CIGNAROLI, Giambettino
(b. 1706, Verona, d. 1770, Verona)

The Death of Cato

1762
Oil on canvas, 203 x 271 cm
Szépművészeti Múzeum, Budapest

The impressively sized, brilliantly executed yet shockingly naturalistic pair of works, Death of Cato and Death of Socrates were commissioned by the Austrian envoy to Milan, Karl Joseph von Firmian in 1762. After his death, the paintings found their way into a Hungarian aristocratic collection.