Entry of Charles VIII into Florence, c. 1829
Oil on canvas
390 x 596 cm
Pitti Palace
The painting depicts a scene from Florentine history. On the 17th of November 1494, following his conquest of the Kingdom of Naples, King of France Charles VIII made his entrance into Florence as ruler. Because of his isolation and lack of allies, Piero de’ Medici, the son of Lorenzo the Magnificent who ruled the city at the time, did not send an army to stop the invasion, thus fuelling the resentment of the Florentine people who finally forced him into exile.
In the centre of the scene, the King advances triumphantly astride his horse, greeted by a bow from the gonfalonier. In the foreground on the right, a group of important Florentines including Machiavelli, Pier Capponi and Savonarola plot the city's revenge; on the left, worried citizens observe the scene. In the close foreground, a small still life summarizes the contrasting feelings surrounding the event: flowers and stones lie scattered on the ground in the King’s path.
As often seen in eighteenth-century historical narrative, the events are depicted through the careful representation of the characters’ feelings and certain important details such as the faces and expressions, the details of the costumes, the use of light and the highly theatrical composition. The viewer is invited to explore the elaborate composition, actively participating in the emotions expressed in the painting and gaining insight into the present by reflecting on the past. More on this painting
Giuseppe Bezzuoli (28 November 1784 – 13 September 1855) was an Italian painter of the Neoclassic period, active in Milan, Rome, and his native city of Florence.
He studied as a young man under Jean-Baptiste Desmarais at the Academy of Fine Arts of Florence, and afterward spent some time at Rome between 1813 and 1820. He became a candidate to the professorship of painting at the Academy of Fine Arts of Florence after Pietro Benvenuti's death in 1844.
He studied as a young man under Jean-Baptiste Desmarais at the Academy of Fine Arts of Florence, and afterward spent some time at Rome between 1813 and 1820. He became a candidate to the professorship of painting at the Academy of Fine Arts of Florence after Pietro Benvenuti's death in 1844.
Giuseppe Bezzuoli
STORY OF MARCO FURIO CAMILLO
Oil on cardboard
cm 17 x 23.5
Private collection
Marcus Furius Camillus (ca. 446- 365 BC) was an important Roman statesman and soldier of Patrick's descent. According to Livy he was censored in 403 BC, he was allowed four times a triumphal procession to hold and was over five times elected dictator. He was awarded the title Second Founder of Rome. More on Marcus Furius Camillus
Lorenzino de 'Medici assassinated in piazza dei SS. Giovanni e Paolo in Venice
Oil on canvas
Civic Museum, Pistoia, Italy
Lorenzino de' Medici (23 March 1514 – 26 February 1548), also known as Lorenzaccio, was an Italian politician, writer, and dramatist, and a member of the Medici family. He became famous for assassinating his cousin, Alessandro de' Medici, Duke of Florence in 1537. He was in turn murdered in 1548 in retaliation for his deed. More on Lorenzino de' Medici
Giovanni Delle Bande Nere's Army Crossing Adda
Oil on canvas
Lodovico de' Medici, also known as Giovanni delle Bande Nere was an Italian condottiero.
Giovanni became a condottiero, or mercenary military captain, in the employ of Pope Leo X (Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici) and on March 5, 1516 led the war against Francesco Maria I della Rovere, Duke of Urbino. He thenceforth formed a company of his own, mounted on light horses and specializing in fast but devastating skirmishing tactics and ambushes. In 1520 he defeated several rebel barons in the Marche. The following year Leo X allied with Emperor Charles V against King Francis I of France to regain Milan, Parma and Piacenza; Giovanni was called in under the command of Prospero Colonna, defeating the French at Vaprio d'Adda in November. More on Giovanni delle Bande Nere
Giuseppe Bezzuoli
The Baptism of Clovis I, c. 1823
The Baptism of Clovis I (465-511), December 25, 496, by St. Remi, Bishop of Rheims
Oil on canvas
Church of San Remigio, Florence, Tuscany, Italy
Clovis was the first king of the Franks to unite all of the Frankish tribes under one ruler, changing the form of leadership from a group of petty kings to rule by a single king and ensuring that the kingship was passed down to his heirs. He is considered to have been the founder of the Merovingian dynasty, which ruled the Frankish kingdom for the next two centuries.
Clovis is also significant due to his conversion to Catholicism in 496, largely at the behest of his wife, Clotilde, who would later be venerated as a saint for this act, celebrated today in both the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church. Clovis was baptized on Christmas Day in 508. More on Clovis
Giuseppe Bezzuoli is perhaps the greatest Tuscan painter of the Restoration era and one of the main protagonists of Italian Romantic painting. He was able to masterly manage many different pictorial genres, excelling both in historical and literary subjects and in large canvases or decorations for public and private premises. He was initially active at the Napoleonic court of Elisa Baciocchi and later at the Habsburg-Lorraine one working also for other illustrious Italian and foreign customers. Moreover, what is particularly interest is his landscapes and portraits, two fundamental aspects of Bezzuoli’s artistic production through which he influenced the following generation of artists, especially the Macchiaioli.
Venus Crossing the Sea on a Shell, c. 1830s
Oil on wood panel, 33 x 41 cm
Oil on canvas
Private collection
Giuseppe Bezzuoli
Galatea, c. 1819
Oil on canvas
Tosio-Martinengo Art Gallery, Brescia
Galatea is a name popularly applied to the statue carved of ivory by Pygmalion of Cyprus, which then came to life in Greek mythology. In modern English, the name usually alludes to that story.
Galatea is also the name of Polyphemus's object of desire in Theocritus's Idylls VI and XI and is linked with Polyphemus again in the myth of Acis and Galatea in Ovid's Metamorphoses.
Acis and Galatea are characters from Greek mythology. The episode tells of the love between the mortal Acis and the Nereid (sea-nymph) Galatea; when the jealous Cyclops Polyphemus kills Acis, Galatea transforms her lover into an immortal river spirit. The episode was made the subject of poems, operas, paintings, and statues in the Renaissance and after. More on Acis and Galatea
Giuseppe Bezzuoli
CERERE IN SEARCH OF PROSERPINA , c. 1836
Oil on canvas
cm. 98,5x63
Private collection
Proserpina, or Proserpine is an ancient Roman goddess whose cult, myths and mysteries were based on those of Greek Persephone and her mother Demeter, the Greek goddess of grain and agriculture. The Romans identified Proserpina with their native fertility goddess Libera, daughter of the grain and agriculture goddess Ceres and wife to Liber.
Venus, in order to bring love to Pluto, sent her son Amor (also known as Cupid) to hit Proserpina with one of his arrows. Proserpina was in Sicily, at the Pergusa Lake near Enna, where she was playing with some nymphs and collecting flowers, when Pluto came out from the volcano Etna. He abducted her in order to marry her and live with her in the underworld of which he was the ruler.
Her mother Ceres went looking for her across all of the world, and all in vain. She was unable to find anything. In her desperation, Ceres angrily stopped the growth of fruits and vegetables, bestowing a malediction on Sicily. Ceres refused to return to Mount Olympus and started walking the Earth, creating a desert with each step.
Worried, Jupiter sent Mercury to order Pluto to free Proserpina. Pluto obeyed, but before letting her go he made her eat six pomegranate seeds, because those who have eaten the food of the dead could not return to the world of the living. This meant that she would have to live six months of each year with him, and stay the rest with her mother. More on Proserpina
His large picture in the Academy include The Entry of Charles VIII into Florence (1822–1829) (See top). Some of his smaller works, such as The Galatea and the small copy of Raphael's School of Athens (1819), in the Galleria Tosio Martinengo at Brescia, give a more favorable idea of his talent. He painted one of the lunettes in the Tribune of Galileo at the Natural History Museum (La Specola Museum) in Florence, and the more important series of scenes from the life of Caesar (1836) in one of the rooms on the ground floor of the Pitti Palace. His Assumption of the Virgin is found in the Museo dell'Opera of the church of Santa Croce.
Folly Driving the Chariot of Love
Oil on canvas
Gallerie degli Uffizi
The painting depicts the winged Roman god of love, Cupid, wearing his typical quiver, but the arrows are not shown. He is holding his bow, but the bowstring is not there. The missing parts of his attributes perhaps indicate that he has to recover them before he can meet his target. He passively rides his chariot which has been taken over by a woman who personifies folly. With a deranged expression in her eyes, Folly stands in command at the front of the chariot with a whip in one hand and the reins in the other. Half naked, with her hair blowing in the wind, she lashes the four steeds that are struck by fear because they don’t recognize the owner of the chariot anymore. More on this painting
Other principal works include a Baptism of Clovis and a Madonna in fresco for the Pitti Palace. He painted two ceilings for the Borghese Palace at Rome representing Toilet of Venus, and Venus carrying Ascanius. He died in Florence.
Giuseppe Bezzuoli
Giuseppe Bezzuoli
Among his pupils at the Academy were Giovanni Fattori, Giuseppe Raggio, Enrico Pollastrini, Carlo Ademollo, Giuseppe Pierotti, Stefano Ussi, and Silvestro Lega. More on Giuseppe Bezzuoli
Giuseppe Bezzuoli (Firenze 1784 – 1855)
Eve tempted by the snake
Oil on canvas
Pitti Palace
The painting presents Eve lying over flowers in Eden while she is going to grasp the forbidden fruit on the advice of a winged snake that is urging her to sin.
The biblical episode is here reduced to a pure pretext, since more than an Eve, the woman has the lecherous attitude and the alluring look of a seductive bather or a Venus reminding of the “Baigneuses” by Gustave Courbet, presented in the same year at the Paris Salon. More on this painting
Giuseppe Bezzuoli (Firenze 1784 – 1855)
The Expulsion of Hagar
Oil on canvas
110 x 140 cm
Uffizi
The subject of the work is taken from Genesis and describes the episode in which Abraham, according to Sarah's will, repudiated Hagar and his son Ishmael. The scene chosen by Bezzuoli is the moving one of farewell, when Abraham takes leave of Hagar, while Isaac says goodbye to his older half-brother Ishmael. The tenderness of the affectionate embrace between the two brothers is the most touching moment of the scene, all played on the psychological contents, on the different reactions of the characters, on the looks. More on this painting
Giuseppe Bezzuoli (Firenze 1784 – 1855)
ESAU 'SELLS BIRTHRIGHT TO JACOB (1852)
Oil on canvas
98x110 cm
Private collection
Jacob and Esau. The Book of Genesis speaks of the relationship between Jacob and Esau, focusing on Esau's loss of his birthright to Jacob and the conflict that had spawned between their descendant nations because of Jacob's deception of their aged and blind father, Isaac, in order to receive Esau's birthright/blessing from Isaac.
This conflict was paralleled by the affection the parents had for their favored child: "Now Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison, and Rebekah loved Jacob." (Genesis 25:28). Even since conception, their conflict was foreshadowed: "And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the Lord. And the Lord said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger." (Genesis 25:22–23)
This passage in Genesis 25:26 is as if Jacob was seemingly trying to pull Esau back into the womb so that he could be firstborn. The grasping of the heel is also a reference to deceptive behavior. More on Jacob and Esau
Giuseppe Bezzuoli (Florence, 1784 - 1855)
Trasporto di Cristo/ Transport of Christ, c. 1847
Oil on canvas
PALAZZO BLU
Bezzuoli frescoed the Burial of Christ inside the Cathedral of Pistoia in just eighteen days in 1847
Christ, supported by Nicodemus and John, stand out against a dark background of caves, illuminated only by a distant light, were we can see Marie. There is an undeniable Raphaelesque lightness in the figure of the Magdalene, in the sweetness of her features and movements. Also noteworthy are the objects in the foreground: the hammer with nails, the jug, the crown of thorns and the bowl. More on this painting
Giuseppe Bezzuoli
Maria assunta/ Assumption of Mary, ca.1849
Oil on canvas
Montesenario Sanctuary
The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church, and holds that the Virgin Mary "having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory". More on The Assumption of Mary
Giuseppe Bezzuoli
Penitent Magdalen, before 1855
Oil on canvas
Pinacoteca Foresiana di Portoferraio, Island of Elba
A sinner, perhaps a courtesan, Mary Magdalen was a witness of Christ who renounced the pleasures of the flesh for a life of penance and contemplation. Penitent Magdalene or Penitent Magdalen refers to a post-biblical period in the life of Mary Magdalene, according to medieval legend.
According to the tenets of the 17th–century Catholic church, Mary Magdalene was an example of the repentant sinner and consequently a symbol of the Sacrament of Penance. According to legend, Mary led a dissolute life until her sister Martha persuaded her to listen to Jesus Christ. She became one of Christ's most devoted followers and he absolved her of her former sins. More on The Penitent Magdalen
Penitent Magdalen refers to a post-biblical period in the life of Mary Magdalen.
The sacrament of Penance had important significance in Counter-Reformation spirituality, and artists frequently portrayed penitent saints as exemplars of religious fervor. Such works were meant to inspire a greater devotion. On the other hand, the popularity of The Magdalene as a subject is also associated with her implied sexuality. Her passive gaze and partially naked body appealed to male viewers, for whom such paintings offered a moralizing context through which to engage with the sensuality of the female form. The Penitent Magdalene
Santa Philomena, c. 1840
Oil on canvas
Oil on canvas
Philomema is a 13-year-old Christian girl. He was devoted to the teachings of Jesus and had a deep love for him. While in Rome with her family, Emperor Diocletian wanted to marry her, but Philomena refused this offer. She said she promised God that she would never marry any man. Unable to bear the rejection, the emperor subjected her to various tortures to persuade her to marry. First, she was tied to a pole, whipped, thrown in the cellar, had an anchor tied around her neck and thrown into the river, but despite all these tortures, the girl survived. He was then arrowed to death. But he still survived with God's help. It is said that many pagan Romans who saw his belief in God accepted Christianity. The emperor Diocletian, who was deeply angered by both the rejection and the acceptance of the Christian faith by his people, beheaded Philomena. Philomena was martyred in 304 AD. More on Philomena
Bezzuoli depicts the saint as a 13-year-old girl, according to the narrative, in his painting Santa Philomena. The halo on her head symbolizes her sanctity. Saint Philomena looks at the crucified icon of Jesus on a table with her hands cuffed. This shows his faith and love for Christ. White lilies symbolize her virginity and purity. The two angels behind Philomena are holding a red cloth. It symbolizes the blood and martyrdom of this saint.
Angelo Consoler who comforts the townspeople hit by the earthquake of 1837
Oil on canvas
Sanctuary of the Most Holy Crucifix of Miracles, Borgo San Lorenzo
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