Ceiling painting: Truth Pursued by Time

mythological

During his fifty-year reign (1680-1730) Vittorio Amadeo II transformed Turin, the second royal residence on Italian soil after Naples, into one of the most splendid Baroque cities in Europe. In 1584 he started the enlargement of the palace known as the Palazzo Reale. The additions to the palace were patterned after the models of French court architecture, but for the wall decorations he looked for Italian painters.

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About the Artist

Laurent Pécheux

1729 – 1821

French painter, active in Italy. Although born in France, Laurent Pécheux spent the majority of his working life in Italy. He left Paris in 1753 for Rome, where he studied under Anton Raphael Mengs and met Pompeo Batoni. He entered the academies of Rome (1762) and Bologna (1764), and was appointed director of the academy in Turin (1777). Although recognized for his portraits, in Turin Pécheux decorated the Biblioteca Reale and painted frescos for the church of San Domenico.

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