Aniello Falcone

Aniello Falcone or Ancillo Falcone (15 November 1600Template:Snd1656) was an Italian Baroque painter, active in Naples and noted for his painted depictions of battle scenes.

Biography

File:Falcone, Aniello, The Anchorite, ca 1650.jpg

The Anchorite, (c.1650)

Born in Naples to a tradesman, he showed his artistic tendency at an early age. He first received some instruction from a relative, before becoming a pupil of José de Ribera.Template:Sfn

He is best known for his battle scenes, their subjects taken from both biblical and secular history, and was nicknamed L'Oracolo delle Battaglie.Template:Sfn He gained an international reputation; his works attracted the attention of the Flemish dealer and collector Gaspar Roomer, who sold his work across Europe, and he was one of the artists commissioned by Philip IV of Spain to paint a series of scenes from ancient Roman history for the Buen Retiro palace. He also painted various religious subjects such as the signed and dated Rest on the Flight to Egypt of 1641 (Naples Cathedral) and his frescoes for the chapel of Sant' Agata In S. Paolo Maggiore, Naples of around the same time.

The attribution of his battle scenes is complicated by the similarity of those of his pupil Andrea di Leone, with which they have often been confused.

During the insurrection against Spanish rule led by Masaniello in 1647, he resolved to be bloodily avenged for the death, at the hands of two Spaniards, of a nephew and of a pupil in the school of art which he had established in Naples.Template:Sfn Salvator Rosa, Carlo Coppola, among others, and he formed an armed band called the Compagnia della Morte ("Company of Death").

When the revolt was crushed, Falcone and Rosa made off to Rome, where Borgognone noticed the works of Falcone, and became his friend, and a Frenchman induced him to go to France, where Louis XIV became one of his patrons. Ultimately Jean-Baptiste Colbert obtained permission for the painter to return to Naples,Template:Sfn where he died during the plague of 1656.

Two of his battle pieces are preserved in the Louvre and in the Naples museum; he painted a portrait of Masaniello, and engraved a few plates. His pupils included Salvator Rosa and Carlo Coppola, Domenico Gargiulo (known as Micco Spadaro), Paolo Porpora and Andrea di Lione.Template:Sfn

Gallery

• The Concert, Museo del Prado, Madrid
  The Concert, Museo del Prado, Madrid
• Rest on the flight into Egypt, Diocesan Museum (Naples)
  Rest on the flight into Egypt, Diocesan Museum (Naples)
• Roman soldiers in the circus, Museo del Prado
  Roman soldiers in the circus, Museo del Prado
• Jacob contemplates the bloodied clothes of his son Joseph, Museo nazionale d'arte medievale e moderna della Basilicata, Matera
  Jacob contemplates the bloodied clothes of his son Joseph, Museo nazionale d'arte medievale e moderna della Basilicata, Matera
• The school teacher, Museo di Capodimonte, Naples
  The school teacher, Museo di Capodimonte, Naples
• Samson against the Philistines, Alte Pinakothek, Munich
  Samson against the Philistines, Alte Pinakothek, Munich
• Battle image, Alte Pinakothek
  Battle image, Alte Pinakothek
• Head of a screaming warrior, drawing, Kunsthalle Bremen
  Head of a screaming warrior, drawing, Kunsthalle Bremen
• Head of a soldier with a helmet
  Head of a soldier with a helmet
• Portrait of Masaniello
  Portrait of Masaniello

References

Additional sources

• Pierluigi Leone De Castris, Aniello Falcone, Artem editor, 2025
• Pierluigi Leone De Castris, Aniello Falcone, the Velàzquez of Naples, Elio de Rosa editor, 2022

Sources

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: 

External links

• Jusepe de Ribera, 1591-1652, a full text exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which includes material on Aniello Falcone (see index)