CAVALCASELLE, GIOVANNI BATTISTA (1820 1897 ), Italian writer on art, was born at Legnago on Jan. 22, 182o. He became a student at the Academia delle Belle Arti in Venice, and from early youth studied the art treasures of Italy. His relations sent him to Padua, hoping that he might become an engineer, but in 1844 he returned to his artistic studies. He vis ited the cities of Tuscany, and then set out to see the master pieces of Italian art in foreign countries. During a stay in Ger many in 1846 and 1847 he made the acquaintance of Joseph Archer Crowe in a post carriage between Hamm and Minden. The two young men felt drawn to each other and met again in Berlin, where they studied together some pictures in the museum. On his return to Venice Cavalcaselle took an active part in the revo lution of 1848 against the Austrian rule. He was arrested by Austrian gendarmes and narrowly escaped being shot. He then joined the forces of Garibaldi and was taken prisoner by the French in 1849. He arrived in a miserable plight in Paris, where by good fortune he again met Crowe, and with his help came to London. The two friends occupied rooms together and worked on a history of early Flemish painters, published in 1857. In the same year Cavalcaselle returned to Italy. In 1864 Crowe and Cav alcaselle published their great work, New History of Italian Paint ing, which was followed by the History of Painting in North Italy. Other joint works were Titian (1 876) and Raphael (1883) . Cavalcaselle's independent writings are of less importance : Sul piu autentico ritratto di Dante (1865) ; Sulla conservazione dei Monumenti ed oggetti di belle arti; Sulle riforme dell' insegna mento academico (1875).
Cavalcaselle was for some time secretary to the great art critic and collector, Giovanni Morelli, and his travelling companion when Morelli compiled the inventory of the works of art in the Marca d'Ancona for the Italian Government. Towards the end of his life Cavalcaselle held office as ispettore di belle arti in the Ministry of Education in Rome. He died on Oct. 31, Crowe and Cavalcaselle's histories of Italian art are standard works, and have recently been re-edited by Langton Douglas and Tancred Borenius.