Thirty years ago, Vincent Buonanno began collecting illustrated books, travel guides, and maps, all on the single theme of Rome in its Renaissance and Baroque periods of urban development from 1500 to 1750, including the phenomenon of ancient Egyptian obelisks relocated throughout the cities as focal points of urban monuments, churches, and piazzas. Buonanno discusses these celebrated images as the European development of engraving and etching copper plates, beginning as a simple means of producing multiple illustrations and developing into a high art form.
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Since he was a teenager, Vincent Buonanno has been a student of the historic center of Rome and its architecture. A graduate of Brown University, he is a retired CEO of Tempel Steel company in Chicago, where he spent the past 25 years, and former chief executive officer and principal owner of the New England Container of Rhode Island. Thirty years ago, he began collecting printed images within illustrated books, travel guides, and maps, all on the single theme of Rome in its Renaissance and Baroque periods of urban development and now shares his knowledge and collections with students and scholars. Buonanno is an Emeritus Trustee of Brown University, the Rhode Island School of Design, the American Academy in Rome, Moses Brown School, and Portsmouth Priory School. He is a former Trustee of the Newberry Library in Chicago and the John Carter Brown Library and recently completed a term as President and Chairman of the Trustees Council of the National Gallery of Art in Washington.
