| Birth Name: | Rodolfo Pallucchini |
| Birth Place: | Milan, Italy |
| Birth Date: | November 10, 1908 |
| Death Place: | Venice, Italy |
| Death Date: | April 8, 1989 |
| Occupation: | Art historian officer |
Rodolfo Pallucchini (born November 10, 1908 in Milan, Italy, and died April 8, 1989, in Venice) is an Italian art historian, professor, administrator, curator and patron. Pallucchini was the son of an engineer who moved with his family to Venice in 1925.[1] In nearby Padua, Pallucchini followed his university studies, graduating in literature in 1931 under the guidance of Giuseppe Fiocco with a thesis, published three years later, focused on the figure of Giovanni Battista Piazzetta.[2]
In 1935, Pallucchini was appointed inspector at the Estense Gallery in Modena, and became its director in 1939. His academic career began in 1937, and he later held the chair of History of Medieval and Modern Art in various Italian universities: Bologna, Venice and Padua.[3]
Pallucchini curated the exhibition Five centuries of Venetian painting set up in 1945 at the Procuratie Nuove in Venice, considered a model for subsequent "regional reconnaissance" exhibitions organized throughout Italy. In 1947, Pallucchini founded the magazine Arte Veneta of which he also took over the direction. Pallucchini published numerous studies collected in books and magazines, even after ceasing his academic activity in 1979. Among his colleagues and friends were the art historians Giulio Carlo Argan, Lionello Venturi and Carlo Ludovico Ragghianti. Pallucchini is noted for putting forth and emphasizing of the theory that Giambattista Pittoni studied under Antonio Balestra that has now generally been discounted in the classical arts historical circles.[4]
Pallucchini died on April 8, 1989, in Venice, Italy. His library and personal archive were donated to the University of Udine by his heirs, his daughters Vittoria and Teresa: the library in 1989 and personal archive in 2001. The material is preserved in the Special Collections Section of the university's Humanities Library.[5]