Baldassare Calamai (

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

, November 13, 1797 – July 11, 1851) was an Italian painter, active in a neoclassical style, painting mainly historical subjects.

Biography

He was a pupil of

Pietro Benvenuti Pietro Benvenuti (8 January 1769 – 3 February 1844) was an Italian Neoclassicism, Neoclassical painter. Biography Early life and education Born in Arezzo in Tuscany, he was influenced by the style of Jacques-Louis David. He was a student of ...

in Florence. Saltini, who likely knew the artist, bemoans his failure to achieve greatness, stating: Among his works were: *''Galileo visited by Milton'' *''Dante, Virgil, and

Farinata degli Uberti Manente degli Uberti (1212 – 11 November 1264), known as Farinata degli Uberti, was an Italian aristocrat, knight, and military leader of the Ghibelline faction in Florence. He was considered to be a heretic by some of his contemporaries, in ...

'' (1825) *''Episode during Plague of 1348 in Florence (1828, second version 1836) *''

Ruggiero Ruggiero () is an Italian spelling variant of the name Ruggero, a version of the Germanic name Roger, and may refer to: As a surname * Adamo Ruggiero (born 1986), Canadian actor * Angela Ruggiero (born 1980), American hockey player * Angelo Rug ...

opens the Tower of Hunger to discover corpses of

Ugolino Ugolino is an Italian masculine given name that is a diminutive form of Ugo. It may also refer to: Artists and musicians * Ugolino di Nerio (1280?–1349), Italian painter active in Siena and Florence * Ugolino di Tedice (died after 1277), Ital ...

and his sons'', (from Dante's ''Inferno'', 1838). In 1835 he painted illustrations of

Dante Dante Alighieri (; most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri; – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer, and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called ...

's ''Divine Comedy''.''Iconografia Dantesca: The Pictorial Representations to Dante's Divine Comedy''
Ludwig Volkmann; H. Grevel and company 33 King Street, Covent Garden, W. C London; 1899; page 206.

References

1797 births 1851 deaths Italian male painters 19th-century Italian painters Italian neoclassical painters Painters from Florence 19th-century Italian male artists Artists from the Grand Duchy of Tuscany {{Italy-painter-18thC-stub