MARCO CHIARINI , who died at his home in the via Romana, Florence, on 6th November 2015 aged eighty-two, was born in Rome on 1st September 1933 into a family with Tuscan roots. He graduated from Rome University, where he studied under the Renaissance art historian Mario Salmi, writing a thesis on the ‘Maestro del Chiostro degli aranci’ and the frescos in the Florentine Badia, which turned his thoughts to that city. He moved to Florence in 1964, and he spent the rest of his life there, working for the Soprintendenza, and serving from 1969 until his retirement in 2000 as Director of the Galleria Palatina in Palazzo Pitti.

Chiarini made important contributions to art history on three fronts: in museology, the history of the Florentine collections, and in reconstructing the oeuvre of numerous sixteenth-, seventeenth- and eighteenth-century artists, both Italian and foreign. In all these fields, his outlook was thoroughly cosmopolitan. In this he was influenced by his private life; he was married to Françoise Pouncey, also an art historian, the daughter of the English connoisseur Philip Pouncey and his French wife, Myril. For over fifty years, until her death in 2014, Françoise acted as his inspirational muse. Together they founded the Amici di Palazzo Pitti in 1996.

For thirty years Chiarini directed the Galleria Palatina, elevating it to the institution of international importance that it is today. In arranging the display of the paintings he always took the history of the collection into consideration, a principle that he shared with the colleagues responsible for the other Pitti museums (see M. Mosco: La Galleria Palatina di Palazzo Pitti. Storia della quadreria granducale, Florence 1982). His study of the Medici collections was more practical than theoretical, based on his brilliant talent for making attributions on stylistic grounds for the many anonymous paintings in the reserve collections of the Florentine galleries. This allowed him to match paintings to those listed in the inventories of the collection of Cosimo III and especially in the collection of his heir, Prince Ferdinando, thereby making a major contribution to the recognition of works of art at the Medici court from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries. Many of these discoveries were published in Paragone (‘I quadri della collezione del Principe Ferdinando di Toscana’, Paragone 26, 1 (1975), pp.57–98, and 26, 2, pp.53–83; ibid., NS 43, 32/33 (1992), pp.92–100).

The fruits of his research resulted in innumerable memorable exhibitions, nearly all held in the Sala Bianca of the Galleria Palatina. They included Artisti alla corte granducale (1969), Pittura su pietra (1970; superseded by the more comprehensive Pietre colorate: capricci del XVII secolo dalle Collezioni medicee in 2000) and Gli Ultimi Medici. Il tardo Barocco a Firenze (1974). Other exhibitions concentrated on the works by foreign artists in the Florentine collections: Firenze e l’Inghilterra (1971), French painting (1977), Flemish painting in the same year and Il secolo di Rembrandt (1987). Monographic exhibitions of the work of artists in Florentine collections were organised by Chiarini himself or entrusted to his colleagues, always with the subtitle ‘nelle Gallerie fiorentine’: Titian (1978), Suttermans (1983), Cristofano Allori and Raphael both in 1984, Andrea del Sarto (1986), Cigoli (1992), Tintoretto (1994) and his last exhibition while Director of the Palatina, Livio Mehus (2000). Other favourite genres included landscape, Firenze e la sua immagine, curated in tandem with Alessandro Marabottini (1994) and still life, La natura morta a palazzo e in villa (1998), as well as portraiture, genre painting and the restoration of works of art. There were also many significant exhibitions of drawings: Mostra di disegni di paesaggio del Seicento e del Settecento (1973), Bellezze di Firenze. Disegni fiorentini del Seicento e del Settecento dal Museo di Belle Arti di Lille (1991) and I disegni della Biblioteca Riccardiana di Firenze (1999).

Chiarini made numerous contributions to art-historical magazines, writing for The Burlington Magazine on subjects ranging from Polidoro da Caravaggio (1963) to Tassi (1979 and 1980) and Alessandro Gheradini (1985). From 2012 he was Editor of Commentari d’arte. His bibliography, published in Arte collezionismo conservazione. Scritti in onore di Marco Chiarini, Florence 2004, has been updated in the Bollettino degli Amici di Palazzo Pitti 2015 (forthcoming). The book that he had worked on for twenty years, but did not have time to revise, will also be published this year: I disegni dei secoli XVII–XVIII della Biblioteca Marucelliana di Firenze. His exceptional scholarship has been recognised with many awards, including the Chevalier d’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, the Légion d’honneur, the gold medal for Benemerito dell’arte e della Cultura and, for his monograph on Filippo Napoletano, the Premio Salimbeni per la Storia e la Critica d’Arte.

In his personal character, Marco Chiarini was a man of great yet understated integrity and modesty, with an uncommon breadth of knowledge which he shared willingly with friends and colleagues. He was known to all for his professional generosity; many scholars and visitors to the Galleria have had the benefit of his help with research. He and Françoise hosted a steady stream of museum colleagues, art historians, artists, friends and friends of friends from throughout the world: many will recall with pleasure the salon and table at the via Romana. Marco had a wonderful sense of humour which often came out in languages other than his native Italian. Among his many interests were his garden in Florence, which he particularly enjoyed, daily yoga, literature and music. In addition, Marco and Françoise had a secret retreat, Sticciano, a small hill town in south-west Tuscany. There they passed many pleasant hours exploring towns and churches, walking in the woods, picking olives, gathering flowers, reading, and Marco painted boldly coloured flower pieces and landscapes of Sticciano and the surrounding woods. Marco Chiarini will be remembered by his many friends and colleagues as a person of great ability, generosity and congeniality.