Pietro Benvenuti (1769 – 1844)

• Was an Italian neoclassical painter.
• Born in Arezzo in Tuscany.

• He was a student of the Academy of Fine Arts of Florence, then studied in Rome, 1792–1803.

• Benvenuti was commissioned in 1811–12 to decorate rooms in Palazzo Pitti, where he painted a series of mythologic scenes for the Salon of Hercules on the Greek demigod.

• Another prestigious commission, from the restored Grand Duke of Tuscany, Leopold II, was to fresco the dome of the Cappella Medicea at the San Lorenzo, depicting eight grand subjects, taken from the Old and the New Testament.

• He was an associate of the Accademia di Brera, Milan.

• In 1829, he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Honorary member.

• In 1807 he was recruited to become court painter to Elisa Bonaparte Baciocchi and to direct the Florentine Academy of Fine Arts.

• He died at Florence, while holding the post of Director.

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