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Bruni, Fyodor [Fidelio] (Antonovich)
(b Milan, 15 Dec 1801; d St Petersburg, 11 Sept 1875). Russian painter, etcher, teacher and museum director of Italian birth. He was the son of the Swiss artist Antonio Baroffi Bruni (1767–1825), who moved to Russia with his family in 1807, taking the name Anton Osipovich Bruni. In 1809 he became a pupil at the St Petersburg Academy of Arts, where he studied under Aleksey Yegorov (1776–1851), Andrey Ivanov (1776–1848) and Vasily Shebuyev and graduated in 1818. Between 1819 and 1836 he lived in Italy, principally in Rome, where he perfected his skills by copying works by the Old Masters. He also painted portraits in order to earn a living. In his best-known portrait of this time, Princess Zinaida Volkonskaya in the Costume of Tancred (c. 1820; St Petersburg, Rus. Mus.), the sitter’s fantastical, theatrical knight’s costume and her expression of heartfelt languor and radiant sadness are characteristic of Romantic portraiture. In 1824 he completed one of the best-known Russian pictures on a Classical theme, the Death of Camilla, Sister of Horatius, also known as the Triumph of Horatius (see fig.). The picture was exhibited in Rome to great acclaim, and Bruni was made a member of the Accademia di San Luca. In 1828 he painted Bacchante Giving Cupid a Drink (St Petersburg, Rus. Mus.), impressive for its technique but also conveying both the young artist’s triumphant love of life and his fascination with the beauty of Italian women.
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