Mattia Jona, Master Drawings and Prints, Japanese Prints - Piazzetta Guastalla 5, 20122 Milan, Italy, tel (+39) 02 8053315

LUIGI SABATELLI (Florence 1772 - Milan 1850) VOI SONERETE LE VOSTRE TROMBE E NOI SONEREMO LE NOSTRE CAMPANE (Pier Capponi tears up the treaty in front of King Charles VIII of France)
Etching, after the painting by the same Sabatelli purchased by marchese Gino Capponi in 1829. See Gaetano Sabatelli, 'Cenni biografici sul Cav. Luigi Sabatelli scritti da lui medesimo e raccolti dal figlio Gaetano', Milan, 1900, p 34, n 10. A very good impression on thick wove paper, trimmed to the platemark on right and bottom sides, with small margins on the other sides. Several minor faults, mainly at sides, but generally in good condition considering the size of the print. The entire sheet c. 585 x 790 mm.
Charles VIII of France, who had entered Florence with his army in 1494, tried to impose exorbitant conditions with an ultimatum, accompanied by the words "otherwise we will sound our trumpets". To this Pier Capponi (at that time head of the Florentine Republic) answered "And we shall toll our bells", tearing up the ultimatum in the king's face. Charles, who did not relish the idea of house-to-house fighting, was forced to moderate his claim and concluded a more equitable treaty with the republic.

Sabatelli was the most talented of the Tuscan painters of the generation after Pietro Benvenuti. He was born in the house of Marchese Pier Roberto Capponi, in Florence, while his own father was in domestic service there. The Marchese Capponi was Sabatelli's early sponsor, financing his education at the Florentine Academy and his sojourns in Rome and Venice. In 1808 Luigi Sabatelli was appointed to the chair of painting at the Brera Academy in Milan. There he remained over forty years, although he continued to carry out commissions in Tuscany. During his mature years, Sabatelli established himself as a decorator and fresco painter, with numerous public and private commissions. Sabatelli was a fine painter and one of the premier pre-romantic draftsmen of nineteenth century Italy. He was also an accomplished etcher. See Beatrice Paolozzi Strozzi, 'Luigi Sabatelli, disegni e incisioni', catalogue of the exhibition at the Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe degli Uffizi, Florence, 1978.