The Suicide of Cato is a 1641 oil on canvas painting, now in the Palazzo Rosso in Genoa. [1]
Showing Cato the Younger, it was commissioned by Marcantonio Eugenio, a lawyer from Perugia active in Rome. [1] A note in the painter's payment book refers to a sum equivalent to 15 scudi paid to him for the work on 22 November 1640, with the balance settled on 7 December 1641 with 45 scudi. [2] It was a pendant to a now lost Death of Seneca, also valued at 60 scudi and also received by Eugenio in 1643 - that subject was popular in Guercino's oeuvre and he produced another version for cardinal Antonio Barberini for 75 scudi. [1] The Suicide of Cato appeared in 18th century inventories of the Brignole collection until being donated to the city by Maria Brignole Sale, the last surviving member of that family. [1]
Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, better known as (il) Guercino, was an Italian Baroque painter and draftsman from Cento in the Emilia region, who was active in Rome and Bologna. The vigorous naturalism of his early manner contrasts with the classical equilibrium of his later works. His many drawings are noted for their luminosity and lively style.
The Palazzo Brignole Sale or Palazzo Rosso is a house museum located in Via Garibaldi, in the historical center of Genoa, in Northwestern Italy. The palace is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Genoa: Le Strade Nuove and the system of the Palazzi dei Rolli. The rich art collection inside, along with the galleries of Palazzo Bianco and Palazzo Doria Tursi, is part of the Musei di Strada Nuova and consists of the works of artists of the caliber of Antoon van Dyck, Guido Reni, Paolo Veronese, Guercino, Gregorio De Ferrari, Albrecht Dürer, Bernardo Strozzi and Mattia Preti.
Giacomo Maria Brignole Sale was the 176th and 184th Doge of the Republic of Genoa, respectively from 1779 to 1781 and from 1795 to 1797. He was the last doge in the history of the Republic, and the only one elected twice, a unique case in the history of that Republic for the biennial election doges. After Brignole's dogeship the Genoese state and the office were abolished.
Genoa is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2023, 558,745 people lived within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 813,626 inhabitants, more than 1.5 million people live in the wider metropolitan area stretching along the Italian Riviera.
Anna Pieri Brignole-Sale (1765–1815) was a Sienese noble and court official. She was a supporter of the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, and became a lady-in-waiting to his second wife, Marie Louise of Austria.
The Marquessate of Groppoli, in Tuscany and Liguria, was ruled by the House of Brignole-Sale, an illustrious patrician family of Genoa who were its sovereigns from 1592 to 1774.
Woman Cooking or The Cook is the modern title given to a circa 1625 oil on canvas genre painting by Bernardo Strozzi, produced in Genoa and still held in the Palazzo Rosso in the city, part of the Strada Nuova Museums. A second autograph version with various differences was in the painter's studio at his death and is now at the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh.
Maria Brignole Sale De Ferrari, Duchess of Galliera was an Italian noblewoman and philanthropist. She enabled the foundation of the first museums in her birthplace of Genoa, the Palazzo Rosso and Palazzo Bianco as well as the Galliera Hospital and the San Filippo children's hospital. A statue of her by Giulio Monteverde stands in the hospital gardens.
The Palazzo Sampieri frescoes are a set of paintings by Annibale, Agostino and Ludovico Carracci in the Palazzo Sampieri in Bologna. They form the last surviving collection of works by the three artists.
Giovanni Agostino De Marini was the 105th Doge of the Republic of Genoa and king of Corsica.
Giovanni Francesco II Brignole Sale, was the 158th Doge of the Republic of Genoa and the last king of Corsica.
Giuseppe Isola was an Italian painter.
Annunciation is a 1646 oil on canvas painting by Guercino, now in the collegiate church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Pieve di Cento, a few kilometres from the painter's birthplace of Cento. The artist used the same colours for Mary's clothes in his 1656 Immaculate Conception, along with the face of God.
The Dying Cleopatra or The Death of Cleopatra is a c. 1648 oil on canvas painting by Guercino, now in the Palazzo Rosso in Genoa.
Saint Matthew and the Angel is a 1621–1622 oil-on-canvas painting, produced by the Italian Baroque artist Guercino during his early years in Rome and now in the Musei Capitolini in Rome.
The Persian Sibyl is a 1647 oil on canvas painting of the Persian Sibyl by Guercino, now in the Musei Capitolini in Rome.
Susannah and the Elders is a 1650 oil on canvas painting, now in the National Gallery in Parma.
Venus, Cupid and Mars is a 1633 oil-on-canvas painting by the Italian Baroque painter Guercino, commissioned by Francesco I d'Este for his Ducal Palace of Sassuolo around 1632–1633, when the artist was in that city to paint portraits of the d'Este family. It is now in the Galleria Estense in Modena.
The Death of Dido is a 1631 oil-on-canvas painting by the Italian Baroque painter Guercino, commissioned by Cardinal Bernardino Spada for Maria de' Medici. It now hangs in the Galleria Spada in Rome.