After more than three centuries of absence, the painting Belisario chiede l’alemosina (Belisarius Asks for Alms ) by Stefano Maria Legnani, known as Legnanino (Milan, 1661 - 1713), has returned to the Apartments of the Princes of Palazzo Carignano in Turin, its original location. The exhibition of the work, housed in the rooms of the Savoy residence, has been extended until April 6, 2026, allowing the enjoyment of a painting that occupies a singular place in late 17th-century Baroque production.
Made around 1697, the canvas deals with an unusual subject for painting of the time: the Roman general Belisarius, disgraced and reduced to blindness, depicted while begging for alms. The iconographic choice takes on a clear allegorical value when put in relation to the biography of the patron, Prince Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy-Carignano, known as “the Dumb.” In fact, the descending parable of the condottiere is accompanied by the personal story of the prince, marked by harsh contrasts with Louis XIV, culminating in his exile after refusing an imposed marriage to a French noblewoman.
Compositionally, the work has a strongly theatrical structure. The figures are organized in two distinct groups, punctuated by an articulate play of light and shadow that helps emphasize the drama of the scene. The solemnity of classical ancestry is matched by a chromatic vivacity that refers to the tradition of Genoese painters active at the Savoy court, elements that confirm the complexity of Legnanino’s figurative language. Commissioned to decorate a room in the Apartments of the Princes, the large canvas, was probably placed in the center of a coffered ceiling. It was later transferred to Paris by Vittorio Amedeo, son of Emanuele Filiberto. Upon the latter’s death, the work was dispersed at auction in 1743, thus disappearing from the historical records associated with Palazzo Carignano.
The canvas resurfaced on the French antiquarian market in the early 20th century and was purchased by the progenitor of a Florentine family, with an attribution then referred to Luca Giordano. Remaining in the family’s collections to the present day, the work underwent extensive conservation work between 2020 and 2021, restoring its legibility and integrity. On November 3, 2025, the purchase contract was signed by the Royal Residences of Savoy, a decisive step in the painting’s return to Turin. The return of the Belisario to the spaces for which it was conceived is part of a process of reinterpreting the artistic and collecting history of Palazzo Carignano. The building is currently undergoing a major construction site that will lead to the opening of a completely new itinerary within the residence, equipped with updated museum solutions.
Palazzo Carignano, 5 Via Accademia delle Scienze, Turin.
The exhibition is included in the entrance fee.
Rates: full € 5; reduced € 2;
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| Legnanino's Belisario returns to Turin's Palazzo Carignano after three centuries |
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