Bruno Zanardi was born in Parma and educated as an art historian and conservator in Rome (Istituto Centrale del Restauro) with Giovanni Urbani. During his career, he restored some of the greatest monuments in Italy. From 1986 to 1992 he worked on the restoration of the Parma Baptistery, while in 1992 he began the conservation of the Sancta Sanctorum, the Pope’s private chapel. During these years, he developed a strong friendship and collaboration with Federico Zeri. Both before and after the 1997 earthquake, he restored the frescoes of the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi. Zanardi has been a supporter of the precautionary approach of conservation in relation to environmental protection. He has published extensively in art conservation theory and his studies on Giotto and the Roman School of painting have opened new paths in art historical research.
The collection consists of approximately 36,500 slides, 7,900 photographic prints, 3,700 negatives, and 300 drawings. It documents the professional activity of Bruno Zanardi as an art conservator. Zanardi has restored some of the greatest monuments and artworks in Italy. These include among others the aforementioned Basilica of Assisi, the Ara Pacis and Trajan Column reliefs, the mosaics and mural paintings of the Sancta Sanctorum chapel and the Santa Maria Maggiore basilica in Rome, Pietro da Cortona’s frescoes at Palazzo Barberini in Rome, and the Cathedral and Baptistery in Parma. The photos, slides, and negatives in the collection provide detailed documentation of the monuments and the activities undertaken during restoration.
Digital reproductions of the frescoes depicting the Life of St. Francis in Assisi are already accessible through Hollis Images, while library staff are now working on making the entire collection of approximately 35,000 high-resolution color images available online.