"Che razza de roba". Corrado Ricci, Anselmo Anselmi e un'inchiesta per la vendita del Dossale di Giuliano da Rimini a Boston

Starting from unpublished documentation found at the State Central Archive in Rome, this study traces the fortunes of two masterpieces of the 14th century Rimini school: the Crucifix by Pietro da Rimini and the panel by Giuliano da Rimini, now in Boston, which were once preserved together in the "chiesa dei Morti" in Urbania (PU). A misunderstanding caused by an error in the transcription of Johann David Passavant (1839), later corrected by Cvalcaselle, became the subject of a debate between the latter and a young Corrado Ricci. Anselmo Anselmi, inspector of excavations and monuments in Arcevia, then launched his own investigation into the works preserved in Urbania. Meanwhile, in 1901, the Dossale of Giuliano da Rimini was illegally transferred by the Cathedral Chapter of the Town in the Marche to the Florentine merchant Nello Nelli. Corrado Ricci, by then Director of the Royal Galleries of Florence, was among the key figures involved in this affair. The correspondence related to the ministerial investigation provides valuable insight into a case study on the history of culturalheritage protection in Italy at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.