Antonio Basoli (1774–1848) was an Italian painter, interior designer, scenic designer, and engraver, active mostly in
Bologna
Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...
.
Biography
He was born in
Castel Guelfo. His first teacher was his father, Lelio Andrea Basoli. His education was motivated by an insatiable and constant interest in classic art, classic and contemporary literature, and the works, decorations and inscriptions of
Piranesi. He often worked alongside his brothers, Francesco and
Luigi Basoli. In 1803 till his death he became docent of ornamentation and the next year, professor at the
Accademia delle Arti di Bologna until 1826.
During his time at the ''Accademia'' he developed a close friendship with fellow pupils
Domenico Corsini and
Pelagio Palagi
Pelagio Palagi (25 May 1775 – 6 March 1860) was an Italian painter, sculptor and interior decorator.
Biography
Early life
Pelagi was born in Bologna.
Starting at a very young age the study of perspective, architecture, figurative paintin ...
. He worked for a time in the studio of
Petronio Fancelli
Petronio Fancelli (1734–1800) was an Italian painter, active mostly as an ornamental quadratura painter in Bologna.
Biography
His father Gaetano Fancelli was a violincello player. Petronio trained with the architect Mauro Tesi. He collaborat ...
.
Works
In 1801–1803, he painted frescoes at a few sites in the Friuli, including casa Muratori in
Trieste
Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into prov ...
and a palace in
Spilimbergo
Spilimbergo (german: Spengenberg; fur, Spilimberc or ) is a ''comune'' with a population of 11,961, located in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, in northern Italy, on the right side of the Tagliamento river. The town is notable as the home of the ...
.
Basoli worked as a set and curtain (sipario) designer, as well as decorator for various theaters around Bologna such as the Marsigli Rossi Theater, the
Teatro Comunale di Bologna, and, in particular, the
Contavalli Theater (1814). Sadly most of his works survive only through references to them such as detailed production sketches, watercolors and engravings, among which the aquatints from ''Collezione di varie scene teatrali,'' started in 1821. In addition to his decorations at these theaters he also decorated the Palazzo Rosselli del Turco, Palazzo Sanguinetti and
Palazzo Hercolani.
Basoli was also offered commissions for scenography from theaters in Rome in 1815, and from Naples, by request of
Gioacchino Rossini
Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer who gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano pieces, and some sacred music. He set new standards ...
, in 1818 both of which he refused.
However, in 1818 he did decide to take a trip to Milan, where he visited the ''sala Sanquirico'' the studio of the most important scenic designer of
la Scala from which Basoli found inspiration for the set design for the opera
Semiramide
''Semiramide'' () is an opera in two acts by Gioachino Rossini.
The libretto by Gaetano Rossi is based on Voltaire's tragedy ''Semiramis'', which in turn was based on the legend of Semiramis of Assyria. The opera was first performed at La Feni ...
in 1820, the set for a production of
Oedipus Rex at the Theater Contavalli in 1822, and lastly, the background paintings for the scenes at the Theater of Cavalieri dell’Unione in
Santarcangelo di Romagna
Santarcangelo di Romagna ( rgn, Santarcànzul) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Rimini, Emilia-Romagna, Italy, on the Via Emilia. As of 2009, it had a population of some 21,300. It is crossed by two rivers, the Uso and the Marecchia
...
in 1822. During this same period he produced, amongst others, important works at the villa Marescalchi, and the
Palazzo Baciocchi.
Among his exhibitions at the Academy of Bologna were a collections of
Romantic canvases with exotic themes. For example, in 1842, he exhibited a series of 16 oil paintings ''più affascinanti e immaginifici'' (very fascinating and imaginative), depicting: the four
Colossi of Memnon
The Colossi of Memnon ( ar, el-Colossat, script=Latn, italic=yes or ''es-Salamat'') are two massive stone statues of the Pharaoh Amenhotep III, which stand at the front of the ruined Mortuary Temple of Amenhotep III, the largest temple in the Th ...
in Egypt; the port of Rhodes (likely including the colossus);
Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon (likely including hanging gardens), the famous Equestrian Statue of
Domitian
Domitian (; la, Domitianus; 24 October 51 – 18 September 96) was a Roman emperor who reigned from 81 to 96. The son of Vespasian and the younger brother of Titus, his two predecessors on the throne, he was the last member of the Fl ...
in Rome (destroyed in antiquity during his damnatio memorie). Paintings depicted four parts of the globe: Europe, Asia, Africa, and America; and five famous ancient temples: including
Osiris and Isis in Egypt, Foo temple in China,
Zeus in Olympia,
Diana in Ephesus. They also depicted a city of Pegù, now
Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
, an Arab Tomb, the great hall of Charlemagne, and the magic palace of the sorceress
Alcina
''Alcina'' (Händel-Werke-Verzeichnis, HWV 34) is a 1735 opera seria by George Frideric Handel. Handel used the libretto of ''L'isola di Alcina'', an opera that was set in 1728 in Rome by Riccardo Broschi, which he acquired the year after during ...
.
Typical of his designs, merging art and erudition, he later created 26 vignette compositions, depicting an archeologic alphabet in form of watercolors, called his ''Alfabeto pittorico''.
Memoria di Bologna
short biography by Roberto Martorelli.
Publications
* ''Raccolta di prospettive serie, rustiche e di paesaggio'' (1810)
* ''Guarnizioni diverse di maniera antica'' (1814)
* ''Porte della città di Bologna'' (1817)
* ''Esemplare di Elementi d'Ornato che contiene lo studio della pianta d'accanto'' (1817)
* ''Collezione di varie scene teatrali'' (1821)
* ''Compartimenti di camere'' (1827)
* ''Vedute pittoresche della città di Bologna'' (1833)
* ''Definizioni geometriche'' (1837)
* ''Raccolta di diversi ornamenti'' (1838)
* ''Alfabeto pittorico'' (1839)
References
*
*
Smithsonian Museum
collection of Basoli's works.
External links
* Comune (municipality) of Castel Guelfo di Bologna
Castel Guelfo di Bologna (Bolognese dialect, Eastern Bolognese: or ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Bologna in the Italy, Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about southeast of Bologna.
Castel Guelfo di Bologna bor ...
br>Antonio Basoli, ornatista, scenografo, pittore di paesaggio – exhibition
at the Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna
The National Art Gallery of Bologna (''Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna'') is a museum in Bologna, Italy. It is located in the former Saint Ignatius Jesuit novitiate of the city's University district, and inside the same building that houses the ...
15 April 2008 in collaboration with the comune (municipality) of Bologna
Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...
br>
*Link to over 200 pictures of Basoli's wor
* Basoli's Alphabe
{{DEFAULTSORT:Basoli, Antonio
1774 births
1848 deaths
18th-century Italian painters
Italian male painters
19th-century Italian painters
Italian etchers
Italian scenic designers
Painters from Bologna
Accademia di Belle Arti di Bologna faculty
19th-century Italian male artists
18th-century Italian male artists