Pietro Aldi

1852    born in Manciano into a well-to-do family

1864    enrolled in the Istituto di Belle Arti in Siena, directed by Luigi Mussini, which he attended        for seven years, winning numerous awards in school competitions

1872    painted the Ancestors of the family of Baron Ricasoli at Brolio Castle in Chianti and the            history painting Ghino di Tacco (Manciano, Pinacoteca Comunale)

1874    won the Biringucci fellowship awarded by the Società di Esecutori di Pie            Disposizioni in Siena, which enabled extended stays in Venice, Florence, and Rome, where        he made numerous life studies and views of ancient works

1878    his Buoso da Doara met with great success at the Rome Exposition in Piazza del Popolo

1880-85   painted The Funeral of Pompey the Great and, for the convent of the Passionist          Fathers on Monte Argentario, The Virgin and Child Appearing to Saint Paul of the Cross;    presented Salvator Rosa as a Child at the art exhibition in Venice in 1881. In 1882 he     painted The Final Hours of Sienese Liberty; in the years 1883-85 painted two large canvases    on Ildebrando da Sovana (Pope Gregory VII) for Pitigliano Cathedral; painted murals in the        monumental Misericordia cemetery in Siena; in 1884 exhibited Michelangelo Painting in      the Sistine Chapel, purchased by King Umberto I.

1887    together with Luigi Mussini’s best students, painted the large frescoes on the walls of the             Risorgimento Room in Siena’s Palazzo Pubblio. The two scenes he made are among the            most celebrated images of the history of the Italian Risorgimento.

1888    at the Vatican Exposition presented, to great success, the painting of Judith, still in the   Vatican collections; began painting Nero Watching Rome Burn to be shown at the 1889   International Exposition in Paris, but did not finish it, due to his untimely death on 18 May.