upright 1.2, ''Saint Andrew among the Saints Batholomew, Carlo Borromeo, Lucy and Apollonia'', ca. 1710–1716 Federico Bencovich (1667 – 8 July 1753) was a late

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 from

Dalmatia Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see #Name, names in other languages) is one of the four historical region, historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of ...

working in Italy. He is best known as ''Federico Bencovich'' or ''Federigo'' or ''Federighetto'' or ''Dalmatino''. In modern Croatia he is known as ''Federiko Benković''.

Life

He was born Federico Bencovich (as he signed his own name) somewhere in

Venetian Dalmatia Venetian Dalmatia ( la, Dalmatia Veneta) refers to parts of Dalmatia under the rule of the Republic of Venice, mainly from the 15th to the 18th centuries. Dalmatia was first sold to Venice in 1409 but Venetian Dalmatia was not fully consolidated f ...

. His exact birthplace is unknown, but it could have been either in

Omiš Omiš (, Latin and it, Almissa) is a town and port in the Dalmatia region of Croatia, and is a municipality in the Split-Dalmatia County. The town is situated approximately south-east of Croatia's second largest city, Split. Its location is wh ...

, Šibenik, the island of Brač, Dubrovnik, or possibly

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

itself. His initial training was likely in Venice, but later Bencovich apprenticed with Carlo Cignani in Bologna, assisting him in 1706 in completing the frescoes of the ''Assumption of the Virgin'' on the dome of the

Forlì cathedral Forlì ( , ; rgn, Furlè ; la, Forum Livii) is a ''comune'' (municipality) and city in Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, and is the capital of the province of Forlì-Cesena. It is the central city of Romagna. The city is situated along the Via E ...

. His first independent work, ''Juno on the clouds'', was painted in 1705. He also appears to have worked in the studio of Giuseppe Maria Crespi. In 1710 Bencovich painted the altarpiece of ''

St. Andrew Andrew the Apostle ( grc-koi, Ἀνδρέᾱς, Andréās ; la, Andrēās ; , syc, ܐܰܢܕ݁ܪܶܐܘܳܣ, ʾAnd’reʾwās), also called Saint Andrew, was an apostle of Jesus according to the New Testament. He is the brother of Simon Peter ...

on the cross surrounded by

St. Bartholomew Bartholomew (Aramaic: ; grc, Βαρθολομαῖος, translit=Bartholomaîos; la, Bartholomaeus; arm, Բարթողիմէոս; cop, ⲃⲁⲣⲑⲟⲗⲟⲙⲉⲟⲥ; he, בר-תולמי, translit=bar-Tôlmay; ar, بَرثُولَماو� ...

, St. Carolus Borromei,

St. Lucia Saint Lucia ( acf, Sent Lisi, french: Sainte-Lucie) is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. The island was previously called Iouanalao and later Hewanorra, names given by the native Arawaks and Caribs, two Amerin ...

, and St. Apollonia'' for the church of ''Madonna del Piombo'' in Bologna, later transferred to the parish church of Senonches near

Chartres Chartres () is the prefecture of the Eure-et-Loir department in the Centre-Val de Loire region in France. It is located about southwest of Paris. At the 2019 census, there were 170,763 inhabitants in the metropolitan area of Chartres (as d ...

in France. By 1715, he came to the service of the

Archbishop-Elector of Mainz The Elector of Mainz was one of the seven Prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire. As both the Archbishop of Mainz and the ruling prince of the Electorate of Mainz, the Elector of Mainz held a powerful position during the Middle Ages. The Archb ...

Lothar Franz von Schönborn and was to complete four large canvas masterpieces for the gallery in the Schloss Weißenstein in the town of Pommersfelden: ''Apollo and Marcia'', ''Hagar and Ishmael in the Desert'', ''Iphigenia’s sacrifice'' and ''Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac''. His last years were spent in Gorizia. After his death he gradually fell into oblivion, and his paintings were attributed to Piazzetta or Cignani, amongst others. Federiko Benković - Osvoboditev sv. Petra iz ječe.jpg, Bencovich's paintings ''Saving Saint Peter from prison'' Federico Bencovich - Hagar and Ishmael in the Desert.jpg, ''Hagar and Ishmael in the Desert'' Federico Bencovich - Iphigenia’s Sacrifice.jpg, ''Iphigenia’s sacrifice'' Abraham s sacrifice of Isaac - Federico Bencovich.jpg, '' Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac'' Franziskus von Paola.jpg, ''

Saint Francis of Paola Francis of Paola, O.M., (or: Francesco di Paola or Francis the Fire Handler; 27 March 1416 – 2 April 1507) was an Italian mendicant friar and the founder of the Roman Catholic Order of Minims. Unlike the majority of founders of men's religiou ...

'' (etching by

Giovanni Marco Pitteri Giovanni Marco Pitteri (1703–1767) was an Italian engraver of the late Baroque period in his native Venice. He engraved densely incised portraits with shading of almost photographic quality. He is said to have trained under Giovanni Antonio Fal ...

after Bencovich)

Analysis

The dramatic, often tortured, poses and lighting of his figures are placed within earthy tenebrist backgrounds. He uses Piazzetta's and

Sebastiano Ricci Sebastiano Ricci (1 August 165915 May 1734) was an Italian painter of the late Baroque school of Venice. About the same age as Piazzetta, and an elder contemporary of Tiepolo, he represents a late version of the vigorous and luminous Cortonesqu ...

's unfinished and ragged brushstrokes, but superimposes a startling mystical imprint that is often foreign to the magisterial and olympian Venetian painting, and more akin to the Baroque painters from Northern Italy,

Alessandro Magnasco Alessandro Magnasco (February 4, 1667 – March 12, 1749), also known as il Lissandrino, was an Italian late-Baroque painter active mostly in Milan and Genoa. He is best known for stylized, fantastic, often phantasmagoric genre or landscape sce ...

and Francesco Cairo. ''Abraham's Sacrifice of Isaac''Now in the Strossmayer gallery in Croatia, after they bought the painting at a London auction in 1936. is probably the painting that disappeared from the castle of Pommersfelden at the beginning of the 19th century. Until that time, the painting was attributed to Piazzetta.

Works

* Zagreb, Strossmayer Gallery, ''Sacrifizio d'Isacco'', 1720 *Forlì, Palazzo Orselli Foschi, ''Giunone'' (''Juno'') *Brescia, Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo, ''Madonna in trono con santi'' (sketch) * Berlin, Staatliche Museen, ''Madonna e santi'', 1730 – 1735 * Bologna, Pinacoteca Nazionale, ''Il beato Pietro Gambacorta'', incisione, c. 1728 *

Borgo San Giacomo Borgo San Giacomo (Brescian: ) is a ''comune'' in the province of Brescia The Province of Brescia ( it, provincia di Brescia; Brescian: ) is a Province in the Lombardy administrative region of northern Italy. It has a population of some 1,265,9 ...

, Verolanuova, Brescia, Chiesa del Castello: ''Deposizione'', c. 1735 * Crema, Church of the Holy Trinity: ''Estasi di S. Francesco da Paola'', 1724 * Pommersfelden, Weißenstein Castle, ''Hagar and Ishmael in the desert''; ''The Sacrifice of Iphigenia'', c. 1715. * Senonches, France, parish, ''Crucifixion of St. Andrew and Saints'', c. 1725 *

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

, Staats-Galerie, ''Adoration of the Magi'', c. 1725 *Tomo,

Feltre Feltre ( vec, Fèltre) is a town and ''comune'' of the province of Belluno in Veneto, northern Italy. A hill town in the southern reaches of the province, it is located on the Stizzon River, about from its junction with the Piave, and southwes ...

, parish, ''Fuga in Egitto'', c. 1709 *Venice, Church of S. Sebastiano: ''Il beato Pietro Gambacorta'', c. 1726 *Venice, Gallerie dell'Accademia, ''Autoritratto'', c. 1735 *Venice, Museo Correr, ''Fuga in Egitto'', drawings, c. 1720 *Vienna, Albertina: ''Departing for Egypt'', ''Rest while escaping in Egypt'', c. 1745; drawings: ''St. Francis of Paola''; ''Ecstasy of St. Francis of Assisi''; ''Death of St. Benedict''

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benkovic, Federiko 1667 births 1753 deaths 17th-century Croatian people 18th-century Croatian people 18th-century Italian people 17th-century Italian painters Italian male painters 18th-century Italian painters Dalmatian Italians Bencovich, Federigo Croatian painters Italian people of Croatian descent People from Dalmatia 18th-century Italian male artists