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Romanini, Angiola Maria

    Full Name: Romanini, Angiola Maria

    Gender: female

    Date Born: 26 February 1926

    Date Died: 18 January 2002

    Place Born: Legnano, Milan, Lombardy, Italy

    Place Died: Rome, Lazio, Italy

    Home Country/ies: Italy

    Subject Area(s): Italian (culture or style) and Medieval (European)

    Institution(s): Sapienza University of Rome


    Overview

    Professor of art history; directed the publications of the Enciclopedia Italiana, founder and director of the magazine Arte Medievale. Romanini was born in Legnano and trained at the University of Pavia under Eduardo Yetwart Arslan (1899-1968). She then continued her studies at the Scuola di specializzazione di Roma under  Geza De Francovich and Guilo Carlo Argan where she focused on late medieval art and architecture. She wrote extensively on the humanistic culture of northern Italy including works on Donatello, Mategna, and Bramante. She contributed to important works on Lombard architecture throughout the 13th to 15th century and also Romanques art during the Veronese era. She argued that the formation of the Cistercians and their development of the fulcrum marked a transition between the Romanesque and Gothic in Lombardy. Her monograph on Arnolfo di Cambio marked a transition in the scholars focus from individual artists to scientific research. In 1972, she transferred to the University of Rome as the Chair of the Medieval Art History department. She organized Settimane di Storia dell’arte medievale, a weekly international conference that has been fundamental for international bibliography. Many of these conferences lead to publications.  She was a member of the Accademia dei Lincei beginning in 1987, the Pontificia Accademia di Archeologia e Storia dell’Arte, and the Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften of Vienna. The first of her twelve publications for the l’Enciclopedia dell’arte medievale was released in 1991. These monumental volumes, noted for their scholarly approach, were promoted by the Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana.

    In addition to her work in academia, she promoted the discipline of art history through her organization of international conventions which lead to the formation of Storia dell’arte medioevale in Italia, a university textbook. Her commitment to the field of art history and work on the prestigious magazine Arte medievale contributed to a revival of medieval studies in Italy.

     


    Selected Bibliography

    • [Complete bibliography]: https://biblio.saras.uniroma1.it/sites/default/files/Bibliografia%20ROMANINI.pdf
    • L’architettura Gotica in Lombardia. Milan: Casa Editrice Ceschina, 1964;
    • Arnolfo di Cambio e lo “Stil Novo” del gotico italiano. Florence: Sansoni, 1980;
    • ”Nuovi dati sulla statua bronzea di San Pietro in Vaticano”. Arte medievale Ser. 2, vol. 4, p. 1-50, 1900;
    • directed, Enciclopedia dell’arte medievale. Rome: Istituto della Enciclopedia italiana, 1991;
    • L’arte medievale in Italia. Milan: Sansoni, 1996;

    Sources

    • Cadei, Antonio. 1994. “Romanini, Angiola Maria in ‘Enciclopedia Italiana.’” Treccani. 1994. https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/angiola-maria-romanini_%28Enciclopedia-Italiana%29/;
    • De Angelis, Elettra. “Fondo Romanini, Biblioteca Dipartimento di Storia Antropologia Religioni Arte Spettacolo.” Sapienza Universita di Roma. Accessed April 5, 2021. https://biblio.saras.uniroma1.it/node/7110;
    • Pilo, Giuseppe Maria. “Angiola Maria Romanini: [in memoriam].”  Arte documento, 16 (2002): 257–258;
    • Pistilli, Pio Francesco. “L’avvento Del Medioevo. Angiola Maria Romanini e La Rivista ‘Storia Dell’arte’ (1976-1983). (Italian).” Storia Dell’Arte (2019): 151/152 (1/2): 111–120;
    • Righetti, Marina. “Ricordo Di Angiola Maria Romanini.” Obituary, no. 101 (January 2002): 6;



    Contributors: Denise Shkurovich


    Citation

    Denise Shkurovich. "Romanini, Angiola Maria." Dictionary of Art Historians (website). https://arthistorians.info/romaninia/.


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