Antonio Ciseri

He was born in Ronco sopra Ascona, Switzerland. He went to Florence in 1833 to study drawing with Ernesto Bonaiuti. Within a year, by 1834 he was a pupil of Niccola and Pietro Benvenuti at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence; he was later taught by Giuseppe Bezzuoli, who greatly influenced the early part of his career. In 1849, he began offering instruction to young painters, and eventually ran a private art school. Among his earliest students was Silvestro Lega.Ciseri, Spalleti, & Sisi 1991, p. 164. In these years Ciseri fulfilled many important commissions from churches in Italy and Switzerland.

Ciseri's early works were influenced by the Swiss Academic painter Charles Gleyre. Between 1860 and 1870 his style became less emotional and more objective: the drawing is clearer and more precise and the colours are brighter in such paintings as Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s (1860–62; Locarno, Madonna del Sasso), St. Martin (1860–69; Ronco, parish church) and Bearing the Body of Christ to the Sepulchre (1864–70; Locarno, Madonna del Sasso).

In 1868 Ciseri was elected a member of the Consiglio Superiore della Pubblica Istruzione, in which capacity he often went to Rome; during these visits he met important political and cultural figures, and often painted their portraits. Ciseri devoted himself to portrait painting during the last 20 years of his life. Among the most important later works are the portraits of Emilio Santarelli (Florence, Palazzo Pitti), Gino Capponi (Florence, Palazzo Pitti), King Umberto I of Italy and Queen Margherita of Savoy.

Ecce homo (completed 1891; Florence, Palazzo Pitti), which was commissioned in 1871 by the Italian government, is the most impressive of his religious works. It was exhibited in his studio immediately after his death and won over even those critics who had not previously admired his painting; its luminosity is akin to that of Cesare Maccari and Domenico Morelli. He died in Florence on 8 March 1891.

File:Ecce homo by Antonio Ciseri (1).jpg|Ecce Homo, 1871

File:Antonio ciseri, madonna addolorata.jpg|Sorrowful Madonna

File:Antonio Ciseri, Apparizione della madonna a bernadette di lourdes, 1879, 01.jpg|Apparition of Our Lady of Lourdes to Bernadette, 1879

File:Poggio imperiale, cappella della Santissima Annunziata, int., vestibolo, antonio ciseri, annunciazione.JPG|The Annunciation of Mary, 1891

File:Antonio Ciseri, Apparizione del sacro Cuore a santa maria alacoque, 1880, 01.jpg|Apparition of the Sacred Heart to Saint Mary Alacoque

File:Ciseri, Antonio - Die büssende Magdalena - 1864.jpg|Penitent Magdalene, 1864

File:Antonio Ciseri, immacolata. Firenze, Chiesa del Sacro Cuore.jpg|The Immaculate Conception

File:The Entombment by Antonio Ciseri.jpg|Bearing the Body of Christ to the Sepulchre,
1864–1870

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• Ciseri, A., Spalletti, E., & Sisi, C. (1991). Omaggio ad Antonio Ciseri, 1821-1891: dipinti e disegni delle gallerie fiorentine : Firenze, Galleria d'arte moderna di Palazzo Pitti, 28 settembre-31 dicembre 1991. Firenze: Centro Di. {{ISBN|88-7038-213-3}} (Italian language)
• {{SIKART|4022829}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20050123212201/http://artgalleryofhamilton.on.ca/aa_history_eur.php Art Gallery of Hamilton]

{{Commons category|Antonio Ciseri}}

• {{DBI|title=CISERI, Antonio|first=Ettore|last=Spalletti|volume=26|url=https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/antonio-ciseri_(Dizionario-Biografico)}}

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Category:1821 births

Category:1891 deaths

Category:People from Ticino

Category:19th-century Italian painters

Category:Italian male painters

Category:Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze alumni

Category:19th-century Italian male artists

Category:Catholic painters

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