Gaetano Previati's impressive photographic archive will be acquired by the City of Ferrara and digitized

The Municipality of Ferrara has given the go-ahead for theacquisition of the photographic archive of the great Ferrara painter Gaetano Previati, one of the leading exponents of Italian pointillism. The archive consists of about 380 silver bromide gelatin plate negatives, some previously unpublished, relating to paintings and graphic works that have disappeared and escaped from the literature on Previati, as well as phototypes, printing plates, and photogravures, for an overall total of 591 pieces.

The purchase and transport of the materials will be possible thanks to a grant of about 41 thousand euros as part of the ministerial call “Photography Strategy 2020.”

“This is an important moment, these precious testimonies have a fundamental historical value because they represent the sign of an activity that marked Previati’s artistic life, which was also linked to photography and until now remained marginal compared to his great pictorial work,” commentedCouncillor Marco Gulinelli, who oversaw the entire project, promoted the project’s candidacy to the dicastery’s call for proposals and presented the resolution for the acquisition to the council, which was then approved. “The Ministry will fully cover the costs of purchasing and transporting the materials, and the municipality will be able to devote its resources to the enhancement of this very important archive,” Gulinelli explained. "Among other things, we will digitize Previati’s photographic testimonies, thus making them safe from the signs of time and available for research, studies, dissemination and valorization initiatives. Ferrara now comes into possession of this precious archive, which will be digitized and studied, further contributing to the knowledge of the work of this pioneer of modernity." The project was nominated last November, on the occasion of the centenary of Gaetano Previati’s death, and now the city is preparing for the 170th anniversary of the artist’s birth, which took place in Ferrara.

Gaetano Previati's impressive photographic archive will be acquired by the City of Ferrara and digitized

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