Date
1889
Object Type
Painting
Subject
History of Milan: The Death of Duke Giovanni Maria Visconti (1412)
Holding institution
Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera. On long-term loan to the Camera dei Deputati, Rome, since 1927
About The Work
Commissioned by the Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione in 1889 and intended for the Brera Academy, Lodovico Pogliaghi's monumental painting is one of the most significant works of 19th-century Italian history painting.
Pogliaghi was already known to the general public for his illustrated plates in Francesco Bertolini's Storia d'Italia (Treves, from 1884), but it was this commission that led to his definitive recognition as a history painter and later his appointment as Professor of Ornamentation at the Brera Academy (1891).
The painting depicts the assassination of Duke Gian Maria Visconti, a cruel tyrant hated by the people, by a group of conspirators in 1412. The subject had previously been explored by Tommaso Grossi and Carlo Porta in a 1818 play in milanese dialect, that ironically and tragically depicted the character of the Duke. Here, the event is reinterpreted through a rigorous historical reconstruction, result of careful philological research and a refined theatrical sensibility. Referring to a passage in Pietro Verri's Storia di Milano (1783), Pogliaghi introduces the figure of a prostitute who, being the only one to show compassion, scatters rose petals on the tyrant's body, which has been left in the churchyard of San Gottardo. This gesture, at the centre of the composition, transforms the political event into a universal reflection on pity, death and human fragility, accentuated by the suspended atmosphere of dawn.
Pogliaghi was already known to the general public for his illustrated plates in Francesco Bertolini's Storia d'Italia (Treves, from 1884), but it was this commission that led to his definitive recognition as a history painter and later his appointment as Professor of Ornamentation at the Brera Academy (1891).
The painting depicts the assassination of Duke Gian Maria Visconti, a cruel tyrant hated by the people, by a group of conspirators in 1412. The subject had previously been explored by Tommaso Grossi and Carlo Porta in a 1818 play in milanese dialect, that ironically and tragically depicted the character of the Duke. Here, the event is reinterpreted through a rigorous historical reconstruction, result of careful philological research and a refined theatrical sensibility. Referring to a passage in Pietro Verri's Storia di Milano (1783), Pogliaghi introduces the figure of a prostitute who, being the only one to show compassion, scatters rose petals on the tyrant's body, which has been left in the churchyard of San Gottardo. This gesture, at the centre of the composition, transforms the political event into a universal reflection on pity, death and human fragility, accentuated by the suspended atmosphere of dawn.
Title
La morte di Giovanni Maria Visconti
Creator
Lodovico Pogliaghi
Subject
History of Milan: The Death of Duke Giovanni Maria Visconti (1412)
Object Type
Painting
Original Function
Collection
Date
1889
Technique / Support
Oil on canvas
Visual analysis of the technique
The artist employs a pictorial technique characterized by textured, raised brushstrokes and impasted chromatic passages, with matte areas juxtaposed to more glossy zones.
Dimensions
cm 188 x 286
Acquisition
Gift of the Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione, 1889
Holding institution
Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera. On long-term loan to the Camera dei Deputati, Rome, since 1927
Inventory number
Reg. 1943, 18
Bibliography
Colle, Enrico. Entry no. 613. In Pinacoteca di Brera. Dipinti dell’Ottocento e del Novecento. Collezioni dell’Accademia e della Pinacoteca, vol. 2, Musei e Gallerie di Milano, edited by Fernando Mazzocca. Milano: Mondadori Electa, 1994. 556–557, ill. (with previous bibliography).
Lombardi, Laura. Entry no. 57. In La tempesta del mio cor. Il gesto del melodramma dalle arti figurative al cinema, exhibition catalogue (Parma, Palazzo della Pilotta, 5 May–29 July 2001), edited by Giovanni Godi and Carlo Sisi. Milano: Mazzotta, 2001. 112–113, ill.
Lissoni, Elena. La storia illustrata. Lodovico Pogliaghi tra accademia e modernità. PhD diss., Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore – Sede di Milano, 2010. 84–86, ill. 85.
Lissoni, Elena. Entry no. 23. In Ottocento. L’arte dell’Italia tra Hayez e Segantini, exhibition catalogue (Forlì, Musei di San Domenico, 9 February–16 June 2019), edited by Fernando Mazzocca and Francesco Leone. Cinisello Balsamo: Silvana Editoriale, 2019. 326, ill. 153.
Lombardi, Laura. Entry no. 57. In La tempesta del mio cor. Il gesto del melodramma dalle arti figurative al cinema, exhibition catalogue (Parma, Palazzo della Pilotta, 5 May–29 July 2001), edited by Giovanni Godi and Carlo Sisi. Milano: Mazzotta, 2001. 112–113, ill.
Lissoni, Elena. La storia illustrata. Lodovico Pogliaghi tra accademia e modernità. PhD diss., Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore – Sede di Milano, 2010. 84–86, ill. 85.
Lissoni, Elena. Entry no. 23. In Ottocento. L’arte dell’Italia tra Hayez e Segantini, exhibition catalogue (Forlì, Musei di San Domenico, 9 February–16 June 2019), edited by Fernando Mazzocca and Francesco Leone. Cinisello Balsamo: Silvana Editoriale, 2019. 326, ill. 153.
Conservation status
Fair
Restoration history
Conservation work carried out in 2010 by L'Officina Consorzio - Restauro Conservazione Opere d'Arte, Roma
Pulitura della superficie; consolidamento della pellicola pittorica; rimozioni delle vernici alterate; saturazione della lacerazione; appianamento delle deformazioni; stuccatura delle lacune; reitegrazione pittorica; verniciatura finale
Supervisory Authority: Superintendence of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape for the Metropolitan City of Milan
Internal scientific director: Brera Academy of Fine Arts, Chiara Nenci
Technical director / Qualified restorer: L'Officina Consorzio - Restauro Conservazione Opere d'Arte, Roma
Pulitura della superficie; consolidamento della pellicola pittorica; rimozioni delle vernici alterate; saturazione della lacerazione; appianamento delle deformazioni; stuccatura delle lacune; reitegrazione pittorica; verniciatura finale
Supervisory Authority: Superintendence of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape for the Metropolitan City of Milan
Internal scientific director: Brera Academy of Fine Arts, Chiara Nenci
Technical director / Qualified restorer: L'Officina Consorzio - Restauro Conservazione Opere d'Arte, Roma
Frame, base, secondary support
Historical frame. The rectangular wooden frame, gilded, features a linear profile composed of a smooth fillet and, on the inner side, a slender fluted moulding.
Unique identifier
0300663542