Francisco Rizi
Francisco Rizi (9 April 1614 – 2 August 1685) was a Spanish painter.
In 1683, Rizi made the oil painting entitled Grand Inquisition, which showed Grand Inquisitor Tomás de Torquemada flanked by Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon as they presided over the auto-da-fé arranged at Seville in 1492 for the Assassins Aguilar de Nerha, María, and Benedicto. In 2016, a copy of it hung in the Council of Elders' meeting room.[1]
Gallery[edit | edit source]
-
Francisco Rizi's Grand Inquisition -
Grand Inquisition in the Council of Elders' meeting room -
Detail of the royal box in Grand Inquisition
Behind the scenes[edit | edit source]
Rizi's painting used in the 2016 film Assassin's Creed is a stylized version of his actual artwork, Auto de fe en la plaza Mayor de Madrid. Its most glaring difference is the replacement of the central, fenced-off, open-air court with the execution stakes shown in three of Sevendalino Khay's concept pieces for the film. The partial green crest with gold writing on the right hand bleacher in the original work is also missing.[2]
Further, it is not a representation of the film's location of the auto-da-fe, nor of any of the characters in that scene. As clearly stated in the title, the area depicted is Plaza Mayor in Madrid, not Seville, and instead features King Charles II, Queen Marie Louise d'Orléans, and queen mother Mariana of Austria in the background presiding over an auto-da-fe on 30 June 1680, with Grand Inquisitor Diego Sarmiento Valladares standing on the ground just left of their box holding a crozier. According to Alguacil Mayor (Chief Justice) José del Olmo, the stage architect and an Inquisition informant, the ceremony lasted all day, as recorded in great detail in his book, Relación histórica del auto general de fe, que se celebró en Madrid Este Año de 1680.[2]
In the movie novelization, a copy of the real painting hung in the Council of Elders' meeting room, where Ellen Kaye correctly named the piece and the date of the events depicted, with Alan Rikkin observing that he thought the queen looked too old to be Isabella I.[3]
Appearances[edit | edit source]
- Assassin's Creed (film) (mentioned only)
- Assassin's Creed: The Official Movie Novelization (mentioned only)
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ Assassin's Creed (film)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1
Auto de fe en la plaza Mayor de Madrid on Wikipedia
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: The Official Movie Novelization – Chapter 8