Aniello Falcone (1607–1656)
Roman Soldiers in the Circus, circa 1640
Oil on canvas
Height: 92 cm (36.2 in); Width: 183 cm (72 in)
Museo del Prado
Aniello Falcone (15 November 1600 – 1656) was an Italian Baroque painter, active in Naples and noted for his painted depictions of battle scenes. Some sources refer to him as Ancillo Falcone.
Aniello Falcone (1607–1656)
The Concert, c. first half of 17th century
Oil on canvas
Height: 109 cm (42.9 in); Width: 127 cm (50 in)
Museo del Prado
Falcone represents a concerto for few voices with continuous bass accompaniment very typical of the Baroque. The elderly bearded man on the far right appears to be directing the music and singing as he reads the sheet music held by the singing boy. After the restoration to which the painting has been subjected, the bass, the Italian-type harpsichord keyboard and the curved Renaissance cornet have appeared completely, the latter frequent in Renaissance minstrels and Baroque instrumental groups , as well as the dresses of some characters, the cloud in the background or the basket full of fruits and flowers that were totally hidden. It is a collaborative box, where Falcone painted the figures and a specialist, probably the Neapolitan Luca Forte, the vase of flowers. It looks like a gallery of portraits of real people, one of which, the bearded man on the right, is found in other paintings by this artist. More on this painting
Born in Naples the son of a tradesman, he showed his artistic tendency at an early age. He first received some instruction from a relative, before becoming one of the most prominent pupils of José de Ribera.
Aniello Falcone
Rest during the flight into Egypt, c. 1641
Oil on canvas
Diocesan Museum of Naples
Signed and dated 1641. On the journey from Nazareth to Heliopolis through the Sinai desert, the Madonna and Child with Joseph rest in the shade of a tree.
The scene is based not on any incident in the Bible itself, but on a body of tales or legends that had grown up in the early Middle Ages around the Bible story of the Holy Family fleeing into Egypt for refuge on being warned that Herod the Great was seeking to kill the Christ Child. According to the legend, Joseph and Mary paused on the flight in a grove of trees; the Holy Child ordered the trees to bend down so that Joseph could take fruit from them, and then ordered a spring of water to gush forth from the roots so that his parents could quench their thirst. This basic story acquired many extra details during the centuries. More on Rest during the flight into Egypt
Aniello Falcone
The Expulsion of the merchants from the Temple, c. 1630 - 1640
Oil on canvas
Height: 101 cm (39.7 in); Width: 114 cm (44.8 in)
Museo del Prado
Jesus is stated to have visited the Temple in Jerusalem, where the courtyard is described as being filled with livestock, merchants, and the tables of the money changers. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, "Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a house of trade." More on the expulsion
Aniello Falcone (1607–1656)
Jacob contemplates the bloodied clothes of his son Joseph, c. between 1630 and 1656
Oil on canvas
Pinacoteca e Biblioteca Camillo d'Errico
Genesis 37:33: His brothers sent the robe of many colors to their father and said, “We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son’s robe or not.” His father recognized it and said, “It is my son’s robe! A vicious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces!” Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son many days.… More on Jacob and the bloodied clothes
Circle of Aniello Falcone (Naples 1607-1656)
David refusing Saul's armour
oil on canvas
23½ x 30 in. (59.7 x 76.2 cm.)
Private collection
David was trusting God to protect him in his fight against Goliath. However, David understood that he must still act in a sensible manner. In particular, he should not refuse without reason the ordinary things that soldiers would use to protect themselves in a fight.
Saul was very careful to provide everything that David might need. He even offered to David the use of his own armour. As Saul was the king, he had obtained the very best armour for himself.
However, for the fight against Goliath, David refused the armour. He even refused to take a sword. He made these decisions because he had no experience in the use of these things. More on David refusing armour
He is best known for his battle scenes, their subjects taken from both biblical and secular history, and was nicknamed L'Oracolo delle Battaglie. He gained an international reputation; his works attracted the attention of the Flemish dealer and collector Gaspar Roomer, who sold his work across Europe, and he was one of the artists commissioned by Philip IV of Spain to paint a series of scenes from ancient Roman history for the Buen Retiro palace. He also painted various religious subjects such as the signed and dated Rest on the Flight to Egypt of 1641 (Naples Cathedral) and his frescoes for the chapel of Sant' Agata In S. Paolo Maggiore, Naples of around the same time.
The attribution of his battle scenes is complicated by the similarity of those of his pupil Andrea di Leone, with which they have often been confused.
During the insurrection against Spanish rule led by Masaniello in 1647, he resolved to be bloodily avenged for the death, at the hands of two Spaniards, of a nephew and of a pupil in the school of art which he had established in Naples. Salvator Rosa, Carlo Coppola, among others, and he formed an armed band called the Compagnia della Morte ("Company of Death").
In this work, Falcone show considerable knowledge of the literature on Antiquity produced in Italy in the previous seventy years, and the general idea presented in this group reflects considerable reading.
Falcone, Aniello (Naples, 1607 - Naples, 1656)
Falcone painted numerous religious subjects, including frescos for Neapolitan churches, but he is now remembered mainly as the first specialist in battle pieces, a genre that won him an international reputation and in which he inspired his pupil Salvator Rosa. His pictures generally show war as a confused struggle between anonymous soldiers, creating a type that has been described as ‘the battle scene without a hero’. More on this painting
Aniello Falcone
Tancred and Clorinda
Oil on canvas
38 1/4 by 48 1/2 in.; 97.2 by 126.8 cm.
Private collection
Clorinda is a fictional character appearing in Torquato Tasso's poem Jerusalem Delivered, first published in 1581. She is a warrior woman of the Saracen army.
Clorinda rescues from execution Sofronia and Olindo, two Christian lovers of Jerusalem, she is next discovered under the command of the King of Jerusalem, Aladine, aiding that city's defences, together with the bold knight Argantes. Tancred saw her on the field and fell in love with her, thus refusing to do battle with her.
During a night battle in which she sets the Christian siege tower on fire, she is killed by Tancredi, who does not recognise her in her armour and the darkness. More on Tancred and Clorinda
During the insurrection against Spanish rule led by Masaniello in 1647, he resolved to be bloodily avenged for the death, at the hands of two Spaniards, of a nephew and of a pupil in the school of art which he had established in Naples. Salvator Rosa, Carlo Coppola, among others, and he formed an armed band called the Compagnia della Morte ("Company of Death").
Aniello Falcone (1607–1656)
Roman Athletes/ Gladiators, circa 1640
Oil on canvas
Height: 186 cm (73.2 in); Width: 183 cm (72 in)
Museo del Prado
Lione, Andrea di
Roman Soldiers in the Circus, Ca. 1640
Oil on canvas, Ca. 1635
Height: 229 cm; Width: 231 cm
Museo del Prado
As frequently occurred in the cycle on the History of Ancient Rome commissioned for the decoration of the Buen Retiro Palace, Andrea di Lione drew elements of his painting from the abundant Antiquarian literature that began to be published in the middle of the sixteenth century.
The starting point for the present work was Tabula III, a plate included in Antoine Lafréry’s Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae (1575), which shows two camels, a giraffe and five elephants, three of which are reproduced with great precision in a red-chalk drawing by Lione that appeared on the art market in 2003 (Christie’s Paris, 27 March 2003, lot 29 (See below)). Starting with this, Lione arranged the elephants in two rows and set the scene in a Roman circus, the seats of which are filled with magnificent little figures. In the foreground Lione added four dancers and musicians. More on this painting
Andrea de Leone (1610-1685)
Three men mounted on elephants carrying trophies
with the inscription 'Greghetto' in
red chalk, red wash on a counting paper
270 x 344 mm.
Private collection
This drawing is linked to the painting A Roman Triumph with Elephants in a Circus in the Prado Museum in Madrid (See above). The painting was commissioned by Manuel di Zuniga e Fonseca, Count of Monterey and Fuentes, Viceroy of Naples (1631-1637) in the early 1640s. The commission consisted of ten paintings on the theme of Roman history executed by the Neapolitans Codazzi, Finoglio, Francanzano, Spadaro and Falcone to decorate the Buen Retiro castle in Madrid which belonged to Monterey. More on this drawing
When the revolt was crushed, Falcone and Rosa made off to Rome, where Borgognone noticed the works of Falcone, and became his friend, and a Frenchman induced him to go to France, where Louis XIV became one of his patrons. Ultimately Jean-Baptiste Colbert obtained permission for the painter to return to Naples, where he died during the plague of 1656.
Circle of Aniello Falcone (Naples 1607-1656)
A cavalry skirmish
oil on canvas
20¼ x 40 in. (52.1 x 101.6 cm.)
Private collection
Aniello Falcone (Italian, 1607–1656)
Scene from the war of the Philistines against the Pharisees
Oil on canvas
55 x 70 cm. (21.7 x 27.6 in.)
Private collection
The Philistines were an ancient people who lived on the south coast of Canaan from the 12th century BC until 604 BC, when their polity, after having already been subjugated for centuries by the Neo-Assyrian Empire, was finally destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar II of the Neo-Babylonian Empire. After becoming part of his empire and its successor, the Persian Empire, the Pharisees, they lost their distinct ethnic identity and disappeared from the historical and archaeological record by the late 5th century BC. More on the Philistines against the Pharisees
Attributed To Aniello Falcone
Oracolo Delle Battaglie/ A Battle Scene Between Christians And Turks
Oil on canvas
35 by 47.8cm
Private collection
FALCONE, ANIELLO, Naples, 1607 - Naples, 1656
Battle, c. 1601
Oil on canvas
133 x 215 cm
Museo Nacional del Prado
Aniello Falcone
Clash between Roman and Oriental knights
Oil on canvas
69x99.5 cm
Private collection
Aniello Falcone (1607–1656)
Battle, c between 1630 and 1656
Oil on canvas
Height: 150 cm (59 in); Width: 205 cm (80.7 in)
Private collection in Italy
FALCONE, ANIELLO, Naples, 1607 - Naples, 1656
Embarking of artillery troops, c. first half of 17th century
Oil on canvas
58 x 76 cm
Museo Nacional del Prado
Falcone, Aniello (Naples, 1607 - Naples, 1656)
Battle of Turks and Knights
Oil on canvas
Height: 1.36 m; Width: 1.68 m
Louvre Museum
Combat between Turks and Christians, XVII century
Oil on canvas
86 x 128 cm
Museo Nacional del Prado
Falcone painted numerous religious subjects, including frescos for Neapolitan churches, but he is now remembered mainly as the first specialist in battle pieces, a genre that won him an international reputation and in which he inspired his pupil Salvator Rosa. His pictures generally show war as a confused struggle between anonymous soldiers, creating a type that has been described as ‘the battle scene without a hero’. More on this painting
Two of his battle-pieces are in the Louvre (See above) and in the Naples museum; he painted a portrait of Masaniello, and engraved a few plates. His pupils included Salvator Rosa and Carlo Coppola, Domenico Gargiulo (known as Micco Spadaro), Paolo Porpora and Andrea di Lione. More on Aniello Falcone
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