Antonio Ciseri

1821–1891 · Switzerland and Italy

A Swiss-born painter of Florence who spent almost twenty years on a single Ecce Homo.

See the 2 works Walk them in order

From Ticino to Florence

Antonio Ciseri was born in Ronco sopra Ascona, Switzerland, on October 25, 1821, into a family of decorative painters who traveled to Tuscany for work. At twelve he went to Florence and studied at the Academy of Fine Arts, where he later taught and, in 1874–75, served as director.

Sources: Wikipedia, Antonio Ciseri · Canton of Ticino, Madonna del Sasso: Antonio Ciseri

The Transport of Christ to the Sepulchre, 1870–1875

Oil on canvas

Gallery of Modern Art, Pitti Palace, Florence (version)

The Transport of Christ to the Sepulchre

His most famous work in Switzerland, The Transport of Christ to the Sepulchre, was painted in Florence from 1864 to 1870 for a Locarno lawyer, Bartolomeo Rusca, and placed in the Sanctuary of the Madonna del Sasso above Locarno in July 1870. The canton describes its “dramatic light” bringing out Christ’s humanity at the moment of death.

Sources: Canton of Ticino, Madonna del Sasso: Antonio Ciseri · Italian Wikipedia, Santuario della Madonna del Sasso

The Transport of Christ to the Sepulchre, 1870–1875

Oil on canvas

Gallery of Modern Art, Pitti Palace, Florence (version)

Behold the Man

The Italian government commissioned his Ecce Homo in 1871, and Ciseri worked on it until his death in 1891. Pilate presents Jesus to the crowd from behind; the Uffizi notes that no one in the painting shows their face except Pilate’s wife and her servant, and that she seems to whisper her conviction that He is innocent. It hangs in the Gallery of Modern Art at the Pitti Palace in Florence.

Sources: Wikipedia, Antonio Ciseri · Uffizi Galleries, The monumental Ecce Homo by Antonio Ciseri

The Transport of Christ to the Sepulchre, 1870–1875

Oil on canvas

Gallery of Modern Art, Pitti Palace, Florence (version)

The rooms