CISERI, ANTONIO. — Painter, born in Ronco in the canton of Ticino in 1821, died in Florence in 1891.
A pupil of Bezzuoli in Florence, where he had moved in 1833, he inherited from his master solid academic training and a fervor for Romantic ideas, but he strengthened his own style through the study of the ancients and careful observation of reality. He painted some of the most celebrated religious works of the last century. Well-known are: The Maccabees (Florentine church of S. Felicita, 1863); The Transport of Christ (Madonna del Sasso in Locarno, 1871); The Ecce Homo (Galleria d'arte moderna in Florence, 1890). These paintings are masterfully composed with a keen dramatic sense. His drawings are admirable, his portraits masterful, and his sketches rapid and effective.
CISERI, ANTONIO
BIBL.: G. Rosati, La vita e l'opera di A. C., Florence 1916; L. Ferretti, A. C., pittore cristiano, Fiesole 1923; G. Rovella, A. C. e la sua linea d'arte, in Civ. Catt., 1941, IV, pp. 14-24.