Aurelio Amendola was born in Pistoia (19 January 1938), during his exceptional career as an art photographer, Aurelio Amendola devoted himself intensely to the field of contemporary art, collecting a true Gallery of Portraits of the most renowned masters of the 20th century, a sort of Gallery of Illustrious Men of the high epoch, revisited with the banners of the present day: De Chirico, Pomodoro, Schifano, Lichtenstein, Warhol. Thanks to his long personal relationships with many of them (Manzù, Fabbri, Ceroli, Vangi, Kounellis, Pistoletto, Parmiggiani, Paladino, Barni, Ruffi, Mainolfi) he published countless monographies accompanied by his photographs. His friendship with Marino Marini and Alberto Burri, unforgettable companions on the road and in life, was invaluable. At the same time, Amendola stands out for his famous photographs of Italian Renaissance sculptures or, more broadly, for those devoted to the classical tradition, intimately understanding their volumes, three-dimensionality and contrasts, and each time offering a point of view that is a decided departure from the documentary approach: inspired by a tactile, emotional and sensorial vision.

His beginnings are defined by the now famous volume Il pulpito di Giovanni Pisano a Pistoia (1969); the first photographic campaign (1964) was followed by many others, tracing the subject between rigorous precision and ever-changing interpretation, especially through the use of the light. His interest in antiquity then developed in numerous other photographic works: Donatello, Jacopo della Quercia, Luca della Robbia, Canova, Bernini and Michelangelo. He has dedicated numerous catalogues, exhibitions and monographs to the latter’s marbles – a sort of alter ego and constant inspiration. In 1994 Amendola won the Oscar Goldoni Prize for best photographic book of the year with the book Un occhio su Michelangelo (about the Medici Chapels in San Lorenzo, Florence). As a compendium he also worked with the great themes of Italian art, producing true masterpieces, as testified by the volumes on St. Peter’s Basilica, seen from his own personal viewpoint: elegant perspectives, unexpected details and unprecedented views.

Over the years, Amendola has experimented constantly with boldness, combinations, juxtapositions, interweavings and combinations. He casts the ancient into the contemporary or gives the contemporary a classical treatment. Each time he manages to create timeless and ageless photographic sequences. Almost immortal.
Alongside portraiture and ancient statuary, Amendola has also extensively engaged in the poetics of places, giving divine form to their residential and architectural genius: Milan Cathedral, Matera, San Galgano, the sculpture park of the Gori Collection – Fattoria Celle di Santomato, Il Vittoriale degli Italiani, Burri’s great Cretto in Gibellina.
The greatest and most important writers have written about him and for him: Antonio Paolucci, Antonio Natali, Tomasi Montanari, Maurizio Calvesi, Bruno Corà, Vincenzo Trione, Eike D. Schmidt, Flaminio Gualdini, Eike D. Gualdini and others. Schmidt, Flaminio Gualdoni, Walter Guadagnini, Antonio Scurati, Silvio Ceccato, Cristina Acidini Luchinat: each one of them intuitively perceiving the sensuality and spirituality of his Camera Aurea.

His works are part of many prestigious private and public collections; among them, Fondazione Maramotti in Reggio Emilia, GAM in Turin, Fondazione Arnaldo Pomodoro in Milan, MAXXI in Rome, Fondazione Alberto Burri in Città di Castello, Uffizi, Palazzo Fabroni in Pistoia, Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Pistoia e Pescia.
His national and international exhibitions are beyond counting, and he has received endless honours: among them, the Cino da Pistoia Prize (1997); Il Micco (2012); Academic Diploma Honoris Causa in Visual Arts and title of Accademico d’Italia (2014, Accademia di Belle Arti di Catanzaro); the docufilm Obiettivo sull’arte (2015, directed by Beatrice Corti); the prize Una vita per l’arte (Gaeta, 2016). In November 2009, alongside other artists, he was received by Pope Benedict XVI in the Sistine Chapel. In February 2021, his hometown Pistoia, dedicated an exhibition to him entitled Un’Antologia (An Anthology), curated by Paola Goretti and Marco Meneguzzo.
In November 2021 the exhibition ‘An Eye on Michelangelo and Bernini’ opened at The Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach.
In April 2022 an Anthology will be inaugurated in Bari at the Castello Svevo.