This thesis outlines a profile of Michael Baxandall (1933-2008) which highlights two main aspects of his work as an art historian and critique: the importance attached to the 'visual interest' of the works of art and the author's sustained reflection about critical methodology. Both these aspects are summarized in the title of the thesis. «Visual interests» refers to Baxandall's approach to the visual arts, which moves from an urgent close observation of the artefact to its moral relevance. «Critical tools» describes Baxandall's methodological reflection: declining the theoretical debate, the author focuses on a more fundamental set of practical problems concerning the activity of verbalising and conceptualising the visual interests of the works of art.
Such features are revealed by the analysis of the Baxandall papers (The Papers of Micheal Baxandall (Department of Manuscripts and University Archives della University Library di Cambridge), on which the thesis is based. The collection, that has increased between 2009 and 2013, amounts to 134 folders arranged in eight series: (MS Add. 9843/1) Biographical; (MS Add. 9843/2) Appointments and Roles; (MS Add. 9843/3) Personal Correspondence; (MS Add. 9843/4) Lecture & Symposium Invitations; (MS Add. 9843/5) Lectures; (MS Add. 9843/6) Conferences and Symposiums; (MS Add. 9843/7) Publications; (MS Add. 9843/8) Research notes. The papers have been rearranged in a chronological order and then analysed within a biographical framework which has been reconstructed from the study of the biographical sources and the interviews dating to 1994, 1998, 1999 and 2008. The comparison between Baxandall's manuscripts and his edited works has revealed a vast quantity of research materials and draft papers devoted to lectures, conferences and publications, which have been studied.
According to the chronological organisation of the research materials, Baxandall intellectual activity has been subdivided into four phases: (Chapter 1: 1951-1958) the passage from the literary education to the history of art; (Chapter 2: 1959-1971) the first researches at Warburg Institute; (Chapter 3: 1972-1985) the cultural and social history of art; (Chapter 4: 1986-2006) Berkeley and the renewed interest in visual perception. Each of these stages is characterised by prevailing themes or methodological choices.
Chapter 1 deals with Baxandall's juvenile reflections about the respective limits and possibilities of literary criticism and the history and criticism of art. Chapter 2 reconstructs Baxandall's first researches at the Warburg Institute, which are characterised by a concern with 'visual languages' and lead to his first publications. Chapter 3 analyses the activity of the Seventies and the Eighties, which is focused on the theme of 'visual culture' and is characterised by a thorough confrontation with historiographical methodology. Chapter 4 highlights the importance of the science of vision in art criticism both in Baxandall's last publications and teaching activity, especially after his move to Berkeley University
