Biography
Cesare Brandi was born in Bologna on the 25th of July 1906. His father was a school headmaster, and his mother was a teacher. Brandi entered the University of Turin, where he earned a degree in Architecture in 1928. That same year, he was awarded a scholarship by the Istituto Guidi (Guidoni Institute) to pursue a post-graduate degree in Painting. He studied for two years in Rome, and then returned to Turin, where he was appointed first a lecturer and then a full Professor. In 1931, he married Margherita Lattuada, and the couple had three daughters and two sons.
Cesare Brandi had a long relationship with the Arts, particularly with the Roman School of Archaeology. His attention to the restoration of buildings was always linked to his passion for the restoration of the Arts. In 1932, together with Federico Zeri, he won the city prize for restoration for the Castello di San Pietro in Perugia. In his activity as conservator, he also used the technique of Vitruvius, or rather that of the ancient architects, as his guide. The study of ancient techniques allowed him to enlarge the scope of his research and to clarify the aim of his profession as a conservator. His contributions to this debate were not only theoretical, but were also based on practical experience. In 1953, together with Cesare Mariotti, he founded the Istituto Centrale del Restauro (ICR), to promote professional activity in the field of restoration.
Cesare Brandi lived in Rome from 1963, where he established the Istituto Centrale del Restauro (ICR), together with Cesare Mariotti. This institute was intended to develop the technique of "restoration through observation," which had been created by Cesare Brandi in 1946. Cesare Brandi, as well as Francesco Morchi, who was Professor at the Politecnico of Milan and who was elected director of the ICR in 1972, understood that the preservation of the Works of Art did not depend only on the technical aspects, but also on their understanding and use. This is why the ICR not only looked for a trained workforce, but it also paid great attention to the cultural aspects of the restoration.
From that moment on, the ICR worked in close collaboration with a network of experts and institutions (Centro per lo be359ba680
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