Salvatore Betti commentatore dell’ “Ape Italiana delle Belle Arti” attraverso la corrispondenza artistica

The article analyses the editorial work of Salvatore Betti (1792-1882), his presence as a commentator in the illustrated periodical press of Restoration Rome and in particular his writings for the “Ape Italiana delle Belle Arti” (1835-1840). Through the unpublished correspondence between the literate secretary of the Accademia di San Luca and the magazine’s director, Giuseppe Melchiorri, the dynamics of the construction of the periodical and the management’s relationship with artists seeking self-promotion in the press of the time emerge. Together with new information on some of the paintings published in the periodical by the protagonists of the Roman classicist season (Francesco Podesti, Jean-Baptiste Wicar, Giovanni Silvagni, Antonio Solá, Pietro Paoletti, Vincenzo Camuccini, Filippo Agricola, Friedrich Overbeck, Cesare Mussini), the drawings made for the translation engravings preserved in the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana are published.