Aniello Falcone (15 November 16001656) was an Italian

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

, active in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

and noted for his painted depictions of battle scenes. Some sources refer to him as ''Ancillo Falcone''.

Biography

Born in Naples the son of a tradesman, he showed his artistic tendency at an early age. He first received some instruction from a relative, before becoming one of the most prominent pupils of

José de Ribera Jusepe de Ribera (1591 – 1652) was a painter and printmaker, who along with Francisco de Zurbarán, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, and the singular Diego Velázquez, are regarded as the major artists of Spanish Baroque painting. Referring to ...

. He is best known for his battle scenes, their subjects taken from both biblical and secular history, and was nicknamed ''L'Oracolo delle Battaglie''. He gained an international reputation; his works attracted the attention of the

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

dealer and collector

Gaspar Roomer Gaspar Roomer ( Antwerp, between 1596 and 1606 - Naples, 3 April 1674) was a prominent Flemish merchant, banker, art patron and art collector who was active in Naples in the 17th century. Biography Born in Antwerp, he lived for at least four dec ...

, who sold his work across Europe, and he was one of the artists commissioned by Philip IV of Spain to paint a series of scenes from ancient Roman history for the

Buen Retiro Buen is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Anders Buen (1864–1933), Norwegian typographer, newspaper editor, trade unionist, and politician *Hauk Buen (1933–2021), Norwegian hardingfele fiddler and fiddle maker *Knut Buen (bo ...

palace. He also painted various religious subjects such as the signed and dated ''Rest on the Flight to Egypt'' of 1641 (Naples Cathedral) and his frescoes for the chapel of Sant' Agata In S. Paolo Maggiore, Naples of around the same time.''Painting in Naples: From Caravaggio to Giordano, 1981, p.153 The attribution of his battle scenes is complicated by the similarity of those of his pupil Andrea di Leone, with which they have often been confused. During the insurrection against Spanish rule led by

Masaniello Masaniello (, ; an abbreviation of Tommaso Aniello; 29 June 1620 – 16 July 1647) was an Italian fisherman who became leader of the 1647 revolt against the rule of Habsburg Spain in the Kingdom of Naples. Name and place of birth Until recent ...

in 1647, he resolved to be bloodily avenged for the death, at the hands of two Spaniards, of a nephew and of a pupil in the school of art which he had established in Naples.

Salvator Rosa Salvator Rosa (1615 –1673) is best known today as an Italian Baroque painter, whose romanticized landscapes and history paintings, often set in dark and untamed nature, exerted considerable influence from the 17th century into the early 19th ...

, Carlo Coppola, among others, and he formed an armed band called the ''Compagnia della Morte'' ("Company of Death"). When the revolt was crushed, Falcone and Rosa made off to Rome, where Borgognone noticed the works of Falcone, and became his friend, and a Frenchman induced him to go to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, where

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Vers ...

became one of his patrons. Ultimately

Jean-Baptiste Colbert Jean-Baptiste Colbert (; 29 August 1619 – 6 September 1683) was a French statesman who served as First Minister of State from 1661 until his death in 1683 under the rule of King Louis XIV. His lasting impact on the organization of the countr ...

obtained permission for the painter to return to Naples, where he died during the plague of 1656. Two of his battle-pieces are in the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

and in the Naples museum; he painted a portrait of Masaniello, and engraved a few plates. His pupils included Salvator Rosa and Carlo Coppola,

Domenico Gargiulo Domenico Gargiulo called Micco Spadaro ( – ) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, mainly active in Naples and known for his landscapes, genre scenes, and history paintings. Life Domenico Gargiulo was the son of a sword maker. T ...

(known as Micco Spadaro),

Paolo Porpora Paolo Porpora (1617–1673) was an Italian painter of the late-Baroque, who was active mainly in Naples and specialized in floral still lifes. He is documented as a pupil of Giacomo Recco, the father of Giuseppe Recco, and said to have worked u ...

and Andrea di Lione.

Gallery

File:Aniello Falcone - The Concert - WGA7731.jpg, ''The Concert'',

Museo del Prado The Prado Museum ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It is widely considered to house one of the world's finest collections of European art, dating from the ...

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

File:Riposofugaegitto.jpg, ''Rest on the flight into Egypt'',

Diocesan Museum (Naples) The Diocesan Museum is the museum of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Naples, displaying paintings, reliquaries and bronzes previously housed in the Archepiscopal Palace (Naples), Archepiscopal Palace, closed and suppressed churches in the Diocese ( ...

File:Aniello Falcone - Roman soldiers in the circus.jpg, ''Roman soldiers in the circus'',

File:Aniello Falcone - Jacob contemplates the bloodied clothes of his son Joseph.jpg, ''Jacob contemplates the bloodied clothes of his son Joseph'',

Museo nazionale d'arte medievale e moderna della Basilicata The ''Museo nazionale d'arte medievale e moderna della Basilicata'' () is an art museum An art museum or art gallery is a building or space for the display of art, usually from the museum's own collection. It might be in public or private own ...

Matera Matera (, ; Materano: ) is a city in the region of Basilicata, in Southern Italy. As the capital of the province of Matera, its original settlement lies in two canyons carved by the Gravina River. This area, the Sassi di Matera, is a comple ...

File:Aniello Falcone - The schoolmistress.jpg, ''The school teacher'',

Museo di Capodimonte Museo di Capodimonte is an art museum located in the Palace of Capodimonte, a grand Bourbon palazzo in Naples, Italy. The museum is the prime repository of Neapolitan painting and decorative art, with several important works from other Italia ...

File:Aniello Falcone - Simson erschlägt die Philister - 5592 - Bavarian State Painting Collections.jpg, ''Samson against the Philistines'',

Alte Pinakothek The Alte Pinakothek (, ''Old Pinakothek'') is an art museum located in the Kunstareal area in Munich, Germany. It is one of the oldest galleries in the world and houses a significant collection of Old Master paintings. The name Alte (Old) Pinak ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

File:Aniello Falcone - Schlachtenbild - 2380 - Bavarian State Painting Collections.jpg, ''Battle image'',

File:Aniello Falcone - Head of a screaming warrior.jpg, ''Head of a screaming warrior'', drawing,

Kunsthalle Bremen The Kunsthalle Bremen is an art museum in Bremen, Germany. It is located close to the Bremen Old Town on the "Culture Mile" (german: Kulturmeile). The Kunsthalle was built in 1849, enlarged in 1902 by architect Eduard Gildemeister, and expanded ...

File:Ritratto di Masaniello - Aniello Falcone.jpg, ''Portrait of

References

Additional sources

*Pierluigi Leone De Castris, ''Aniello Falcone, the Velàzquez of Naples'', Elio de Rosa editor, 2022

Sources

* *

External links

*
Jusepe de Ribera, 1591-1652
', a full text exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which includes material on Aniello Falcone (see index) {{DEFAULTSORT:Falcone, Aniello 1600 births 1665 deaths 17th-century Neapolitan people 17th-century Italian painters Italian male painters Italian Baroque painters Painters from Naples Italian battle painters