The Monuments Men

Up to now I never knew much about  the Monuments Men.

When a few years ago the press and TV spread news about  George Clooney buying  rights to a book about soldiers in World War II called the Monuments Men,  I thought it  interesting but nothing more. Maybe there weren’t enough  details about these men and their mission  to catch my interest at the time.

Then, just over a month ago, I received this invitation in my mail:

 

The Loggia of the Uffizi Gallery.  The door to the library is on the left.

 Ilaria Dagnini Brey's talk on 'Saving Italy's Art during the War' is on Monday 5th May, at the  Biblioteca degli Uffizi, at 5 p.m

Memorial Day was coming soon and there were plans in the air for  celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Allies landing in Europe. I decided to attend for two reasons: to see the Uffizi library as well as to hear the  speech not knowing that she would be talking about these Monuments Men.

The beautiful library of the Uffizi Gallery. The small door at the center opens onto the Loggia of the Uffizi.

 The speaker, Ilaria Dagnini Brey, is a journalist, Italian but now living in NYC with her family. She  learned of the monuments men, the subject of her 2009 book, while researching the 1944 bombing of Ovetari Chapel in Padua, Italy, her hometown. Much of her research was done in this very library in the Uffizi. Her book, "The Venus Fixers", was written much before the book "The Monuments Men" by Robert M. Edsel which was the base for George Clooney's film.

It could have been the amazing setting of the library, it could have been the gentle speech of this lovely woman, her vibrant enthusiasm, but now I wanted to know more about these men and the valorous work they did during the war. Never having experienced war on my own homeland, I was eager to know more about what had occcured in Florence, my new home, suddenly realizing the danger that all of her art treasures had faced.

The two dramatic photos below are taken from Mrs. Brey's book and from her article at the link below.

Thick black smoke clouding the sky over Florence's Duomo and the bell tower after a bombing raid.

Michelangelo's David.A wall of bricks was built to protect him  during bombing raids.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-monuments-men-saved-italys-treasures-180948005/


The amazing thing about these men is that they were all scholars, architects, art historians,  and artists
in their own right. And they were low ranking soldiers sometimes unable to convince officials to listen. Some had spent time in Italy studying and knew the language therefore being valuable to the allies for translation. Along with some of the  Italian superintendents of museums, these men were instrumental in  saving  much of Italy's treasured art from German pilfering and bombing.

The difficulties were many, lack of transportation, shortage of gasoline, etc., but the effort was
spontaneous and strong. The huge statues and paintings that are now taken for granted in all of the most famous museums in Europe were removed from their peaceful settings to safer places in the outskirts of important cities to avoid possible bombing, ruin and theft.

I have just finished Mrs. Brey's book and, recently, have been to a lecture by Mr. Edsel on his book "The Monuments Men", and am about to start  the most recent book by Robert Edsel, "Saving Italy", which will become a movie soon. I recommend that you, too, read about this mission  ignored for too long.

Robert Edsel, at the end of his lecture, posed this question to his audience: In your opinion, if a choice had to be made between saving a work of art or a human life, what would be your reaction?