La Liguria benedetta dal cielo
Acquerello, firmato e datato 1797
In 1797 in Genoa the factory of the basilica of N. S. delle Vigne held a competition for a fresco to be painted in the apse of the church, which was to celebrate the beginning of the Ligurian Democratic Republic and the continuity of Mary's protection over the city. Two painters joined it, Giuseppe Costa and Santino Tagliafichi. The latter prepared a complex allegory in which Liguria, represented at the bottom of the drawing, tramples the insignia of the aristocracy, while the figure of the Religion indicates Mary as the protector of the state. The title, the date and the artist's signature appear on the lower left on a marble scroll. The work was not completed and the drawing presented here is the definitive sketch, the only and significant testimony of a convulsive historical and political moment in the city.
Bibliography
G.Bozzo, Santino Tagliafichi (1756-1829). Tradizione e modernità a Genova tra Sette e Ottocento, Genova, Sagep, 2013
SANTINO TAGLIAFICHI
Genoa, 1756-1829
Trained at the Ligustica Academy of Fine Arts in Genoa, he was a cultured painter who reformed the style without ever abandoning the lines of the Genoese painting tradition of which he was a profound connoisseur, thus creating a singular synthesis between Rococo and the new classical taste.
With the fall of the Republic he also became an expert and mediator for the purchase and sale of works in the collections of the city aristocracy.
He shared with his brother Andrea, architect and leading figure in the transition from Baroque to Neoclassicism, the transition period of the early nineteenth century which, beyond the artistic taste, saw the definitive change in the social and political order of the city.
