Masterpieces
Masterpieces: Based on a Manuscript by Mario Modestini by Dianne Dwyer Modestini
Masterpieces by Dianne Modestini is based on a memoir written by the author’s late husband, Mario Modestini (1907-2006), Conservator and Curator of the Samuel H. Foundation from 1949-1961. He was widely regarded as the finest restorer of Italian paintings of the 20th century and a brilliant connoisseur possessed with, as Federico Zeri wrote, “an infallible eye.” Born in Rome, he trained as a painter and apprenticed with his father, a gilder, framer, and restorer of polychromed decorative works. He knew many of the forgers active in Italy in the period between the two world wars, restored the Rospigliosi Collection before its dispersal, and was the co-founder with Pietro Maria Bardi of the famous, though short-lived, gallery, Studio d’Arte Palma. His position at the Kress Foundation exposed him to the international art world where he dealt with museum directors and curators, scholars, dealers, collectors, and other conservators and was involved with the acquisition and restoration of innumerable masterpieces. His restorations are characterized by sensitivity and restraint and, due to his collaboration with the scientist, Dr. Robert Feller to find stable materials, have stood the test of time. Late in his life he recorded many of his tales about these figures and events in a fragmentary manuscript that Dianne Modestini transcribed with his participation. After his death, she created a framework for these stories, verifying them with additional research to provide continuity and context.
