1771 -1844 · Rome and great neoclassical painting

Sculptural gestures, ancient architecture and political tension make Vincenzo Camuccini the great history painter of neoclassical Rome.

Vincenzo Camuccini was born in Rome in 1771 and died there in 1844. Son of the copyist Pietro Camuccini, he learned to draw from Renaissance masters at a very young age and trained with Domenico Corvi. At the time when Rome became the international center of neoclassicism, he built a painting based on the clarity of drawing, knowledge of Antiquity and the dramaturgy of gesture. The Death of Caesar, undertaken at the end of the 1790s and completed at the beginning of the 19th century, established his reputation. In the space of the Senate, the conspirators converged on Caesar; In the space of the Senate, the conspirators converged on Caesar; each arm, each look and each drape contributes to making readable the moment when power shifts. Camuccini does not seek it confusion of a real melee. He arranges the protagonists like a living frieze, in an order reminiscent of Raphael, Poussin and David, while giving the episode a contemporary urgency. He also painted The Death of Virginia, major religious subjects and numerous portraits, including those of Pius VII and European personalities passing through Rome. His institutional activity is considerable: prince of the Academy of Saint-Luc, inspector of public paintings, restorer and advisor, he participated in the protection and organization of Roman heritage after the Napoleonic upheavals. An excellent designer, he prepared his great compositions through multiple studies figures and also contributes to the engraved diffusion of his models. His art embodies the transition between the classical ideal of the 18th century and the historical sensitivity of the 19th century. The "Vincenzo Camuccini" selection notably compares The Death of Caesar. His reading favors atmosphere.

Camuccini transforms history into moral theater: architecture orders the stage while gesture reveals human decision.