The artist known as François Brunery was christened Francesco Bruneri in the north Italian city of Turin at the heart of a region that is today part of both Italy and France.

Although cultural and familial ties with France ran deep in the region, Turin was also the center of the mid-nineteenth century movement towards Italian unification; and in fact served briefly as the capitol of the new Italian nation from 1861-65. Within this cultural context, it is not unusual to find families whose lineage contains both French and Italian branches--and surnames that shift depending on the locale.

François Brunery thus signs his paintings with both the French and the Italian versions of his last name.Brunery seems to have l...