Alessandro Contini-Bonacossi

Count Alessandro Contini-Bonacossi (18 March 1878 - 22 October 1955) was an Italian politician, art collector, dealer and philatelist. In 1939 he was made a Senator of the Kingdom of Vittorio Emanuele III.

Alessandro Contini-Bonacossi
Alessandro Contini-Bonacossi
Born(1878-03-18)March 18, 1878
DiedOctober 22, 1955(1955-10-22) (aged 77)

Early life

Contini-Bonacossi was born in Ancona on 18 March 1878 to Camillo Contini and the Countess Elena Bonacossi Bermudez of Ferrara.

Political career

In 1928, Contini-Bonacossi was made a Count by Vittorio Emanuele III. In 1939 he became a Senator.

Nazi era

Through Walter Hofer, Contini-Bonacossi sourced art for the Göring Collection.[1]

Around 1942, Göring's art agent Sepp Angerer, and the local German consul Gerhard Wolf, went on a tour of Contini-Bonacossi's collection. Angerer supposedly told the count, "What a pity you're not a Jew!" and drawing a finger across his throat continued "If you were a Jew, we could do just that! And all the paintings would be ours!"[2]

Philately

Contini-Bonacossi was a noted philatelist. He won a Gold-Silver medal at the London International Stamp Exhibition 1960 for his display of Tuscany[3] and a Gold medal at WIPA 1965, also for Tuscany.[4]

Death

Contini-Bonacossi died in Florence on 22 October 1955.

References
  1. Lootedart.com Dealer Records : Count Alessandro Contini-Bonacossi (1878-1955)
  2. Samuels, Ernest & Jayne Samuels. (1987). Bernard Berenson, the Making of a Legend. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. pp. 478–479. ISBN 978-0-674-06779-0.
  3. "The exhibition full list of awards and final report of international jury", The London Philatelist, Vol. LXIX, Aug-Sept. 1960, No. 813, p. 160.
  4. "WIPA 1965", H.R. Holmes, The London Philatelist, Vol. 74, Aug-Sept. 1965, No. 872-873, p. 164.


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