Marco Benefial

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Marco Benefial, self-portrait, 1731

Marco Benefial (born April 25, 1684 in Rome , † April 9, 1764 ibid) was an Italian painter of early classicism in Rome.

Life

Marco Benefial: Vision of St. Catalina Fieschi Adorno , 1747

Benefial was the son of a tulle weaver who immigrated from France. He was a student of Bonaventura Lamberti , who, in contrast to the Baroque ruling in Rome , made him familiar with antiquity and the work of Raphael . He worked with his master in the Sacrament Chapel of St. Peter's Church and in the Carmelite Monastery of San Alberto.

His first work Filippo Neri in Glorie , exhibited in 1703, was rejected by the Congregazione dei Virtuosi al Panteon. In protest, he exhibited his work in the window of a pharmacist and was then commissioned to paint altarpieces for the cathedral of Jesi and Macerata . Due to a lack of follow-up orders, he ran into financial difficulties and had to work as a gilder for several years. In 1711 he entered the workshop of the painter Francesco Germisoni, as a result of which the pictures he painted traded under the name Germisoni. After he had worked for Prince Pamphilij, Pope Clement XI. attention to him, who had Benefial painted pictures for San Giovanni in Laterano and St. Peter's Church in 1718 . Commissions for the nobility and the church in Rome and other cities in Italy followed. A flagellation in the church of Santissime Stimmate di San Francesco is assigned to him uncertainly.

Marco Benefial: Baptism of St. Tranquillino , 1721-25, Museo del Colle del Duomo, Viterbo

In 1746 he was accepted into the Accademia di San Luca . In the late forties he had to give up his independence again and submit to the painter Filippo Evangelisti until he was able to break away from Evangelisti in 1750 through a lucrative commission.

In 1754 he took over the post of rector for the Accademia di San Luca and in 1755 he was in charge of life drawing. After he had sharply criticized the mannerism of his colleagues, he was removed from his offices by the academics on July 27, 1755 and his academic status was denied him. Only through the intercession of some artist friends, the resolution was revoked on November 16, 1755, but without his offices being restored.

He was not denied public recognition and frescoes as well as panel paintings were created , which marked a new path for Roman art of the 18th century. As a declared opponent of Rococo , he is considered a forerunner of classicism , which reached its climax in Italy with his student Anton Raphael Mengs .

Besides Mengs, his students included the Germans Karl Gottfried Tüntzel and Wilhelm Lambert Krahe , the English John Parker , the Portuguese Giacomo Strebel and the Italians Marco Bacciarelli, Domenico De Angelis, Filippo Fidanza, Giovanni Battista Internari, Antonio Jacomini, Carlo Spiridoni Mariotti, Giovanni Battista Ponfredi, Mariano Rossi Giuseppe Ruprà, and Maurizio Sparagnini.

Works (selection)

Marco Benefial (attributed to): Portrait of a lady , Palazzo Buonaccorsi, Macerata
  • Santi Giovanni e Paolo (Rome) : San Saturnio (1716)
  • San Giovanni in Laterano (Rome): Jonas (1718)
  • Viterbo Cathedral : cycle of frescoes from the life of St. Lawrence (1720–27)
  • Monastery Church of Santa Maria dei Sette Dolori (Rome): Pieta and Saints (1721)
  • Fitzwilliam Museum ( Cambridge ): panel painting The Vision of Filippi Neri (1721)
  • Santa Maria delle Fornaci (Rome): lunette frescoes stories from the life of John the Baptist
  • Chiesa del Bambin Gesù (Rome): Altarpiece Adoration of the Shepherds (1733/36)
  • Collegiata del Crocifisso ( Monreale ): Four panel paintings (1722–27)
  • Santa Maria in Aracoeli (Rome): Two panel paintings from the life of Margaret of Cortona (1729–32)
  • Santa Maria della Quercia (Rome): panel painting Baptism of Christ (around 1738)
  • Palazzo Chigi-Zondadari ( Siena ): Fresco Sibylle (1743)
  • Cathedral of Città di Castello : frescoed stories from the life of San Florido
  • Santissima Trinità degli Spagnoli (Rome): panel Martyrdom of Saint Agnes (1750)
  • Chiesa di San Filippo ( Macerata ): panel painting vision of Saint Anthony of Padua (1755)

literature

Web links

Commons : Marco Benefial  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Benefial, Marco
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian painter
DATE OF BIRTH April 25, 1684
PLACE OF BIRTH Rome
DATE OF DEATH April 9, 1764
Place of death Rome