L’arte bizantina in Italia nei documenti dell’Archivio Centrale dello Stato: una mappa

The present paper explores and analyzes part of the rich documentation related to the monitoring and conservation procedures of monuments and artworks produced by the central and peripheral offices of the Italian Ministry of Education, between the second half of the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th century. The documents in question – letters, reports, photos, drawings, etc. - are connected to the need of the Italian State to harmonize with each other the legislative measures regarding the protection of works of art in force in pre-unification states and to survey and monitor the artistic heritage as widely as possible, in order to ensure a more precise knowledge, a more adequate material conservation and, last but not least, to prevent illegal dispersions, sales and exports. Our research focused mainly on documentation relating to Byzantine art and architecture. Between the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the following century we witness the gradual and progressive transformation of archival materials, which reveal an increasingly systematic use of the photographic medium, certainly faster and more reliable in the delicate task of establishing, without misunderstandings, the identity and the state of conservation of the artefacts. The documentary survey carried out in the Archivio Centrale dello Stato proved to be complex, for it was necessary to examine and collate very heterogeneous materials, from administrative documents to personal letters, but that notwithstanding, it also allowed us to make some unexpected and hopefully useful discoveries, which underscore the growing attention paid in these years by the academic and adminstrative milieu to the realm of the art of Byzantium. Among the archival and photographic records relating to Byzantine art in Italy, we focused our attention to some relevant case studies such as the interesting documentation on the mosaics of the Basilica of Torcello, or on the restoration campaign of the mosaics in the baptistery of San Giovanni in Fonte in Naples. New information also resurfaced about the history of the restoration of the famous monuments of 5th-6th century Ravenna, and about the figures of the mosaicists involved in the project. These are very skilled workers, who for this reason were also sent abroad to restore important Byzantine monuments, as in the case of the mosaics of the monastery of Daphni in Greece. Photographs often accompanied requests of various kinds, proposals to purchase new works on the art market, authorizations for moving works from one museum to another or for loans. Sometimes, the photos could be used to trace stolen pieces, as in the remarkable case of the famous micromosaic icon of San Demetrio in Sassoferrato. The early photographic documentation was obviously useful for the reconstruction of the material conditions of certain objects through their historical transformations, and served to shed light on the tampering suffered by the works. In fact, the lack of graphic or photographic evidence makes it difficult, after a long time, to establish the precise identity of certain works and their historical vicissitudes, as in the case of the sale of the famous Byzantine ivory of the Barberini family acquired by Louvre in 1899.