ANTONIO CISERI (1821-1891), attribué Lot n° 70

Il martirio di sette fratelli Maccabei Oil on canvas Several labels on the back Size: 57,5 x 38 cm The Massacre of the Seven Maccabean Brothers is one of Antonio Ciseri's major works, painted between 1857 and 1863 for the Church of Santa Felicita in Florence and now in the Caccia Museum in Lugano. The painting we present is the preparatory version painted by the artist probably around 1855 and presenting some differences from the original painting as in the colonnades or the representation of a large sculpture instead of three figures. Condition reported : Wear, hole and lacerations. Provenance: Cavaliere Vittorio Furlan, Firenze Belart, Casa di vendita, Milano 1966 Collection W. Herzog, Milano Since 1971, private collection Switzerland and Monte Carlo Documentation : - Sales invoice 1966 - Document of the Swiss customs 1971 - Inscription on the canvas: "International Exhibition of Sacred Art in Rome MCMXXXIV-A.XII (1934) Label on top: "Antonio Ciseri 1821-1891 I Maccabei (Bozetto = sketch) - Proprietario: Cav. Vittorio Furlan Via le P. Umberto 28 Firenze". Label "I affirm that the painting The Seven Maccabees is an authentic work by Prof. Antonio Ciseri". Signed Luigi Michelacci, Florence 20-03-1900. - Label "I think this painting could be the work of Prof. Antonio Ciseri" (Signature illegible) - Label "The seven Maccabees is in my opinion the work of Antonio Ciseri and I consider it in good faith to be very beautiful" signed Garibaldo Tordi, Florence 7 June 1930 Biography : Swiss painter born in Ronco sopra Ascona in Ticino, he trained at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence in the studio of the masters Nicola and Pietro Benvenuti but also with Tommaso Minardi, co-founder of Italian purism. His religious paintings are both Raphaelesque in their contours and photographic in their effects. Ciseri received numerous commissions from various churches in Italy and Switzerland, but also portraits such as that of his father-in-law Gaetano Bianchini or the now famous one of Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour. In 1853 he opened his own academy where he trained Silvestro Lega, Niccolo Cannicci and Girolamo Nerli. Following the reorganization of the academies and the Italian artistic heritage, Antonio Ciseri sided with the Accademia di San Luca, which abhorred modernism.