Enrico Piceni Artwork valuations, appraisals and auction estimates

Enrico Piceni (1901 – 1986) was an Italian art critic, theater critic and translator. Already from his high school years he showed a propensity for writing and collaborated intensely in various editorial offices. Read the full biography

Enrico Piceni (1901 – 1986) was an Italian art critic, theater critic and translator. Already from his high school years he showed a propensity for writing and collaborated intensely in various editorial offices. In July 1921 he obtained a diploma from classical high school and, in the following two years, he continued his activity as a theater critic, writing for L'Ambrosiano; interrupting his work to fulfill his military obligations, he returned to Milan in 1924 and in January 1925 was hired by Arnoldo Mondadori Editore as head of the press office. Already in 1926 he made important contributions: he founded the series Le Scie and I centomila. He soon advanced in the company hierarchy to become co-editorial director; he directed the series The Italian masters of the 19th century, given his passion for painting and in particular for Italian paintings of the second half of the 19th century. In 1935 his collaboration with Mondadori ended, at least at a managerial level because he continued to translate in the following years, and he dedicated himself more and more to art, organizing exhibitions and writing as an art critic. As a critic and art enthusiast he was particularly dedicated to Federico Zandomeneghi, for whom he had also edited the monographic volume that had opened the series The Italian masters of the 19th century in 1932, Giuseppe De Nittis and Giovanni Boldini. His main area of ​​interest was nineteenth-century Italian painting, and especially Lombard painters: and on these he published various volumes for the bustocco publisher Bramante; for the Turin publisher Bolaffi he directed the editing of the catalog of 19th century Italian painting.