Poggi, Giovanni

Date born: 1880

Place Born: Florence, Italy

Date died: 1961

Place died: Florence, Italy

Museum administrator and historian of Italian art. After receiving his degree from the Instituto di Studi Superiori in Florence, Poggi became the Director of the Museo Nazionale del Bargello in Florence. During his early years, his friends included Jean-Jacques Dwelshauvers (Jacques Mesnil) (q.v.) and Aby Warburg (q.v.). When the Mona Lisa was stolen from Paris in 1911, he helped to arrange its return to France. Poggi was appointed Director of the Uffizi in 1912, and reformed the administrations of several Italian musuems, making them more organized and better maintained. He merged the Uffizi with the Galleria Antica e Moderna, which was renamed the Galleria dell'Accademia. In 1925, Poggi was named Soprintendente dell'Arte Medievale e Moderna for the Tuscany region. As a scholar, Poggi's biggest project was as an editor of an edition of Michaelangelo's correspondences. The project involved dozens of scholars, but the collection and documentation of the letters was slow. In 1918 until publication, Poggi became the project's main editor, supervising its minute details to ensure its accuracy and expedient publication. LMW

Home Country: Italy

Sources: The Dictionary of Art; Bonet, M.-N.  "Dwelshauvers, Jean-Jacques."  Dictionnaire biographique du mouvement ouvrier francais 12: 135.

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