Luigi Bechi
Luigi Bechi (also Becchi ) (* March 1830 in Florence, † November 19, 1919 ) was an Italian painter. As an artist, who was both the traditional academic and realistic painting faces, he played a role in the renewal of the Tuscan painting during the Risorgimento.
Life and work
Luigi Bechi was born in March 1830 in Florence. He studied from 1843 to 1853 at the Accademia di Belle Arti in his hometown. There, he took classes in drawing and painting (particularly history painting ) at Giuseppe Bezzuoli, Enrico Pollastrini ( 1817-1876 ), Benedetto Servolini ( 1805-79 ) and Tommaso Gazzarini ( 1790-1853 ). From 1848 on he made as a student Bezzuolis copies of the works of old masters. In 1849 he was honored by the Academy for his nudes. In 1852 he took part in the Triennial. The following year he started painting academic painting. Later he went, however, the goals of the group of artists macchiaioli own, which campaigned for a realistic conception of the image. In 1859 he took part and used the Italian War of Independence from experience than currently - historical subjects for his work. In the same year he took the macchiaioli members Giovanni Fattori, Saverio Altamura (1822-1897), Giovanni Costa (1833-1893) and Silvestro Lega (1826-1895) at the first all- Italian bid to promote patriotic - national art Concorso Ricasoli part and won there with the cardboard for the painting Il Marchese Fadini salva la vita al colonnello De Sonnaz a Monte Bello ( the Marchese Fadini rescues the General De Sonnaz in Montebello life ) the second place in the division Episodi militarized. This painting was to become one of the most important works of Bechi and is considered an example of the former desire in Italy to realistically painted patriotic images. Still unfinished, he put it in 1861 at the Esposizione Nazionale ( National Exhibition ) in Florence, and finished it in 1862 on behalf of the Italian Government. Later it passed into the collection of the museum Galleria d' Arte Moderna Palazzo Pitti. On the Esposizione Nazionale Bechi revealed, also academic images, such as the morente there with an award -appreciated Michelangelo che il servo veglia Urbino. Around the year 1861, after he had taken a trip to Paris to Bechi started with friend and host Diego Martelli ( 1839-1896 ) and the Scuola di Castiglioncello to devote most of landscape painting. He was impressionistic flow of the unaffected and largely studio painting loyal, though he had met the plein air painting in Paris. In addition to numerous exhibitions in Florence, Bechi presented among others in Genoa (1864 ), Paris ( 1867) and London ( 1879) from. He also maintained a private painting school, which was also open to women. In 1866 he again took part in the War of Independence and became at Bezzecca in captivity. When he returned, his painting was anecdotal. In 1870 he became professor of the Accademia di Belle Arti and took over the role of the auditor in many competitions. He focused on genre painting and took hardly any part in exhibitions. In 1919, he died in Florence.
Works (selection)
- Il Marchese Fadini salva la vita al colonnello De Sonnaz a Monte Bello ( The Marchese Fadini rescues the General De Sonnaz in Montebello life ), 1859-1862, oil on canvas, 174 × 232 cm, Galleria d' Arte Moderna ( Palazzo Pitti ).
- Susanna e i vecchi. Exhibited at the Esposizione Nazionale in 1861.
- Michelangelo che il servo veglia Urbino morente. Exhibited at the Esposizione Nazionale in 1861.
- Primavera della vita. 1864 issued in Genoa, then acquired by Otto of Savoy and often replicated.
- Veduta al Gombo. Issued in Paris 1867.
- Costume romano. Issued in London in 1879.
- Two children with bread and apples at the break. Signed lower left: L. Bechi, about 1870, oil on canvas, 116 × 88 cm. .
- La bolla di sapone. , 1886, exhibited at the Galleria Pisani in Florence
- La lezione di treccia. 1888
- Scherzi col gomitolo. 1888
- Dopo la burrasca. Pinakothek, Genoa.
- Casa rustica. Galleria d' Arte Moderna.
- Contadina con un vaso. Museo del Prado, Madrid.