Portrait of Antonio Ruffo by anonymous, 1673.

Antonio Ruffo (1610 or 1611 - 16 June 1678) was an important Sicilian politician, nobleman, patron and collector from the Ruffo di Calabria family. He was probably born in Castle Bagnara or Messina and died in Messina.[1]

His collections included coins, silverware, paintings by Anthony van Dyck (Saint Rosalie Interceding for the Plague–Stricken of Palermo), Paul Bril, Jacob Jordaens, Abraham Casembroot[2] and others, several Rembrandt etchings and tapestries of The Life of Achilles to designs by Rubens. He commissioned three paintings from Rembrandt (Aristotle with a Bust of Homer, Alexander the Great and Homer Dictating his Verses)[3] and corresponded with Artemisia Gentileschi, Cornelis de Wael and Abraham Brueghel.

He was also the owner of Erminia and the Shepherd (Guercino, 1649), The History of Pythagoras: Buying Fishes and The History of Pythagoras: Coming out of the Cave (Salvator Rosa).[3]

After the earthquake of 1783, his first-born son Giovanni Ruffo rescued 112 paintings and brought them to Scaletta.[3]

Bibliography

References

  1. ^ "RKD entry".
  2. ^ "Italian Baroque Art - Antonio Ruffo".
  3. ^ a b c Giltaij, Jeroen. "A Note on Rembrandt's Aristotle, Alexander, and Homer". Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art. Retrieved 2023-10-25.