GIUSEPPE PINACCI (Siena, 1642 - 1718) Battle between Turkish and European cavalry Oil on canvas, 92X151 cm Provenance: Milan, private collection In Florence, the battaglistic genre did not enjoy a wide public of admirers. However, after Salvator Rosa's sojourn, the fame of Michelangelo Cerquozzi and the fame of Jacques Courtois known as Borgognone (documented in Siena and Florence before 1640), interest was felt by the most discerning collectors. In 1648, in fact, Fabrizio Piermattei (one of the main Medici agents in Rome) wrote to Giovan Carlo that 'Borgognone carries himself very well in battles and goes by a manner very similar to that of Rosa' (cf. Barbolani, Landscape and Battle in Florence after Salvator Rosa, in Firenze milleseicentoquaranta. Arti, lettere, musica, scienza, edited by E. Fumagalli, A. Nova, M. Rossi, proceedings of the international conference (Florence, 11-12 December 2008) Venice 2010, pp. 325-348). Rosa's and Borgognone's contribution was therefore decisive, also facilitated by the chronicles of the war against the Turks, the numerous civil uprisings and the thirty-year conflict that shook Europe, events that conditioned the collective imagination and, as a result, the genre of battle became the protagonist of the paintings. Having said this, the artists who came to prominence were mostly foreigners, such as the Pole Pandolfo Reschi (Gdansk, 1643 - Florence, 1699) and the Sienese Giuseppe Pinacci, but it is important to note that both frequented the workshop of the Italianised Flemish artist Livio Mehus, and then relied on the teachings of the Burgundian. Having said this, the personality of the Sienese artist is still elusive, although his mobility and intellectual vivacity is attested by his frequentation in Naples of the Marquis de Carpio and Father Resta, with whom he founded a 'platonic school' dedicated to the discussion of artistic subjects, also marking his style curiously influenced by the examples of Coppola and Gian Luigi Ruocco. Returning to the canvas presented here, Borgognone's teaching is unmistakable, particularly for the depiction of the combat described with realism and careful direction, which emphasises the vortex of violence that finds its climax in the centre of the canvas, with the knight vibrating sword strokes in a surprisingly realistic manner. Reference bibliography: C. Monbeig Goguel, Un nouveau regard sur Giuseppe Pinacci entre Naples et la Toscane, in Studi di Storia dell'Arte in onore di Mina Gregori, Cinisello Balsamo 1994, pp. 301-306 G. Sestieri, I pittori di battaglie. Maestri italiani e stranieri del XVII e XVIII secolo, Roma 1999, pp. 402-405, figs. 1-8, table IV, pp. 110-112