Pietro Benvenuti

Pietro Benvenuti (8 January 1769 – 3 February 1844) was an Italian neoclassical painter.

Born in Arezzo, he was influenced by the style of Jacques-Louis David. He was a student of the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence, then studied in Rome, 1792-1803, where he formed an informal academy with his friend of long standing, Vincenzo Cammuccini, and Luigi Sabatelli. He returned to practice in Arezzo and was called in 1807 to be court painter to Elisa Bonaparte Baciocchi and to direct the Florentine Academy. With a group of collaborators and students Benvenuti was commissioned in 1811-12 to decorate the new rooms in Palazzo Pitti, where he painted the Salon of Hercules'.

Another prestigious commission, from the restored Grand Duke of Tuscany, Leopold II, was to fresco the dome of the Capella Medicea at the San Lorenzo, depicting eight grand subjects, taken from the Old and the New Testament, the four Prophets and the four Evangelists. Under his guidance, Carlo Lassinio engraved the Luca Giordano frescoes in Palazzo Medici-Riccardi. He was an associate of the Accademia di Brera, Milan. He died at Florence, while holding the post of Director of the Accademia di Belle Arti Firenze, the academy of fine arts in Florence.

He should not be confused with the 16th century architect Pietro Benvenuto degli Ordini.

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