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Cannibal Count Ugolino - SOLD Artwork - Limited Edition of 1
Italy
Mixed Media, Painting on Canvas
Size: 11.8 W x 18.1 H x 2 D in
Ships in a Crate
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About The Artwork
Count Ugolino della Ghererdesca was accused of one of the more heinous crimes in Italian history. The alleged crime took place in the Pisa of 1289, but we all know that Italians and art and literary historians take a longer view. The known facts are as follows. The Count was a leader of Pisa's Guelph (pro-Papal) faction in the seemingly interminable internecine battles that consumed all the northern Italian cities in those days. Ugolino had earlier conspired with the local Archbishop, Ruggieri degli Ubaldini, to come to power in the predominantly Ghibelline (pro-Holy Roman Emperor) city. But, as might have been expected in times of constantly shifting alliances, and with a change of Popes, Ruggieri had switched sides leaving Ugolino undefended. The Guelphs were routed, and Ugolino, along with two sons and two grandsons (nephews, in some versions of the story), were imprisoned in Gualandi Tower, one of the medieval towers overlooking Piazza dei Cavalieri, which is still the central Piazza of Pisa. On orders from the Archbishop, they were all starved to death, and, since then, the tower has been called Torre della Fame, the Tower of Hunger. Exactly what happened in the tower has never really been known, but it wasn't long before rumors surfaced that, to save his own life, Count Ugolino had devoured the younger men as they died one by one. Dante, in Canto 33 of his Inferno meets the Count in the lowest level of hell and discusses the case. According to Dante, Ugolino explains his presence in this deepest pit: he admitted that he had eaten his kin, having allowed his own desire to survive to overcome any gustatory scruples. Dante finds Ugolino gnawing on a skull, and Ugolino says that it is the skull of Ruggieri, the erstwhile friend who had betrayed and imprisoned him. Based on his own literary admission, Count Ugolino has come down through history as the Cannibal Count.
Details & Dimensions
Mixed Media:Painting on Canvas
Artist Produced Limited Edition of:1
Size:11.8 W x 18.1 H x 2 D in
Frame:Not Framed
Ready to Hang:Not applicable
Packaging:Ships in a Crate
Shipping & Returns
Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.
Handling:Ships in a wooden crate for additional protection of heavy or oversized artworks. Crated works are subject to an $80 care and handling fee. Artists are responsible for packaging and adhering to Saatchi Art’s packaging guidelines.
Ships From:Italy.
Customs:Shipments from Italy may experience delays due to country's regulations for exporting valuable artworks.
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Giovanni Scifo is a realist figurative painter and illustrator, born in Agrigento in 1978. He began his studies at the Faculty of Architecture in Palermo and in 1999 he won a scholarship and moved to New York where he graduated in Visual Arts at the “NYFA”. From 2001 to 2007 he lives in Rome where he works at “Panorama Films” as a storyboard artist and concept artist in various mainstream film productions. In 2007 he was appointed delegate in charge of "Cisl Arte" for the province of Agrigento. In 2014, together with other artists, he founded the “Artificio” studio in Agrigento. In 2015 he followed classical painting studies in Amsterdam and the prestigious Dutch art magazine "Palet" dedicated an article on his work. In 2016 he perfected his knowledge in the field of classical pictorial disciplines and in the drawing of the figure and portrait at the "Russian Academy of Art" in Florence, studying with some of the most important drawing teachers of the Imperial "Repin" Academy in St. Petersburg. . He has created several pictorial works for prestigious clients and institutional bodies, some of these: "The Seven Works of Mercy", for the Caritas Diocesana of Agrigento (inaugurated on the occasion of the 2015 Jubilee), and the painting "The Night of Sigonella" for Provincial Command of the Carabinieri of Agrigento at the "Biagio Pistone" Barracks (delivered in 2017, for the 203th anniversary of the Carabinieri Foundation). His works are exhibited in private and public collections in various international galleries and museums including: “Galerie Oberkampf”, Paris (France); Civic Museum of Medgidia (Romania); Gallery of the "UMCK" Academy of Fine Arts in Lublin (Poland); “Galleria Vittoria”, Via Margutta (Rome); “Pax Cecilia Mythos”, New York (USA); “Roster Vilnius” (Lithuania). Over the years, he has earned several awards and prizes. He currently lives and works in Agrigento where he continues his activity and teaches drawing and painting at the “Studio Artificio”.
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