Lot 8: Festa sulle colline di Firenze

Ferdinando Folchi (Italian, 1822 - 1893)
Festa sulle colline di Firenze
signed, inscribed and dated 'Ferd Folchi dip. l'anno 1863 a Firenze' (lower left on the rock)
oil on canvas
45 x 68 in. (114.3 x 172.7 cm.)
Painted in 1863.

Ferdinando Folchi was born in Florence in 1822, early in the Risorgimento , a political and social movement in Italy that sought the unification of the different states of the country into a single nation. Folchi's paintings are imbued with a historical and distinctly Italian identity that inspired those pressing for national solidarity.

Folchi was a disciple of Pietro Benvenuti, Francisco Sabatelli and Giuseppe Bezzuoli. While Benvenuti's student, he was commissioned to decorate the Church of San Felice in the Palazzo Pitti, a masterpiece of Florentine and Renaissance architecture that was used as the principal royal palace for the newly-united Italy. He was also commissioned by Vittorio Emanuele II, the first King of a unified Italy, to paint an episode from the Sack of Rome of 1527.

Folchi was known for his skill in painting animals, architecture, costume, and landscape in his genre scenes. He painted religious or historic frescoes and canvases, but also genre scenes similar to the present canvas. Here the scene is set on a hill overlooking Florence. The merriment of pastoral life is expressed through various vignettes: the joyous folk dance and amateur musicians, enraptured onlookers, new arrivals on horseback, a child and his dog, a chess game, and a lovers' embrace. Each of these elements could stand alone, but Folchi skillfully assembles them all into a fluid tableau. The influence of his teacher, Benvenuti, is evident in the elements of Neoclassism in the composition: the S-curves of the women, hand-in hand like the Three Graces of antiquity, and the loose fabric of their dresses which folds and flows, add a sculptural dimension to their lightly dancing bodies. One might find a similarity between Folchi's women and the neoclassical sculptor Canova's Three Graces, but Folchi is also indebted to the masters of the Rinascimento , such as Botticelli, in the lightness of the figures and his soft coloration.

Folchi's works were painted for public spaces, such as in the hall of frescos in the Sansoni Trombetta Palace which illustrates the stories of famous heroines. His other works include the Miracle of San Francesco in the Chiesa di San Lorenzo. Other works are preserved elsewhere in Italy, England, France, and America. He died in his beloved city of Florence, having dedicated a lifetime of painting to the New Republic.