About the Author

Ilaria Dagnini Brey is a journalist and translator who was born in Padua, Italy. She now lives in New York City with her husband, Carter Brey, the principal cellist of the New York Philharmonic. "The Venus Fixers" is her first book.

Reviews

"Art and war come together in this superbly researched history that reveals how Italy's Renaissance masterpieces were caught in the crossfire of World War II. Ilaria Dagnini Brey recounts how many of these works almost miraculously survived, and who we have to thank for saving them--a somewhat unlikely crew of art historians, scholars, and architects. She shows how their quiet courage stood between some of the world's greatest treasures and a fate almost unbearable to contemplate." --Ross King, author of Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture "The Venus Fixers is an extraordinary story--tragic, poignant, and inspiring by turn. A must-read for anyone who recognizes that the mute victims of any country's war are frequently its works of art, it brings to light a little-known and entirely absorbing aspect of World War II." --Caroline P. Murphy, author of Murder of a Medici Princess "Ilaria Dagnini Brey expertly recounts the race to protect masterpieces of art and architecture caught on the battlefront. Fascinating and brilliantly researched, The Venus Fixers is a story of Botticellis hidden in castles, the monuments officers' heroism, and the art's often narrow escape, played out against air strikes and looting, leveled churches and shattered frescoes." --Cynthia Saltzman, author of Old Masters, New World: America's Raid on Europe's Great Pictures "In this finely written and researched first book, full of anecdotes that will fascinate all art lovers, Ilaria Dagnini Brey adds wonderful insight and detail to the gripping story of the miraculous preservation of many of the world's most treasured masterpieces during the Allied campaign in Italy. The heroes are the curators of Italy's patrimony and the fabled monuments men attached to the Allied invasion forces, and Ms. Brey does them proud." --Lynn H. Nicholas, author of The Rape of Europa: The Fate of Europe's Treasures in the Third Reich and the Second World War "A significant and original contribution to World War II and art history alike." --Gilbert Taylor, Booklist "A thrilling adventure, full of scheming aesthetes and exploding Mantegnas . . . Brey tells this story with concision and grace." --Benjamin Moser, Harper's Magazine "An illuminating book . . . Elegant and compelling history, which is equally a blueprint for the safeguarding of our human heritage in future struggles." --The American Scholar "An engaging and important addition to the vast library of books about World War II . . . Brey has firm command of art and military history and does an excellent job of evoking the atmosphere of a war-torn country." --Michael Riedel, New York Post "Brey makes a significant contribution by delving into previously unexplored Italian archives to flesh out the perspective of the native population amid the chaos of war." --Jonathan Lopez, The Boston Globe

They were a gaggle of misfits-nerdy, old, bookish and sometimes pompous and abrasive. Yet the group of Allied soldiers nicknamed "the Venus Fixers" believed that saving Italy's culture-from bombing, from Goring's coffers, from careless soldiers-was an essential component of the war effort. Initially, it was the Italians who tried to find safe havens for the art, and then the job fell to the Venus Fixers, who performed triage after an area was secured by the military. In one harrowing tale, Brey describes how the Venus Fixers saved delicate manuscripts from being bulldozed along with rubble into the Arno. Often these artistic subversives were at odds with their own armies. In her first book, journalist and translator Brey isn't as skilled as one would like in bringing her soldiers to life on the page-a shame, given what a unique bunch they were and what an unusual task they had-but the book makes a strong case for what the Allies were fighting for in Italy: its history, and the artworks that continue to inspire us today. 8 pages of b&w illus. (Aug.) Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information.