Antonio Bova (1641- 15 October 1701) was an Italian painter, active mainly in Sicily.

Biography

He was born in

Messina Messina (, also , ) is a harbour city and the capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of more than 219,000 inhabitants in ...

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

. His father intended for him to become a priest, but he then trained with Giovanni Battista Quagliata then with

Andrea Suppa Andrea Suppa (1628 in Messina, Sicily – 1671) was an Italian painter and architect. He trained in Messina under Bartolomeo Tricomi and later under the Flemish painter Abraham Casembroot Abraham Casembroot (before 1593 in Bruges? – 1658 in ...

. However, in a brawl, he is said to have murdered a rival and sought refuge first in the church of St Francis of Assisi, then in the Benedictine monastery of Santa Maria Maddalena, where he took the habit and lived for the rest of his life. He painted mostly frescoes, many of which were destroyed in the earthquakes that afflicted Messina in

1783 Events January–March * January 20 – At Versailles, Great Britain signs preliminary peace treaties with the Kingdom of France and the Kingdom of Spain. * January 23 – The Confederation Congress ratifies two October 8, ...

and

1908 Events January * January 1 – The British ''Nimrod'' Expedition led by Ernest Shackleton sets sail from New Zealand on the ''Nimrod'' for Antarctica. * January 3 – A total solar eclipse is visible in the Pacific Ocean, and is the 46 ...

. He also painted ten highly admired large canvases in 1682 for the

Cathedral of Messina Messina Cathedral ( it, Duomo di Messina; Basilica Cattedrale metropolitana di Santa Maria Assunta) is a Roman Catholic cathedral located in Messina, Sicily. Formerly the episcopal seat of the Diocese of Messina, it became in 1986 the archiepis ...

, now also lost. Among the few remaining paintings by Bova in Messina are: the ''Martyrdom of San Placido'' and ''Death of St Benedict'' in church of Santa Maria Maddalena; ''St John Evangelist'' in Chapel of Palazzo Reale; a ''Virgin with Saints Benedict and Bernard'' in church of the Monastery of Sant’Anna; and ''Vergine Addolorata and St John'' now in Museo Regionale di Messina. Among his paintings outside of Messina are: ''St Cajetan of Thiene'' found in church of the Santissima Annunciazione, Randazzo; ''Adoration by Shepherds and Magi'' in church of San Giuseppe in

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

, and a ''St Michael Archangel'' in the church of San Michele at Palazzolo Acreide.''La pittura moderna in Italia ed in Francia'', Relazione del Prof Pasquale Villari, Florence Stabilimento di Gius. Pellas 1869.

References

1641 births 1701 deaths 17th-century Italian painters Italian male painters 18th-century Italian painters Painters from Messina 18th-century Italian male artists {{Italy-painter-18thC-stub