The Royal Museums of Turin acquire a masterpiece by Cesare Saccaggi

The Royal Museums of Turin are adding an important new work to their permanent collection, further enriching their repertoire of art and history. It is A Babylon (Semiramis), a painting made around 1905 by Piedmontese painter Cesare Saccaggi (Tortona, 1868 - 1934), an artist who made his mark on the Turin and national art scene in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The work was recently acquired by the Ministry of Culture, which exercised its right of first refusal to make it part of the collections of the Royal Museums of Turin, where it will be on public display until January 21, 2025 in the Salone delle Guardie Svizzere in the Royal Palace.

This canvas, celebrating the legendary figure of Semiramis, Queen of Babylon, represents one of Saccaggi’s most emblematic creations, exemplifying his eclectic style and passion for Orientalism. Her figure, depicted as a femme fatale, recalls the allure and sensuality of the great female figures of the time, such as the actress Sarah Bernhardt, Eleonora Duse and the Marchesa Luisa Casati (the latter, moreover, used to walk around with a small leopard on a leash), all protagonists of a society that celebrated the image of the strong and seductive woman.There is also no shortage of suggestions from the works of the greatest artists of the time, such as Alphonse Mucha’s Salammbô of 1896 and Gustav Klimt’s Judith of 1901.

The painting In Babylon (Semiramis).

In the painting, Semiramis is portrayed with a strength and voluptuousness that accentuate her power of seduction, one of the key aspects of the historical figure who founded Babylon. Her tall, proud gaze is directed at the viewer, while her body is wrapped in a light, transparent robe that highlights her sensuality. The painter’s luminous touches enhance the delicacy of the queen’s skin, embellished with gold jewelry adorning her hands and feet, making the whole a perfect example of Saccaggi’s technical mastery. One detail that does not go unnoticed is the insertion of small colored stones directly into the painting, giving the work a tactile quality that amplifies its realism.

In Babylon (Semiramis) is a testament to the particular Orientalist taste that permeated the art of the early twentieth century, a period when exoticism and the influences of the Orient held great fascination for European artists. Indeed, Saccaggi was strongly influenced by the Viennese Secession and exotic painting of French origin, which led him to experiment with compositions inspired by Persian, Babylonian, Turkish, Egyptian, and Arab themes and settings. During his stay in Paris in the early twentieth century, the artist was particularly struck by works such as the winged bulls with anthropomorphic heads (Lamassu) from the palace of the Assyrian ruler Sargon II, found in Khorsabad, one of which Saccaggi painted in the background of the canvas, translated with golden brushstrokes, and by the Lady of Elche, the famous female bust found in Spain in 1897, which inspired the queen’s headdress in the painting. These archaeological references enrich the depth of the work, which stands as a fine example of stylistic and cultural research.

The acquisition of this canvas is not only an added value for the heritage of the Royal Museums, but also testifies to the strong ties that Cesare Saccaggi had with his territory, Piedmont, where he enjoyed great success among the bourgeoisie and the House of Savoy. Indeed, this is not the first work by Saccaggi to be part of the Royal Palace collections; another of his paintings, depicting Jone, the young protagonist of Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s novel The Last Days of Pompeii, is already on display in the same rooms.

This new acquisition finds its place within the exhibition itinerary linking the early twentieth century to Lenci’s collections of artistic ceramics, uniting the art of painting with the art of ceramic work, and confirming the importance of the Sabauda Gallery as a point of reference for the history of art in Turin.

Notes on Cesare Saccaggi

Cesare Saccaggi, a Turin artist born in 1868 in Tortona, had a multifaceted artistic career that saw him featured in the most prestigious exhibitions throughout Italy, from Turin to Venice. The son of a tailor, trained at the Reale Accademia Albertina, Saccaggi had a path of growth that led him to become one of the best-known exponents of the Tortona School.

A pianist and musician, an eclectic and prolific artist, in the last decade of the nineteenth century he assiduously participated in exhibitions organized in Turin, the Permanente in Milan, Genoa, Bologna, Florence and the Venice Biennale. He presents numerous works made with different techniques - pastel, watercolor, tempera, oil - depicting multiple subjects: portraits, costume or genre scenes, sacred and mythological themes, landscapes and still lifes. Important was his stay in Rome where he met the Pre-Raphaelite painters and came into contact with the taste for the Byzantine revival. In 1896 he participated in the decoration of the church of San Gioacchino in Turin, with the frescoes of the Seventh Station of the Cross. Together with his fellow countryman Giuseppe Pellizza da Volpedo, he is counted among the leading exponents of the so-called “School of Tortona.”

From 1900 to 1905 Saccaggi stayed in Paris, exhibited repeatedly at the Salons and was present at the Universal International Exhibition of 1900, where he received a prestigious bronze medal. While in France, he became a fashionable painter, produced affiches, illustrations for calendars and collaborated with the Maison Goupil, opening himself up to Art Nouveau innovations. During World War I he devoted himself to the production of illustrated postcards. The corpus of his works is distinguished by his adherence to multiple stylistic poetics, from verism to symbolism, passing through Gothic revival and historicism, without forgetting his commitment as a poster designer.

The Royal Museums of Turin acquire a masterpiece by Cesare Saccaggi

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