Valter PINTO
Keywords
Research interests:
- Renaissance painting in Sicily
- Southern Italian art historiography
- Luca Giordano
Valter Pinto (1960) is Associate Professor of Early Modern Art History (ARTE-01/B) and, since 2020, Chair of the MA programme in Art History and Cultural Heritage (LM-89R).
A pupil of Andrea Emiliani, Pinto’s work has been shaped by an engagement with periegetic literature, approached as a privileged mode of visual comparison rather than within a purely diachronic framework. His early research sought to test the categories derived from inventory-based and archival studies against the direct examination of works of art, while also reassessing the evidentiary value of sources often neglected for their ostensibly dry antiquarian character.
This approach informed his monograph Racconti di opere e racconti di uomini. La storiografia artistica a Napoli tra periegesi e biografia, 1685–1700 (Naples, 1997), as well as his critical edition of Bernardo De Dominici’s life of Luca Giordano (Vite de’ pittori, scultori ed architetti napoletani, ed. F. Sricchia Santoro and A. Zezza, II, Naples, 2008, pp. 746–866).
His current research focuses on artistic production in early sixteenth-century Sicily, with particular reference to the Messinese painter Girolamo Alibrandi.
WORK EXPERIENCE
2006-to date
Associate Professor in History of Modern Art (L-ART/02), University of Catania, Italy
1999-2006
Researcher in History of Modern Art (L-ART/02), University of Catania, Italy
1999-2002
Lecturer in History of art criticism, University “L’Orientale” of Napoli, Italy
1999-2002
Lecturer in History of Modern Art, University “Suor Orsola Benincasa” of Napoli, Italy
EDUCATION AND TRAINING
1996-1998
Postdoctoral Fellowship, University “Federico II” of Napoli, Italy
1992-1995
Ph.D. Historical Disciplines of Medieval, Modern and Contemporary Art, History and Criticism of Figurative Arts in Southern Italy, University “Federico II” of Napoli, Italy
1985-1986
Specialization degree in Medieval and Modern Art History, University “Federico II” of Napoli, Italy
1978-1984
Graduated in Drama, Arts and Music Studies, Major in Visual Arts Studies, University “Alma Mater Studiorum” of Bologna, Italy
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
2020-to date
Coordinator of the Master of Sciences in History of Art and Cultural Heritage, University of Catania, Italy
2017-2023
Member of the Board of the Consulta universitaria di storia dell’arte (Italian University Society for Art History)
2010-2011
Coordinator of the Master of Sciences in History of Art and Cultural Heritage, University of Catania, Italy
2000-2009
Coordinator of the SISSIS, Sicilian Interuniversity School of Specialization for Secondary Teaching, area 7 art and design
Principal investigator in research project
2024-to date
A.Fra. Alfonso Franco tra tradizione antonelliana e maniera moderna
2011-2014
The History of Art in Eastern Sicily in the Modern Age, University of Catania, Italy
2007-2011
Study on Teaching Methodologies for the Transfer of Art-Historical Skills to Art-History Teachers in Training, University of Catania, Italy