Francesco Coghetti (12 July 1801 – 20 April 1875) was an Italian painter and art school administrator.

Biography

He was born to a wealthy family which enabled him to be educated at prestigious private schools. After completing his primary studies, he enrolled at the

Accademia Carrara The Accademia Carrara, (), officially Accademia Carrara di Belle Arti di Bergamo, is an art gallery and an academy of fine arts in Bergamo, in Lombardy in northern Italy. The art gallery was established in about 1780 by , a Bergamasco collect ...

, where he studied with

Giuseppe Diotti Giuseppe Diotti (1 March 1779 – 30 January 1846) was an Italian painter of the Neoclassic style. Biography He was born in Casalmaggiore. His full name was Francesco Giuseppe Antonio Diotti. He initially was apprenticed in his hometown to Paol ...

. In 1818, he won the Accademia's drawing competition. In 1820, he moved to Milan. The following year, he won an award for drawing and design from the

Brera Academy The Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera ("academy of fine arts of Brera"), also known as the or Brera Academy, is a state-run tertiary public academy of fine arts in Milan, Italy. It shares its history, and its main building, with the Pinacoteca di ...

. This encouraged him to move to Rome and, thanks to his father's financial support, he was able to study with

Vincenzo Camuccini Vincenzo Camuccini (22 February 1771 – 2 September 1844) was an Italian painter of Neoclassic histories and religious paintings. He was considered the premier academic painter of his time in Rome. Biography Camuccini was born in Rome, and fir ...

. He also enjoyed the patronage of Cardinal

Angelo Mai Angelo Mai (''Latin'' Angelus Maius; 7 March 17828 September 1854) was an Italian Cardinal and philologist. He won a European reputation for publishing for the first time a series of previously unknown ancient texts. These he was able to discove ...

, who was a fellow Bergamaschi. In 1825, he was married. The 1830s were a very successful time for him, during which he won several awards and received a continual flow of commissions from all over Europe. In 1844, he was offered the position of Director at the

Academy of San Carlos The Academy of San Carlos ( es, Academia de San Carlos) is located at 22 Academia Street in just northeast of the main plaza of Mexico City. It was the first major art academy and the first art museum in the Americas. It was founded in 1781 as th ...

in Mexico City, but declined to accept. Fourteen years later, faced with declining commissions, he accepted a position as President of the

Accademia di San Luca The Accademia di San Luca (the "Academy of Saint Luke") is an Italian academy of artists in Rome. The establishment of the Accademia de i Pittori e Scultori di Roma was approved by papal brief in 1577, and in 1593 Federico Zuccari became its fir ...

. In the late 1860s, he became involved in politics as well as art, when preparations were being made for the

Papal States The Papal States ( ; it, Stato Pontificio, ), officially the State of the Church ( it, Stato della Chiesa, ; la, Status Ecclesiasticus;), were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope fro ...

to be annexed to the

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to ...

. The Accademia was considered to be part of the Pope's temporal domain and was transformed into the "Royal Academy". It was a difficult process and, because he had already come under criticism for his performance in office, he was relieved of his teaching duties in 1873 and suspended as President. Two years later, he died of

apoplexy Apoplexy () is rupture of an internal organ and the accompanying symptoms. The term formerly referred to what is now called a stroke. Nowadays, health care professionals do not use the term, but instead specify the anatomic location of the bleedi ...

Works

Among his works are: *Two altar-pieces at the

. *Several frescoes for the Palazzo Morlachi in Bergamo. *Frescoes in the cupola of the

Bergamo Cathedral Bergamo Cathedral ( it, Duomo di Bergamo, ''Cattedrale di Sant'Alessandro'') is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Bergamo, Italy, dedicated to Saint Alexander of Bergamo, patron saint of the city. It is the seat of the Bishop of Bergamo. History From ...

. *''Scenes from the Life of Alexander''. ''The Four Elements''. ''The Triumph of Bacchus''. ''The Battle of the Amazons''; frescoes (1837–1839), now lost, for the Villa Torlonia, Rome. *''The Assumption'' for a church in

Porto Maurizio Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

. *Ceiling frescoes of angels and prophets; ''Julius II lays the first stone of the St. Peter's Basilica'' and ''Sixtus IV blesses armies fighting Turks'', and ''Christ clears moneylenders from the temple'' (Presbytery); (1846–1849) for the Cathedral in

Savona Savona (; lij, Sann-a ) is a seaport and ''comune'' in the west part of the northern Italy, Italian region of Liguria, capital of the Province of Savona, in the Riviera di Ponente on the Mediterranean Sea. Savona used to be one of the chie ...

. *''Pope Eugene III blesses the armies of Amadeo II leaving for a crusade'' commissioned by Queen Maria Cristina in 1846 for the castle of Aglié. *''Martyrdom of St. Lawrence'' (Sacristy) and ''St Stephen Martyrdom'' (chapel) for

San Paolo fuori le Mura The Papal Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls ( it, Basilica Papale di San Paolo fuori le Mura), commonly known as Saint Paul's Outside the Walls, is one of Rome's four major papal basilicas, along with the basilicas of Saint John in the ...

in 1853.

Notes

References

Entry in Treccani Italian Encyclopedia
Attribution: * {{DEFAULTSORT:Coghetti, Francesco 1801 births 1875 deaths Painters from Bergamo 19th-century Italian painters Italian male painters Italian portrait painters Religious artists 19th-century Italian male artists