1559 -1613 · Tuscany, Florence and Rome

Observation of nature, sensitive light and expressive fervor place Cigoli at the forefront of the Florentine reform around 1600.

Ludovico Cardi, known as Cigoli after his native village in Tuscany, was born in 1559. Trained in Florence with Alessandro Allori, he gradually moved away from the cold Mannerist elegance to rediscover the modeling, color and emotion of the masters of the 16th century. His interest in anatomy, perspective and natural observation joins the scientific research of his friend Galileo. Painter, designer and architect, Cigoli developed a flexible way where light constructs bodies and intensifies sacred drama. The Sacrifice of Isaac suspends the gesture at the most tense moment: the angel intervenes, Abraham turns around and Isaac's flesh captures an almost tangible clarity. In the Deposition from the Cross, the weight of the body, the hands that support it and the reactions of loved ones organize a collective emotion. Called to Rome at the beginning of the 17th century, Cigoli worked for major sponsors and created in Santa Maria Maggiore a famous Virgin of the Immaculate Conception where the moon bears the irregularities observed by Galileo. Died in Rome in 1613, he left a pivotal work, contemporary with Caravaggio and the Carracci, which combines the science of the gaze and the spirituality of color. Died in Rome in 1613, he left a pivotal work, contemporary with Caravaggio and the Carracci, which combines the science of the gaze and the spirituality of color. Died in Rome in 1613, he left a pivotal work, contemporary with Caravaggio and the Carracci, which combines the science of the gaze and the spirituality of color. The "Ludovico Cigoli" selection notably compares The Deposition from the Cross and The Sacrifice of Isaac. His reading favors drawing.

Cigoli observes before moving: the truth of the body, light and gesture gives the sacred story its immediate force.