Daniele Benati is graduated at the University of Bologna in 1979, discussing his thesis with Carlo Volpe. In the years 1980-1981 and 1981-1982 he benefited from one of the scholarships issued by the Foundation for Art History Studies ‘Roberto Longhi’ in Florence. In 1986 he obtained the title of PhD. In the academic year 1989-1990 he alternately held the official teaching of History of Medieval and Modern Art at the Catholic University of Milan. On 1991 he was appointed university researcher for the group of disciplines n. 55 at the Faculty of Letters and Philosophy of the University of Udine; on 1995 was confirmed in full-time role for the disciplinary sector L25A. In the years from 1994-1995 to 1996-1997 he was entrusted by the same Faculty with the teaching of “History of Medieval Art”. In 1998 he was the winner of the competition as Associate Professor for the class L25B (History of modern art) and from November 1, 1999 he took up service at the Faculty of Letters and Philosophy of the ‘G. d’Annunzio’ in Chieti, where he held the teaching of History of modern art. Having been a winner in the competition as a first-level professor for the sector L-Art/02 (‘History of modern art’), he was nominated by the same Faculty to cover the role of ‘History of modern art’ at the interior of the Bachelor of Science in Operator of Cultural Heritage from 1st December 2001. Here he regularly held the courses of ‘History of Modern Art’ and ‘History of Drawing and Graphics’ for the Bachelor of Science in Operator of Cultural Heritage and History of Pictorial Genres in the Modern Age for the Master of Science in Art History.
From November 1, 2007 he was transferred to the Faculty of Letters and Philosophy of the University of Bologna, where he currently holds the teachings of ‘History of modern art’ for the three-year DAMS degree course and of ‘Forms and functions of medieval art and ‘Painting in the modern age’ for the master’s degree course in Visual Arts.
From 2009 to 2012 he held the position of Director of the Department of Visual Arts.
He is currently coordinator of the PhD coursein Media Performative Visual Arts and president of the School of Specialization in historical and artistic heritage of the University of Bologna.
Since 1988 he has been collaborating with the ‘Roberto Longhi’ Foundation in Florence by conducting seminars and coordinating the scientific activity of the fellows. Since 1994 he has been called to join the Scientific Committee and from 2012 to the Board of Directors of the same Foundation. Since 2012 he has been a member of the Scientific Committee of the ‘Federico Zeri’ Foundation of the University of Bologna.
He is the autor of of the following volumes: Jacopo Avanzi nel rinnovamento della pittura dell’Italia padana del secondo Trecento (Grafis, Bologna 1992), La bottega degli Erri e la pittura del Rinascimento a Modena (Artioli ed., Modena 1988); Francesco Bianchi Ferrari e la pittura a Modena fra ‘4 e ‘500 (Artioli ed., Modena 1990); La cappella Bellincini nel Duomo di Modena (Panini, Modena 1992); Alessandro Tiarini. L’opera pittorica completa e i disegni (Skira, Milano 2001); Annibale Carracci e il vero (Electa, Milano 2007); Jacobello del Fiore (Matthiesen, London 2007); Il Trecento riscoperto. Gli affreschi della chiesa di Sant’Agostino a Rimini (Milano 2019).
He has curated numerous exhibitions on the late Gothic painting in Ferrara (1988), the
Trecento Riminese (Rimini 1995), Guido Cagnacci (Rimini 1992, Forlì 2008), Annibale Carracci (Washington 1999; Bologna-Roma 2006-2007), Cristoforo Munari (Reggio Emilia 1999), Alessandro Tiarini (Reggio Emilia 2002), Mastelletta (Bologna 2007), Sisto Badalocchi (Bologna 2008), Melozzo da Forlì (Forlì 2011), Nicolò di Giacomo (San Giovanni in Persiceto 2011), Vitale da Bologna (Bologna 2011), il Guercino (Piacenza 2017, Taverna 2017, Cento 2020), L’Eterno e il Tempo tra Michelangelo e Caravaggio (Forlì 2018).
He published numerous essays on medieval and modern painting in Emilia-Romagna in newspapers and reviews (‘Paragone’, ‘Arte cristiana’, ‘The Burlington Magazine’, ‘Nuovi studi’).
He is a member of the editorial boards of the journals ‘Nuovi studi. Rivista di storia dell’arte medievale e moderna’ and ‘Paragone - Arte’.
