MACCARI, CESARE

MACCARI, CESARE. - Painter, b. in Siena on 9 May 1840, d. in Rome on 7 Aug. 1919.

In his homeland he was successively a pupil of the sculptor T. Sarrocchi and of the painter Luigi Mussini, then he was in Venice and in Rome, where he began his successful career as a fresco painter, painting in the vault of the church of the Sudario the glory of the five blessed of the House of Savoy and in the Choir the Meeting of St. Francis de Sales with the ven. Ancina and St. Anselm at the Council of Bari.

In 1882 M. undertook another vast decorative work, that of the frescoes of the hall of the Senate with scenes from ancient Roman history and the allegory of the Triumph of Italy. The work lasted six years, during which M. also painted frescoes in the church of the Consolazione in Genoa, in the Vittorio Emanuele hall of the Palazzo pubblico in Siena and in the chapels of the Franchi and Piccolomini families in the cemetery of the Misericordia, as well as in that of the Sacrament in S. Domenico of the same city. Having completed that important cycle of paintings, in which his strong temperament, his great faculty as a draughtsman and colourist, by which he sometimes seems to link himself to the best Italian decorative tradition of the 18th century, were able to express themselves fully, M. in 1888 undertook his major work: the decoration of the dome of the Basilica of the S. Casa at Loreto, where the Virgin is glorified in the figuration of the Litany.