Francesco Londonio (Milan, 1723 – Milan, 1783)* was an Italian painter, engraver, and scenographer, active mainly in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

in a late-

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

Rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

style. Londonio trained as a painter under

Ferdinando Porta Ferdinando Porta (1689–1767) was an Italian painter of the late-Baroque. Born in Milan. The engraver Francesco Londonio was one of his pupils. He painted frescoes in the Palazzo Brentano, Corbetta The Palazzo Brentano is a late Baroque palac ...

and

Giovanni Battista Sassi Giovanni Battista Sassi (1679 in Milan – 1762 in Milan) was an Italian painter, active mainly in Milan and other areas of Lombardy, who painted in a late-Baroque and Rococo style. Biography Born in Lombardy, he first trained with Federigo ...

in Milan, but traveled to Rome and Naples. He studied engraving with Benigno Bossi. He is best known for his paintings and etchings of rustic and pastoral landscapes and subjects, with both animals and peasants playing a dominating role over the landscape. This focus on

genre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...

themes was popular among the wealthy patrons of the time, specially in Northern Italy; and artists such as the Brescian painters Ceruti and Cifrondi worked with such themes. In his engravings, he recalls

Gaetano Zompini Gaetano Zompini (25 September 1700 – 20 May 1778) was an Italian printmaker and engraver, known for his prints depicting workers from the lower classes in Venice. Born in Nervesa della Battaglia, he apprenticed with Niccolò Bambini. He also ...

. Londonio is also known for his

scenography Scenography (inclusive of scenic design, lighting design, sound design, costume design) is a practice of crafting stage environments or atmospheres. In the contemporary English usage, scenography is the combination of technological and material st ...

. An example, of this poorly conserved art form that still exists is a nativity scene on cut wooden shapes for the church of

San Marco San Marco is one of the six sestiere (Venice), sestieri of Venice, lying in the heart of the city as the main place of Venice. San Marco also includes the island of San Giorgio Maggiore. Although the district includes Piazza San Marco, Saint ...

in Milan. The effect is a cheaper version of the naturalistic

Sacri Monti The (plural of , Italian for "Sacred Mountain") of Piedmont and Lombardy are a series of nine calvaries or groups of chapels and other architectural features created in northern Italy during the late sixteenth century and the seventeenth century ...

scenes, which had been painted stucco statuary. It also can be seen as a cross between the holy scenes described above, and the theatrical set pieces, for example, those needed for the newly founded

La Scala La Scala (, , ; abbreviation in Italian of the official name ) is a famous opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the ' (New Royal-Ducal Theatre alla Scala). The premiere performan ...

theater. The work at San Marco prompted Empress Maria Theresa of Austria appointed Londonio as art designer for La Scala.

Sources

* ''Il costume antico e moderno di tutti il populi''. Dottor Giulio Ferrario, edizione secunda, Vincenzo Batelli, 1832, volume ottavo parte terza, Florence * ''Enciclopedia metodica critico-ragionata delle belle arti'' . Part 1, Volume 12, Abate Don Pietro Zani, 1822, Parma, Tipografia Ducale. * ''Art in Northern Italy'' (1911) by Corrado Ricci, Editor: Charles Scribner's Sons, page 184

*
Entry for Londonio at commercial site

Bibliography

* L. Böhm, ″Pittori milanesi del Settecento: Francesco Londonio″, in ''Rivista d'Arte'', XVI, 3, 1934, pp. 229–261. * M. Scola, ''Catalogo ragionato delle incisioni di Francesco Londonio'', Milano 1994 * M. Bona Castellotti, C. Geddo, ''Francesco Londonio (1723-1783)'', exhibition catalogue, Galleria Piva, Milano, 1998. * S. Coppa, C. Geddo, ''Tra Arcadia e Illuminismo in Lombardia: la raccolta di studi di Francesco Londonio'', exhibition catalogue, Pinacoteca di Brera, Milano 2002 (Brera mai vista, 4

* C. Geddo, ''Londonio, Francesco'', in ''Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani'', vol. LXV, Roma 2005, pp. 610–61

External links

Works by francesco Londonio at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa TongarewaWorks by Francesco Londonio at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

Gallery

Francesco londonio, pastori con capre e pecore.JPG, Shepherds with sheep and goat Milano San Marco Presepe.JPG, Presepe,

{{DEFAULTSORT:Londonio, Francesco 1723 births 1783 deaths Artists from Milan 18th-century Italian painters Italian male painters Italian scenic designers Italian painters of animals Italian Baroque painters Italian genre painters Theatre people from Milan 18th-century Italian male artists