Amos Cassioli

Amos Cassioli (Asciano, 1832 – Florence, 1891) was an Italian painter of battle scenes, historical canvases and portraits, working in the Purist style. He is regarded as an excellent portraitist, but he is best known for large-scale history paintings, a genre highly valued in Italy during the Risorgimento.

He trained at the Sienese Academy of Fine Arts under Luigi Mussini. A stipend from Grand Duke Ferdinand IV of Tuscany allowed him and Angelo Visconti to continue their studies in Rome. At the end of 1860 he settled in Florence, which became his permanent home, although he kept his links with Siena.

Among his major large-scale works are the Battle of Legnano, painted between 1860 and 1870 and now in Florence, and Il giuramento di Pontida, dated 1884, in the Palazzo Pubblico in Siena. In the same building he executed frescoes between 1884 and 1886 in the Sala del Risorgimento, depicting the battles of San Martino and Palestro. He also worked with Antonio Ridolfi on an altarpiece for the Collegiata in Casole d'Elsa. He also painted classical subjects, many of which were conserved in the Museo Cassioli in his native Asciano following a bequest in 1991.

He mentored his son Giuseppe Cassioli, a painter and sculptor, as well as Napoleone Boni and Ada Mangilli.