Who was Bruno Balestrini (1932–2017)

Bruno Balestrini worked for decades in the field of Italian art photography, documenting in particular sculpture — from Romanesque to modern — and historic architecture, in Italy and abroad.

Childhood With the family As a child Adolescence Youthful portrait Studio pose Portrait, early years Formal portrait Studio portrait Military service, with fellow soldiers (Bruno Balestrini is first on the left) Military service Military service, weapon in hand Military service, next to the tank Military service, in front of the tank At the swimming pool With the team, on a construction vehicle At work, on scaffolding in front of a fresco cycle Portrait Portrait Double portrait Travelling, in the mountains With the guitar Portrait from his later years

Part of his work went into the “History of World Architecture” publishing series (Electa, Milan / Harry N. Abrams, New York): his photographic contribution to the volume devoted to Byzantine architecture is confirmed, while the internal structure of his archive — organised by areas (Byzantine, Armenian, Gothic, Egyptian, Greek) that mirror the volumes of the series — suggests a broader involvement, not yet independently confirmed.

His photographs are also credited in publications devoted to Italian painting cycles — including Giotto's frescoes at Assisi, Carpaccio and Mantegna — in the form “Foto di B. Balestrini”.

He founded and curated Thais.it, an online archive of his photographic work organised into several repertoires: Italian sculpture, historic architecture around the world, Italian cities, applied arts, and a few natural-history repertoires (botany, entomology, malacology, mineralogy). In 2016 he published a self-produced eBook catalogue gathering a selection of his work.

Thais.it was produced by Itaca30, a Milan company founded in 1995, of which Bruno Balestrini was sole director. In 2000 the site received the Art History Webmasters Association award as the best encyclopaedic site of the year (see “History of the site”).