterpiece worthy of the fame of Bernini's lost Salvatore ».
Among the other discoveries of Bernini's most relevant works:

• The two Tables with cornucopias[3](Ariccia, Palazzo Chigi) designed by the artist in 1664 for the Chigi, whose payments he recovered.
• The Christo patiens[4] recognized in the painting left in testament to Innocent XI Odescalchi (private collection).
• The bronze Crucifix, smaller replica of that of the Escorial commissioned by Alexander VII (Germany, private collection).
• The Tabernacle of the collegiate church of the Assumption of Ariccia, of which he published drawings and payments.
• The projects found in the Barberini archive for the Villa Barberini in Castel Gandolfo .

Among the most significant acquisitions recovered from the Gaulli catalogue:

• The Portrait of Alexander VII and the Portrait of Mario Chigi [5] ex Messinger collection, disappeared in 1918 and found in the deposits of the National Gallery of Sofia.
• The lost portrait of Giovan Paolo Oliva Superior General of the Society of Jesus emerged at the Jesuit Mother House in Rome.

There are also several unpublished works of art that were later published by Petrucci that have expanded or contributed to the formation of the catalogues of various 17th and 18th century Roman painters and sculptors, some of these forgotten, including Giovan Battista Beinaschi, Andrea Casali, Antonio David, Alessio De Marchis, Bernardo Fioriti, Jan Carel van Eck, Corrado Giaquinto, Davide Loreti, Carlo Maratta, Ludovico Mazzanti, Giuseppe Mazzuoli, Giovanni Maria Morandi, Pier Francesco Mola, Giovanni Odazzi, Francesco Ragusa, Pierre Ronche, Francesco Rosa, Girolamo Troppa, Jacob Ferdinand Voet, etc. ...

• Officer Cross pro Merito Melitensi

• Palazzo Chigi Ariccia