拍品專文
Ricciardo Meacci was considered the most "Pre-Raphaelite" of the nineteenth century Sienese school. He was born on December 5, 1856 in Dolciano and studied at the Instituto di Belle Arti de Siena between the years 1871 and 1880 under Luigi Mussini. During this period, the institute was opening itself to diverse foreign influences, particularly from England, and it is probable that Meacci would have come into contact with some of the English Pre-Raphaelites who had visited the town: Burne-Jones in 1873, and Fairfax Murray in 1874-5 and 1877. While in Siena he produced three frescoes for the Grand Salon of the Palazzo Publico, a triptych for the Church of San Francesco and decorations for Santa Teresa (one of which, "Santa Cecilia," is derived from Burne-Jones's picture of the same subject, sold at Christie's on February 15, 1995, lot 287). He also exhibited two watercolors in the 1880 Exposizione Nazionale at the Pitti Palace.
Meacci was discovered by the Florentine painter Ulisse De Matteis, who promoted a medieval revival and in 1881 Meacci was awarded the Pensionato Biringucci, which allowed him to continue his studies in Florence. He quickly recognized the commercial viability of promoting the city's cultural and artisan life within the context of a pseudo-mythology in his work. His highly personal style afforded him international recognition, evident in the list of foreigners in whose collections he figured: Queen Victoria, the Count and Countess of Strathmore, the Duke of Connaught, the Countess of Kenmore, the Duchess of Wellington, Prince Francesco of Liechtenstein and the Grandduchess of Russia.
Meacci's reputation also attracted the attention of Thomas W. Phillips. Phillips had made his fortune from the Pennsylvania oil fields and had served as a Republican Representative to the 53rd and 54th Congresses. He commissioned our frieze to decorate his dinning room. The design was conceived as six pictures in "mezza tempera" and twelve bas-relief stucco medallions. The allegorical Festival Scenes depict the arrival of provisions for a banquet, the preparation of the meal, the banquet itself and the activities which follow. These six panels were separated on either side by the bas-relief medallions which promoted: charity, moderation, harmony, hospitality, abundance, skill in cooking, preparation of food, industriousness, joviality, skill in wine making, happiness and friendship.
In these scenes Meacci recaptures the spirit of the Florence of Cosimo de Medici and Boccaccio as it was perceived in the late 19th century. Some details directly recall Florentine Early Renaissance prototypes with which the painter must have been intimately familiar. In the scene of the guests being greeted, the recessed panelling of the garden wall reflects in the fresco of "The Raising of the Son of Theophilus" by Masaccio and Filippino Lippi in the Brancacci Chapel in Santa Maria del Carmine, while the vaulted canopy of the cart is reminiscent of Michelozzo's Shrine of the Crucifix in San Miniato al Monte and the hosts and their attendants recall Ghirlandaio's frescoes in Santa Maria Novella and Santa Trinita. In the scene of dancing figures, the flower pots silhouetted against the sky above the garden enclosure recall even more clearly the fresco by Masaccio and Lippi in the Carmine. In the scene in which the doves and dogs are being fed, a Cosmatesque pattern in colored marbles and a fresco of the Madonna della Misericordia are incorporated along with an architectural detail on the distant building directly reflecting Renaissance tombs such as those by Desiderio da Settigano and Bernard Rossellino in Santa Croce.
Meacci was discovered by the Florentine painter Ulisse De Matteis, who promoted a medieval revival and in 1881 Meacci was awarded the Pensionato Biringucci, which allowed him to continue his studies in Florence. He quickly recognized the commercial viability of promoting the city's cultural and artisan life within the context of a pseudo-mythology in his work. His highly personal style afforded him international recognition, evident in the list of foreigners in whose collections he figured: Queen Victoria, the Count and Countess of Strathmore, the Duke of Connaught, the Countess of Kenmore, the Duchess of Wellington, Prince Francesco of Liechtenstein and the Grandduchess of Russia.
Meacci's reputation also attracted the attention of Thomas W. Phillips. Phillips had made his fortune from the Pennsylvania oil fields and had served as a Republican Representative to the 53rd and 54th Congresses. He commissioned our frieze to decorate his dinning room. The design was conceived as six pictures in "mezza tempera" and twelve bas-relief stucco medallions. The allegorical Festival Scenes depict the arrival of provisions for a banquet, the preparation of the meal, the banquet itself and the activities which follow. These six panels were separated on either side by the bas-relief medallions which promoted: charity, moderation, harmony, hospitality, abundance, skill in cooking, preparation of food, industriousness, joviality, skill in wine making, happiness and friendship.
In these scenes Meacci recaptures the spirit of the Florence of Cosimo de Medici and Boccaccio as it was perceived in the late 19th century. Some details directly recall Florentine Early Renaissance prototypes with which the painter must have been intimately familiar. In the scene of the guests being greeted, the recessed panelling of the garden wall reflects in the fresco of "The Raising of the Son of Theophilus" by Masaccio and Filippino Lippi in the Brancacci Chapel in Santa Maria del Carmine, while the vaulted canopy of the cart is reminiscent of Michelozzo's Shrine of the Crucifix in San Miniato al Monte and the hosts and their attendants recall Ghirlandaio's frescoes in Santa Maria Novella and Santa Trinita. In the scene of dancing figures, the flower pots silhouetted against the sky above the garden enclosure recall even more clearly the fresco by Masaccio and Lippi in the Carmine. In the scene in which the doves and dogs are being fed, a Cosmatesque pattern in colored marbles and a fresco of the Madonna della Misericordia are incorporated along with an architectural detail on the distant building directly reflecting Renaissance tombs such as those by Desiderio da Settigano and Bernard Rossellino in Santa Croce.