| Popis: |
This study examines the rich iconographic tradition of a painting by an unknown artist from the collections of Galleria Nazionale in Rome's Palazzo Barberini. The baroque picture depicting the bust of a young woman wearing a plain white robe and a cloth around the head in the fashion of a turban, was erroneously identified at the end of the 18th century as portrait of the Italian noblewoman Beatrice Cenci, who was executed in 1599 for complicity in the murder of her father Francesco Cenci. As Francesco had been jailed for many crimes and was known for tyrannical treatment of his family, general sympathy went out to Beatrice. She was admired for her beauty and the courage with which she faced imprisonment and torture. The dramatic case was exacerbated by a suspicion raised by the Cenci lawyer that Francesco had sexually abused his daughter Beatrice. Although this suspicion has never been confirmed, it brought Beatrice the aureole of a martyr. General fascination with the lot of the young noblewoman became a romantic legend at the time of Beatrice's imprisonment. In popular oral tradition it lived on for several centuries. In the middle of the 18th century the Cenci story appeared in a popular chronicle, Annali D'Italia, published by the Italian scholar Muratori. In late 18th century, a painting of a young... |
