Leader of modern museum conservation practices; historian of Italian art. Brandi graduated in with a law degree from the University of Siena in 1927, but his interests had moved to art so much that he wrote a thesis the following year at the University of Florence on the artists Rutilio Manetti, Francesco Vanni, and Ventura Salimbeni. In 1930 he was assigned to the Administration of Antiquities and the Fine Arts to assist the Inspector (Soprintendenza) of Monuments and Galleries of Siena.