Portrait of Gioacchino Rossini by Vito D’Ancona

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July 18, 2012Portrait Painting WesternNo comments

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D’Ancona moved to Paris in 1868, the year the composer of such famous operas like the Barber of Seville and Cinderella died. This posthumous portrait of Rossini, who spent several decades in the French capital where he was known for his sharp wit, appears to have been executed from a photograph, as its oval format may indicate. In the wave of renewed Italian nationalism, the painting may have been intended as a symbolic gesture to bring the Italian composer back to his native country.

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Jael and Sisera by Jacopo Amigoni

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July 18, 2012History Painting WesternNo comments

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This painting relates the story of Jael and Sisera in tones of delicate colours that contrast emphatically with the drama of the biblical event recounted. It was painted after the artist’s return too Venice from travels that took him to most of Europe, when his palette became brighter and more refined. Sisera was a cruel Canaanite leader who ruled the Israelites for twenty years. Barak defeated his nine hundred charioteers by a surprise Israelite attack. Sisera escaped and sought refuge in the tent of Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite. She gave the terrified Canaanite sanctuary. When he fell asleep, she drove a tent peg into his brain. The act fulfilled the prediction of Debora, prophetess and Israelite leader, who foresaw that a woman would […]

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Polyptych by Ambrogio Bergognone

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July 17, 2012History Painting WesternNo comments

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The central panel (89 x 76 cm) depicts the Presentation in the Temple, while the left wing (150 x 65 cm) represents St Augustine and a Kneeling Donor, the right wing (150 x 65 cm) St Peter Martyr and a Kneeling Donor. Bergognone inherited from Vincenzo Foppa, the founder of Lombard painting, a strict construction and soft modelling in an ashen, silvery light. However, he was receptive to the innovations brought to Milan by the architect Bramante (architectural perspectives) and Leonardo da Vinci (modelling created by intense chiaroscuro), as also to the monumentality of Florentine art.

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