ADEMOLLO, Luigi - b. 1764 Milano, d. 1849 Firenze - WGA

ADEMOLLO, Luigi

(b. 1764 Milano, d. 1849 Firenze)

Italian painter. He enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts of Brera in Milan, his teachers were Giuliano Traballesi, Giocondo Albertolli and Giuseppe Piermarini. In 1788 he arrived in Florence and executed, in 1789, the decorations of the Teatro della Pergola. The same year he was appointed professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence.

He spent his life mainly in Florence and Rome. His abilities as a decorator were accompanied by considerable literary culture. In Florence he worked in the chapel of the Palazzo Pitti and in various rooms of the same palace, in the Basilica della Santissima Annunziata, in the Pucci and Capponi palaces. He also worked for churches in Bergamo, Brescia, Lucca, Livorno, Pisa and Siena. In Arezzo, he executed frescoes of scenes from the Old and New Testament.

Episodes in Roman History
Episodes in Roman History by

Episodes in Roman History

Ademollo decorated the walls of the Sala degli Staffieri (Room of the Staff) with frescoes depicting scenes from Roman history and showing ancient Roman monuments.

The picture shows Plotilla in the Domus Aureus.

Episodes in Roman History
Episodes in Roman History by

Episodes in Roman History

Ademollo decorated the walls of the Sala degli Staffieri (Room of the Staff) with frescoes depicting scenes from Roman history and showing ancient Roman monuments.

The picture shows The Emperor’s Triumph.

Episodes in Roman History
Episodes in Roman History by

Episodes in Roman History

Ademollo decorated the walls of the Sala degli Staffieri (Room of the Staff) with frescoes depicting scenes from Roman history and showing ancient Roman monuments.

The picture shows a detail of the scene Events in the Life of Licinius Sura.

Fresco decoration (detail)
Fresco decoration (detail) by

Fresco decoration (detail)

The Palazzo Bianchi-Bandinelli was built for Julio Blanch Bandied, who was a major figure in Napoleonic Siena, chamberlain for the Queen of Mercurial in 1804, mayor of the city in 1810, and prefect of the district of Ambrose in 1814. During the Restoration he was a governor and lieutenant-general of the Lorraine grand duke of Tuscany. The building of the palazzo was designed to mirror the personality, celebrating the features of Neo-classical art, beauty and grace, as the criteria of grandeur.

The interior has a suite of rooms on the ‘piano Mobile’ which rejoices in the frescoes of Luigi Ademollo: they breathe the grace and Olympian calm of the Greek and Roman myths, The Marriage of Alexander and Roxana, and The Sacrifices of Numa. In contrast with these is the ‘forest room’ where a decoration of buildings and scenes of nature merges into endless greenery, creating illusory scenic prospects that rise to the changing sky of the ceiling and are lost in the dream-like images of the garden outside.

The picture shows a detail of the decoration of the rooms on the piano nobile of the palazzo, entirely frescoed by Ademollo with mythological subjects, including griffins and garlands of flowers, and some ‘woodland’ decoration from a series of trompe-l’oeil landscapes.

Fresco decoration (detail)
Fresco decoration (detail) by

Fresco decoration (detail)

The Palazzo Bianchi-Bandinelli was built for Julio Blanch Bandied, who was a major figure in Napoleonic Siena, chamberlain for the Queen of Mercurial in 1804, mayor of the city in 1810, and prefect of the district of Ambrose in 1814. During the Restoration he was a governor and lieutenant-general of the Lorraine grand duke of Tuscany. The building of the palazzo was designed to mirror the personality, celebrating the features of Neo-classical art, beauty and grace, as the criteria of grandeur.

The interior has a suite of rooms on the ‘piano Mobile’ which rejoices in the frescoes of Luigi Ademollo: they breathe the grace and Olympian calm of the Greek and Roman myths, The Marriage of Alexander and Roxana, and The Sacrifices of Numa. In contrast with these is the ‘forest room’ where a decoration of buildings and scenes of nature merges into endless greenery, creating illusory scenic prospects that rise to the changing sky of the ceiling and are lost in the dream-like images of the garden outside.

The picture shows a detail of the decoration of the rooms on the piano nobile of the palazzo, entirely frescoed by Ademollo with mythological subjects, including griffins and garlands of flowers, and some ‘woodland’ decoration from a series of trompe-l’oeil landscapes.

Fresco decoration (detail)
Fresco decoration (detail) by

Fresco decoration (detail)

The Palazzo Bianchi-Bandinelli was built for Julio Blanch Bandied, who was a major figure in Napoleonic Siena, chamberlain for the Queen of Mercurial in 1804, mayor of the city in 1810, and prefect of the district of Ambrose in 1814. During the Restoration he was a governor and lieutenant-general of the Lorraine grand duke of Tuscany. The building of the palazzo was designed to mirror the personality, celebrating the features of Neo-classical art, beauty and grace, as the criteria of grandeur.

The interior has a suite of rooms on the ‘piano Mobile’ which rejoices in the frescoes of Luigi Ademollo: they breathe the grace and Olympian calm of the Greek and Roman myths, The Marriage of Alexander and Roxana, and The Sacrifices of Numa. In contrast with these is the ‘forest room’ where a decoration of buildings and scenes of nature merges into endless greenery, creating illusory scenic prospects that rise to the changing sky of the ceiling and are lost in the dream-like images of the garden outside.

The picture shows a detail of the decoration of the rooms on the piano nobile of the palazzo, entirely frescoed by Ademollo with mythological subjects, including griffins and garlands of flowers, and some ‘woodland’ decoration from a series of trompe-l’oeil landscapes.

The Menorah
The Menorah by

The Menorah

This scene is a detail of the fresco cycle in the Room of the Ark. This shows the preparation of a Jewish festivity that is about to take place under a tentlike structure. Baskets of bread and jars of wine are being set up for distribution to the crowds during the celebration. The display of the massive menorah, a golden candelabrum with seven arms, serves as the dominating symbol of the Jewish people.

Transportation of the Ark of the Covenant Containing the Tablets of the Law
Transportation of the Ark of the Covenant Containing the Tablets of the Law by

Transportation of the Ark of the Covenant Containing the Tablets of the Law

This scene is a detail of the fresco cycle in the Room of the Ark. Billowing clouds of aromatic incense surround the Ark of the Covenant, which is being carried in a solemn procession into the city of Jerusalem. The high priest of the Temple leads the pageant with the tabernacle containing the sacred Tablets of the Law.

View of the Palatine Chapel
View of the Palatine Chapel by

View of the Palatine Chapel

The decorations of the chapel in the Palazzo Pitti are due to Luigi Ademollo, who painted the religious panels as well as the simulated bas-reliefs in grisaille technique of the organ balcony. They represent the Neoclassical taste of the early years of the nineteenth century, when for some time Napoleon had installed members of his family as the rulers of Tuscany.

View of the Room of the Ark
View of the Room of the Ark by

View of the Room of the Ark

Luigi Ademollo, an Italian painter, draftsman, and engraver, was the uncle of the painter Carlo Ademollo (1825-1911). The Tuscan activities of this Lombard painter contributed to the establishing of modern Nea-Classical aesthetics in Florence. His decorative scenographic paintings on subjects drawn from mythology and Greek and Roman history, rich in grandiloquent archeologisms. certainly produced responses from local artists. Two representative examples of Ademollo’s style and language are the painting decoration of the Palatine Chapel (1791-92) and of the later (1816) Sala dell’Arca (Room of the Ark) in the Pitti palace.

Ademollo decorated the Room of the Ark with biblical scenes inspired by the history surrounding the Holy Ark of the Jewish people. Before the backdrop of classical architecture, a multitude of people are moving in a frieze-like procession with the Holy Ark being carried under the leadership of the high priest. The scenes are rich in narrative detail and reveal the artist’s ability for elaborate historical recreations.

View of the Room of the Ark
View of the Room of the Ark by

View of the Room of the Ark

Luigi Ademollo, an Italian painter, draftsman, and engraver, was the uncle of the painter Carlo Ademollo (1825-1911). He decorated this room with biblical scenes inspired by the history surrounding the Holy Ark of the Jewish people. Before the backdrop of classical architecture, a multitude of people are moving in a frieze-like procession with the Holy Ark being carried under the leadership of the high priest. The scenes are rich in narrative detail and reveal the artist’s ability for elaborate historical recreations.

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