Giovanni Boni, Oil on Canvas

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Description

Oil on canvas.
Outside the fortifications of a city, a commander, surrounded by his soldiers, is about to light the … Read more Oil on canvas.
Outside the fortifications of a city, a commander, surrounded by his soldiers, is about to light the fuse of a cannon. The army is defending the citadel outside the walls, and the soldiers are looking down at the horizon. This leads one to place the scene on the fortifications of a city, in particular those of Genoa, which stand on the mountains behind it and from which the Genoese defended the city against attacks from the sea; the location in Genoa is supported by the banner waving on the walls, the Cross of San Giorgio (red cross on a white field), the banner of the Republic of Genoa. The shape of the armor, the weapons and the clothes would refer to the siege of Genoa in 1522.
Draft therefore of the nineteenth-century representation of an historical episode, that re-enters therefore in that pictorial production diffused wide in Italy in XIX the century, inspired to the new historical novel proposed from the literature.
On the back of the frame is the name G. Boni, together with a number that refers to the participation in an official exhibition.
Giovanni Boni was a pupil of the Brera Academy, in particular a follower of Giuseppe Sogni, an artist who was among the first to prefer painting on historical subjects in its innovative romantic declinations.
Of Boni not much is known, neither from the biographical point of view nor of his production. Of its sure attribution is known only the Nude of man (Academy painted) with which he won the first prize for the School of the Nude to Brera in 1852.
The work renders the figures and the pathos of the scene with expressive effectiveness; the characters in the foreground are very well characterized in their poses, expressions, details of clothing and weapons, while the other figures fade into the background, suggesting the presence of a large army.
The painting, still in first canvas, has small diffuse falls of color.
It is presented in a frame in style.

This piece is attributed to the mentioned designer/maker. It has no attribution mark and no
official proof of authenticity,
however it is well documented in design history. I take full responsibility for any authenticity



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