Arturo Viligiardi (27 July 1869 - 21 October 1936) was an Italian painter, sculptor, architect and urban planner.
His heirs still own several of his sketches, drawings and notes. [1] His work was rediscovered after featuring in Siena tra Purismo e Liberty, a 1988 exhibition in Siena.
He was born on via dei Maestri in Siena to Giuseppe, a repair worker on the railways, and Giuseppina Fallani. The sculptor Giovanni Dupré recognised Arturo's artistic vocation and invited him to join evening classes at the La Stella drawing school. In 1882 Viligiardi took the courses at the Accademia di belle arti di Siena, where he studied under Luigi Mussini and Alessandro Franchi. In 1884 his professor G. Bandini agreed to collaborate with him on paintings for Orvieto Cathedral and then further paintings on two rooms in prince D'Ambrò's villa in Naples. Viligiardi won first prize in the nude and drawing categories of the annual competition at the Accademia back in Siena. In 1888 he won the Biringucci prize for a painting entitled The Arrest of Corradino of Savoy and a prize for another entitled The Denial of Saint Peter, now in the Accademia in Siena. Both works were of the Risorgimento-historical school, inspirated by Franchi's art. [2]
While training, he collaborated with Cesare Maccari on dome frescoes at the Sanctuary of Loreto and Genoa's chiesa della Consolazione. Viligiardi's 1890 Christ and the Woman Taken in Adultery show how heavily influenced he still was by Maccari. His 1891 Samson as a Prisoner won a Ministry of Public Education competition for a four-year pension. He presented 39 different designs for the competition to design the facade of Arezzo Cathedral, but that competition was then cancelled - one of them was exhibited at the 1904 St Louis International Exhibition.
At San Secondiano Co-Cathedral in Chiusi he painted a fresco entitled St Catherine's Vision of the Virgin Mary, experimenting with the "finto mosaico" (fake mosaic) technique, influenced by Byzantine art. He also exhibited at the Mary Magdalene at Calvary (1894) and the cartoons for the fresco at the "Esposizioni riunite" in Milan. He next worked in Rome at San Clemente al Laterano and on Malta at San'Agostino Church, followed by a fresco in the apse of Santa Maria Assunta, the parish church in Allerona. In 1898 he produced the painting St Margaret of Alacoque in Ecstacy before a Vision of the Holy Cross. [3]
He painted a Madonna and Child on a gold background for the chapel at palazzo Gianturco in Naples and also painted frescoes on the chapel walls of Christ in Glory with Angels. Inspired by the Neapolitan painter Francesco Paolo Michetti, in 1895 he produced Vita, now in the Galleria nazionale d'arte moderna e contemporanea in Rome. Later attracted by symbolist themes, he simplified his pictorial representations to concentrate on figures and eliminate unnecessary details - examples of this are his Calvary and Purgatory. He also decorated the San Lorenzo chapel in Rome's San Paolo fuori le mura before painting frescoes for the same basilica's quadriportico. [4]
He exhibited The Temptation of St Catherine at the 1904 International Exhibition in Rome. He then assisted the architect Guglielmo Calderini in the "Roma Moderna" redesign of Rome's street plan and in building the city's palazzo di Giustizia. In Florence he produced new canvases for the Cathedral to replace earlier ones which had deteriorated too badly to be restored and designed three new panels of scenes from the Book of Genesis to replace medieval ones which had collapsed from the mosaic ceiling of the Florence Baptistery about a century earlier.
He designed a cottage for himself on via Po in Rome, whilst in 1909 marquess Chigi-Zondadari commissioned a painting entitled La Flora from him for his palazzo Primoli in Rome. The Società Cultori di Architettura di Roma commissioned designed from him on "Roma sparita" (vanished Rome). In 1909 he was appointed to the new chair in "Decorative art and building furnishings" at the Accademia in Siena, a chair which seems to have been set up especially for him. He produced designs for the Accademia Tedesca's Villa Massimo, again in Rome.
Count Guido Chigi-Saracini entrusted him with rebuilding palazzo Chigi-Saracini in Siena and designing its new interiors, before also commissioning a sculpture entitled La Riconoscenza from the artist for the Cappella del Voto in Siena Cathedral. From 1916 to 1926 Viligiardi was director of Siena's Istituto di Belle Arti.
In 1928 he sculpted Bust of St Catherine for the town of Pincio. He took on a wrought iron factory in Siena and built count Galeotti's villa in Chiusi. In 1930 a gallery in Genoa hosted a retrospective of his works. Count Chigi-Saracini still asked him for the St Catherine. He next produced a series of designs for Siena's traffic planning before producing his final work, the Monument to the Fallen at Certaldo. He died in Alexandria.
San Gimignano is a small walled medieval hill town in the province of Siena, Tuscany, north-central Italy. Known as the Town of Fine Towers, San Gimignano is famous for its medieval architecture, unique in the preservation of about a dozen of its tower houses, which, with its hilltop setting and encircling walls, form "an unforgettable skyline". Within the walls, the well-preserved buildings include notable examples of both Romanesque and Gothic architecture, with outstanding examples of secular buildings as well as churches. The Palazzo Comunale, the Collegiate Church and Church of Sant' Agostino contain frescos, including cycles dating from the 14th and 15th centuries. The "Historic Centre of San Gimignano" is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The town also is known for saffron, the Golden Ham, and its white wine, Vernaccia di San Gimignano, produced from the ancient variety of Vernaccia grape which is grown on the sandstone hillsides of the area.
Il Sodoma was the name given to the Italian Renaissance painter Giovanni Antonio Bazzi. Il Sodoma painted in a manner that superimposed the High Renaissance style of early 16th-century Rome onto the traditions of the provincial Sienese school; he spent the bulk of his professional life in Siena, with two periods in Rome.
Benozzo Gozzoli was an Italian Renaissance painter from Florence. A pupil of Fra Angelico, Gozzoli is best known for a series of murals in the Magi Chapel of the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, depicting festive, vibrant processions with fine attention to detail and a pronounced International Gothic influence. The chapel's fresco cycle reveals a new Renaissance interest in nature with its realistic depiction of landscapes and vivid human portraits. Gozzoli is considered one of the most prolific fresco painters of his generation. While he was mainly active in Tuscany, he also worked in Umbria and Rome.
Domenico di Pace Beccafumi was an Italian Renaissance-Mannerist painter active predominantly in Siena. He is considered one of the last undiluted representatives of the Sienese school of painting.
Taddeo di Bartolo, also known as Taddeo Bartoli, was an Italian painter of the Sienese School during the early Renaissance. He is among the artists profiled in Vasari's biographies of artists or Vite. Vasari claims he is the uncle of Domenico di Bartolo.
Riccardo Brengola was an Italian violinist and professor. He was associated with early Italian chamber music and with the performance of contemporary Italian classical music. For several decades, he was the Professor Emeritus of chamber music at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, and from 1939 to 1966, he was the leader of the only piano quintet ensemble, the Quintetto Chigiano. His influence as a teacher also spread beyond Siena, through courses or classes at other major Italian Conservatories and to Ireland, Argentina, Spain and Japan. He maintained his career as a concert violin soloist and as an orchestral conductor, and was awarded the status of Commendatore of the Italian Republic in 1982.
Cesare Mariani was an Italian painter and architect of the late-19th century, active in Rome and Ascoli Piceno.
Giuseppe Nicola Nasini was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active in Rome and Tuscany.
Astolfo Petrazzi (1583–1665) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active mainly in his hometown of Siena, but also Spoleto and Rome. He was a pupil of mainly Francesco Vanni, but also worked under Ventura Salimbeni and Pietro Sorri. He died in Siena.
The Palazzo Chigi-Saracini is a Gothic urban palace on the Via di Città in the Terzo di Città in central Siena, Tuscany, Italy. It is the seat of the Accademia Musicale Chigiana.
Cesare Maccari was an Italian painter and sculptor, most famous for his 1888 painting Cicerone denuncia Catilina.
The Italian painter and engraver Bernardino Mei worked in a Baroque manner in his native Siena and in Rome, finding patronage above all in the Chigi family.
Annibale Mazzuoli was an Italian painter.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Siena, Tuscany, Italy.
Tommaso Minardi was an Italian painter and author on art theory, active in Faenza, Rome, Perugia, and other towns. He painted in styles that transitioned from Neoclassicism to Romanticism.
Bartolomeo Neroni, also known as Il Riccio or Riccio Sanese (c.1505-1571) was an Italian painter, sculptor, architect and engineer of the Sienese School. He was born and died in Siena.
Domenico Bruschi was an Italian painter and educator. Bruschi also designed tapestries, Renaissance revival wooden furniture, sculptures in stucco and stained glass windows. Bruschi served as the chair of Ornamentor at the Institute of Fine Arts in Rome, was made an official Academician of the Accademia di San Luca, and named Commandatore for his excellence in painting.
Agostino Fantastici was an Italian scenic designer and architect, mainly active in Siena, Italy. He also wrote books of poetry.
Alessandro Franchi was an Italian painter. He worked in a combination of Romantic and Neo-gothic styles, influenced by Purismo.
Count Guido Chigi Saracini, full name Guido Chigi degli Useppi Saracini Lucherini, was an Italian patrician, a musical patron and composer, and a public administrator. Having inherited the Palazzo Chigi-Saracini in the centre of the city of Siena, Tuscany, he applied his musical instincts to his new opportunities, restored the Palazzo in 1923, and established a concert society and later (1932) a musical academy there. The Accademia Chigiana, which flourishes today, grew under his supervision into a famous institution for higher instruction, research and performance in chamber music, playing an important role in the revival of Italian baroque instrumental music, and in the advocacy and performance of contemporary Italian classical music.
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