Claudio Strinati was born in Rome in 1948. Art historian and critic, he is currently the Director of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities. He was art history inspector for the Ministry of Cultural and Environmental Heritage, carrying out his work, first as Superintendent for the Artistic and Historical Heritage of Liguria and then in Rome as Director of territorial conservation and head of the Exhibition Office until 1991. He was Special Superintendent of the Roman Polo Museale from 1991 to 2009, with his sphere of study concentration particularly on the the classicist works of the 1500s and the mannerist works of the 1600s, especially regarding painting and sculpture. He has curated numerous exhibitions and cultural events in Italy and abroad: the most recent – between 2000 and 2002 - Caravaggio and His Early Proponents (Teien Museum of Tokyo), Raphael. Grace et Beauté (Musée du Luxembourg in Paris), Titian to Tiepolo (National Museum of Canberra in Australia). He also curated the more recent large exhibitions on Sebastiano del Piombo, held in 2008, first in Rome at Palazzo Venezia, and then in Berlin at the Dahlem Museum, praised by critics as one of the best exhibits of the year. He also curated the exhibit dedicated to Caravaggio, held at the Scuderie of the Quirinale of Rome in 2010. One of the most appreciated and frequented in Italy from the post-war to today. Thanks to his interest in music, he collaborated on the  “Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani” (The Biographic Dictionary of the Italians) and was a member for several years of the “National Commission for the Conservation of Ancient Church Organs”, part of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities. He has written articles for La Repubblica, L’Espresso and Art-Dossier. A series of volumes by Strinati are currently being published, entitled Il Mestiere dell’ Artista (The Artist's Trade), by Sellerio (the first volume came out in 2007, the second in 2009, the third is forthcoming), which review the most important moments in Italian Art from the 1300s up to today. He is also currently working on a book about Tiziano.