BENVENUTI, Pietro - b. 1769 Arezzo, d. 1844 Firenze - WGA

BENVENUTI, Pietro

(b. 1769 Arezzo, d. 1844 Firenze)

Italian painter. In 1781 he began his studies at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence, where he was taught by such Neo-classical painters as Giuseppe Piattoli (c. 1743-1823) and Sante Pacini (active 1762-90). He went to Rome in 1792 to continue his studies and while there painted the Martyrdom of St Donatus (1794; Arezzo Cathedral) for Bishop Marcacci of Arezzo. This work was one of his first commissions and shows the influence of Baroque religious art. By the time Marcacci commissioned him to paint Judith with the Head of Holofernes (1803-04; Arezzo Cathedral), his style had developed under the influence of Vincenzo Camuccini and Antonio Canova, artists who dominated the Neo-classical movement in Rome. However, his crisp, linear style of drawing shows a greater affinity to the work of the Danish-German painter Asmus Jakob Carstens than to that of any Italian.

Canova was a close friend of Benvenuti’s and visited Arezzo expressly to see Judith installed in the cathedral. An earlier version of it (1798; Naples, Capodimonte), which was deemed unsuitable, was sold to Frederick Augustus Hervey, 4th Earl of Bristol, one of Camuccini’s patrons.

Benvenuti’s career flourished during the years of French rule in Italy (1796-1814). In 1803 Elisa Baciocchi (née Bonaparte), Grand Duchess of Tuscany and sister of Napoleon, appointed him court painter and Director of the Accademia in Florence; in the same year he was also elected a member of the Accademia di San Luca in Rome. In 1804 he assumed his post in Florence, although his departure from Rome was seen by Canova as a great loss. In Florence he emphasized the formal qualities of Neo-classical art rather than its deeper emotional or moral significance. His precise technique was well suited to the requirements of regal portraiture, as in Elisa Baciocchi and her Court (1812-13; Versailles, Château), which includes Canova standing beside his portrait bust of the Grand Duchess. The painting, with its elegant composition and restrained colour, is influenced by the work of such French Neo-classical painters resident in Florence as François-Xavier Fabre.

Elisa Bonaparte and Her Daughter

Elisa Bonaparte was the sister of Napoleon. She arrived on the grand-ducal throne in 1809, after two years of occupation by the Napoleonic troops. Pietro Benvenuti was appointed court painter by Elisa and then called upon in 1813 to run the Academy of Fine Arts.

In this portrait the grand duchess is gesturing toward a bust of Napoleon in the guise of the Roman emperor, Julius Caesar. In the background, the city of Florence with the Duomo and Giotto’s bell tower can be seen.

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Elisa Bonaparte and Her Daughter (detail)

In the background of the portrait, the city of Florence with the Duomo and Giotto’s bell tower can be seen.

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Hercules Strangles the Serpents

The decoration of the Hercules Room is subdivided into four large framed paintings on the walls - with Hercules at the crossroads, Hercules strangles the serpents, Hercules leading Alcesti to Admeto and the Battle of Hercules and the Centaurs - and ten monochrome frescoes below the vault featuring the Marriage of Hercules and Hebe fresco.

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Hercules leading Alcesti to Admeto

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The Oath of the Saxons

Benvenuti’s career flourished during the French rule in Italy (1796-1814). In 1809 Napoleon awarded him his most prestigious commission, The Oath of the Saxons - a record of the victory at Jena in 1806 - which was destined for Versailles.

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View of the Hercules Room

During the Medici era, this room was known as the Salotto della Guardia Tedesca, the German guard room, and was part of the private quarters of the Grand Duchess of Medici who occupied the palace’s left wing. In the early nineteenth century, Elisa Baciocchi, sister of Napoleon Bonaparte, who named her Grand Duchess of Tuscany, decided to transform the space into a reception room and between 1811 and 1813 entrusted its architectural renovation to Giuseppe Cacialli. At the fall of Napoleonic rule, the decorative project continued under Ferdinando III di Lorena who, after retaking the throne of Tuscany in 1817, wished to confirm the artists chosen by Elisa Baciocchi and entrusted the court artist Pietro Benvenuti with the ambitious cycle of paintings dedicated to the stories and endeavors of Hercules.

The decoration is subdivided into four large framed paintings on the walls - with Hercules at the crossroads, Hercules strangles the serpents, Hercules leading Alcesti to Admeto and the Battle of Hercules and the Centaurs - and ten monochrome frescoes below the vault featuring the Marriage of Hercules and Hebe fresco.

The iconographic narrative is based on the legend of Hercules, well-suited to celebrating the ruling family as per the Medici tradition, as well as the figure of Ferdinando III di Lorena who was known throughout his rule as a bringer of peace and prosperity.

The room represents one of the highest points of international Neoclassicism, firstly for the grandeur of the compositions, for which Benvenuti generated an extensive corpus of drawings, sketches and drafts, and secondly for the imposing three-dimensionality of the figures inspired by the sculptures of Antonio Canova, immersed in the sublime colors of sixteenth century Venetian painters.

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