First School of Fontainebleau

First School of Fontainebleau; possibly LUCA PENNI, second third of the 16th century.
"The Heroism of Mucius Scevola.
Oil on panel. Engatillada.
It has an export permit.
It has restorations.
It has a 19th century frame with faults.
Measurements: 138 x 228 cm; 156 x 249 cm (frame).
Since the Renaissance and until the dissolution of the academies, the historical paintings have enjoyed a great popularity among the public and the critics, since they allowed the author to display all his skill in the composition, the veracity of the anatomy and the quality of the details. This work, which depicts the heroism of Mucius Scevola, is an example of the above, although due to the artist's mastery the painting goes far beyond the above. The subject, based on the history of Rome, shows us in a narrative manner how, in the foreground, Gaius Mucius Scevola is captured by the soldiers of Porsena, king of Clusium, after having killed a man mistakenly thought to be the king and thus freeing the siege of the Tarquinii on the banks of the Tiber. The second shot reveals how shortly afterwards Caius Mucius appears before the king to kill him in the name of Rome and as punishment for his mistake places his right hand on a pyre, whereupon the king of Clusium, in admiration for his courage, decides to lay down his arms. The presence of the coins on the table on which the deceased rests his arm reveals the face of Charles V, thus showing how the artist allegorises a historical fact in analogy with his own present and the political events of his time, severely marked by the consequences of the Sack of Rome, which took place in 1527. This subtle but effective feature adds a moral component to the scene, which is no longer a merely descriptive image but an attempt to convey a moral to the viewer.
Aesthetically, the complexity of the composition, the quality of the way the figures are arranged, the interest in the large format to accommodate a classical subject, the way they are configured and the use of colour indicate that this is a master of great academic training with knowledge of Michelangelo's anatomies and a taste for aesthetic refinement, both characteristics of the first School of Fontainbleau, whose creation and development was due to the patronage of François I, who, after the sack of Rome, sent for several Italian painters to decorate his palace. One of the artists who went to France was Luca Penni (Florence, 1500 - Paris 1556), who was responsible for the decoration of the room of the Poêles pavilion and the Ulysses gallery in the Palais de Fontainbleau. His style was based on Italian Mannerism and evolved into a delicate classicism in keeping with the French aesthetic, an aesthetic that can be seen in this painting. In fact, the piece bears a strong resemblance to the work by Penni in the Louvre collection, "Augustus and the Sibyl of Tibur". It should be noted that few oil paintings have survived from Fontainebleu and most are known thanks to the drawings and engravings of the works.