Andrea di Lione

1610 – 1685

Andrea di Lione (Leone), Italian painter. An eclectic and varied artist, he painted scenes from the Old and New Testaments, Roman history and mythology as well as still-lifes. He studied in Naples with the late Mannerist artist Belisario Corenzio (active 1590-1646), with whom he collaborated on frescoes of battle scenes for the Palazzo Reale in Naples (in situ). Then, attracted by the battle paintings of Aniello Falcone, he entered Falcone's studio, and his red chalk studies of the nude (e.g. Male Nude, Museum of Art, Philadelphia) and of parts of the body reflect the rigorous academic training that he received there. He became known as a painter of battles himself, and his works in this genre include two signed paintings, the Battle between the Hebrews and the Amalekites and the Combat between David and Goliath (both Naples, Capodimonte), and the signed and dated Battle against the Turks (1641; Paris, Louvre). In these works Lione moved away from the rather static compositions of Falcone and created more dramatic scenes, with richer colour and looser brushwork. Between 1637 and 1644 he was patronized by Ramiro Nuez de Guzman, Duque de Medina de las Torres (Viceroy of Naples between 1637 and 1644), who commissioned works from him and from other Neapolitan painters to decorate the palace of the Buen Retiro, just outside Madrid; Lione's contributions included the Elephants in a Roman Circus (Madrid, Prado).

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