The Execution of Savonarola
by USSI, Stefano, Oil sketch on glass, 41 x 45 cm
Girolamo Savonarola (1452-1498), a powerful Dominican preacher and church reformer was hung and burned at stake in the central Piazza della Signoria outside the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, on May 23, 1498. This loose oil sketch is a good example of Ussi’s realistic tendency in Romantic history painting.