Pelagio Palagi (25 May 1775 – 6 March 1860) was an Italian painter, sculptor and interior decorator.
Biography
Early life
Pelagi was born in
Bologna
Bologna (, , ; egl, label= 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 150 different nat ...
.
Starting at a very young age the study of perspective, architecture,
figurative and
portrait painting
Portrait Painting is a genre in painting, where the intent is to represent a specific human subject. The term 'portrait painting' can also describe the actual painted portrait. Portraitists may create their work by commission, for public and pr ...
, and
collecting
The hobby of collecting includes seeking, locating, acquiring, organizing, cataloging, displaying, storing, and maintaining items that are of interest to an individual ''collector''. Collections differ in a wide variety of respects, most obvio ...
by Carlo Filippo Aldrovandi, he continued his studies at
the school of nudes of the
Accademia Clementina
The Accademia di Belle Arti di Bologna ("academy of fine arts of Bologna") is a public tertiary academy of fine art in Bologna, in Emilia-Romagna in northern Italy. It has a campus in Cesena.
Giorgio Morandi taught engraving at the Accademia f ...
of Bologna. His formation and first works overlapped with the arrival of the Napoleonic troops in the city; thanks to the request of his mentor, who was a member of the Senate and representative of the Bolognese provisional government, Palagi designed uniforms, medals, and emblems with the symbols of ''
Liberté, égalité, fraternité
''Liberté, égalité, fraternité'' (), French for "liberty, equality, fraternity", is the national motto of France and the Republic of Haiti, and is an example of a tripartite motto. Although it finds its origins in the French Revolution, it ...
'' to be used in letters and cards for the
Directory
Directory may refer to:
* Directory (computing), or folder, a file system structure in which to store computer files
* Directory (OpenVMS command)
* Directory service, a software application for organizing information about a computer network's u ...
. Later, the new emerging bourgeoisie entrusted him with the creation of the monumental sepulchres of Edoardo Pepoli (1801), Girolamo Bolognini Amorini (1803), and Luigi Sampieri (1804) at the
Certosa di Bologna. He also decorated the residence interiors of the Cospi, Aldini, and Gozzadini families in 1805.
Rome
He moved to Rome in 1806 to complete his studies at 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 ...
, where he may have been
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 ...
's student. This is not confirmed by all the writings of the time, but the Roman painter's historicism had undoubtedly an influence on Palagi's style. This influence is present in the Bolognese painter's portraits, in which he demonstrates a careful analysis of the models' features, as well as in his
historical paintings and
landscapes
A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the p ...
, which lead Palagi to conduct accurate research on ancient history and the study of nature. Examples of this elaboration and research are ''Portrait of
Giuseppe Guizzardi in antique costume'' (1807), ''Marriage of Amore and Psyche'' (1808), ''Mario a Minturno'' (1809–1810), ''Ila e le ninfe'' (1810–1811), and most importantly the major works at the Gabinetto Topografico in the
Palazzo del Quirinale
The Quirinal Palace ( it, Palazzo del Quirinale ) is a historic building in Rome, Italy, one of the three current official residences of the president of the Italian Republic, together with Villa Rosebery in Naples and the Tenuta di Castelporzia ...
(1811–1813) and the Galleria di Teseo in the
Palazzo Torlonia
__NOTOC__
Palazzo Torlonia (also known as the Palazzo Giraud, Giraud-Torlonia or Castellesi) is a 16th-century Renaissance town house in Via della Conciliazione, Rome, Italy. Built for Cardinal Adriano Castellesi da Corneto from 1496, the archit ...
(1813–1815).
From 1813 Palagi was inspector of the Accademia Italiana and was in charge of following the activities of the young artists who were pensionists of the Accademia del Regno d'Italia in Rome. Together with
Antonio Canova, president of the Accademia, the artist was able to gather the most representative young artists of the Italian Neoclassicism, from
Felice Giani
Felice Giani (17 December 1758 – 10 January 1823) was an Italian painter of the Neoclassic style. His grand manner subjects often included Greco-Roman allusions or themes.
Biography
Born in San Sebastiano Curone near Alessandria, he moved ...
to
Gaspare Landi
Gaspare Landi (6 January 1756 – 28 February 1830) was an Italian painter of the Neoclassic period, active in Rome and his native city of Piacenza.
Biography
Landi is said to have been a fun-loving youth, but in 1781 he procured a subsidy to ...
, besides the abovementioned Camuccini. The experience in Rome helped Palagi to deepen his interest in archaeology and collecting, already developed during his youth in Bologna.
Milan
In 1815, after a brief stay in Bologna, the artist moved to Milan, where he opened a private school in open competition with the
Accademia di Brera
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 ...
, which never granted him a teaching position. In the Lombard capital the private clientele, wider and more stimulating than the one in Rome, lead with to dedicate himself to portrait painting, especially of
Giuseppe Bossi
Giuseppe Bossi (11 August 1777 – 9 November 1815) was an Italian painter, arts administrator and writer on art. He ranks among the foremost figures of Neoclassical culture in Lombardy, along with Ugo Foscolo, Giuseppe Parini, Andrea Appi ...
and
Andrea Appiani
Andrea Appiani (31 May 17548 November 1817) was an Italian neoclassical painter.
Life
Born in Milan, it had been intended that he follow his father's career in medicine but instead entered the private academy of the painter Carlo Maria Giud ...
; the public commissions asserted him as the portrayer of the protagonists of the
Restoration
Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to:
* Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage
** Audio restoration
** Film restoration
** Image restoration
** Textile restoration
* Restoration ecology
...
. Some works that straddle between the 1810s and 1820s are some of his portraits including those of ''Conte colonnello
Francesco Arese Lucini nello studio'', ''Luigi Archinto'', ''Francesco I d’Austria'' (all of them made in 1817), ''Maggiore Pietro Lattuada'' (1822), ''Cristina Archinto Trivulzio'' (1824) and ''Ballerina Carlotta Chabert come Diana'' (1828–1830).
The encounter with
Francesco Hayez
Francesco Hayez (; 10 February 1791 – 12 February 1882) was an Italian painter. He is considered one of the leading artists of Romanticism in mid-19th-century Milan, and is renowned for his grand historical paintings, political allegories, and ...
, the leading artist of Lombard
Romanticism
Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...
, induced in Palagi a search for a compromise between historical-romantic painting and classicist formation. Product of this pursuit are ''Gian Galeazzo Sforza visitato in Pavia da Carlo VIII'', ''Gustavo Adolfo Re di Svezia che fa giurare fedeltà alla figlia Cristina dagli Stati Generali'', ''Sisto V non riconosce la famiglia'' and ''La difesa di Matteo Visconti'', all of them exhibited at Bera between 1821 and 1830, and ''Ratto delle Sabine'' (1823–1825).
By the end of the decade Palagi obtained the commission for the architectural and decorative intervention, and sculpture design of the
Palazzo Arese Lucini and the
Villa Tittoni Traversi image:Desio.1.jpg, 300px, Street façade of Villa Tittoni Traversi.
image:Desio_villa_Tittoni_Traversi_vista.jpg, 300px, Garden facade.
The Villa Traversi Tittoni, or Villa Cusani Traversi Tittoni is a rural palace in Desio, northern Italy.
An ori ...
.
Later career
![Paolo Monti - Servizio fotografico (Desio, 1976) - BEIC 6333204](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Paolo_Monti_-_Servizio_fotografico_%28Desio%2C_1976%29_-_BEIC_6333204.jpg)
His fame as an architect, interior decorator, sculptor and furniture designer, as well as painter, reached the court of the
Savoys, and in 1832 the king
Carlo Alberto
Charles Albert (; 2 October 1798 – 28 July 1849) was the King of Sardinia from 27 April 1831 until 23 March 1849. His name is bound up with the first Italian constitution, the Statuto Albertino, Albertine Statute, and with the First Italian ...
designated him head of the enlargement project of the
Castle of Racconigi
The Royal Castle of Racconigi is a palace and landscape park in Racconigi, province of Cuneo, Italy. It was the official residence of the Carignano line of the House of Savoy, and is one of the Residences of the Royal House of Savoy included by U ...
. Palagi moved to
Turin
Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...
after obtaining in 1834 the head position of the pictorial and decorative restoration project of the
Castello di Pollenzo and the modernization project of the
Royal Palace of Turin
The Royal Palace of Turin ( it, Palazzo Reale di Torino) is a historic palace of the House of Savoy in the city of Turin in Northern Italy. It was originally built in the 16th century and was later modernized by Christine Marie of France (1606–1 ...
. In the same year he was given the Chair of Decoration (''Cattedra di Ornato'') of the
Accademia Albertina
The Accademia Albertina di Belle Arti ("Albertina Academy of Fine Arts") is an institution of higher education in Turin, Italy
History
In the first half of the seventeenth century, there was a "University of Painters, Sculptors and Architects" ...
.
He died in Turin in 1860.
Legacy
A few days before his passing, Palagi wrote a will in which the
Comune di Bologna was named heir of all his antiques and artworks, medals, library, archive and drawings. The library, archive and drawings are preserved at the
Biblioteca comunale dell'Archiginnasio
The Biblioteca comunale dell'Archiginnasio (Archiginnasio Municipal Library) is a public library in Bologna, Italy. It is located inside the Palace of the Archiginnasio in Bologna since 1838, when a section of the building was destined to preserv ...
, the objects of his collections are found at the
Museo Civico Archeologico and the Museo Civico Medievale of the city.
Among his pupils from his Academy in Milan were
Vitale Sala from Cernusco,
Carlo Bellosio
Carlo Bellosio (Milan, 1801 – Bellagio, 1849) was an Italian painter, active mainly in Lombardy in a Neoclassical style.
Biography
He trained in Milan as a pupil of Pelagio Palagi.
He painted for the church of San Ambrogio in Voltri (in Gen ...
from Bellagio,
Sigismondo Nappi,
Cesare Borromeo,
Antongina,
Luigi Fontana
Luigi Fontana (9 February 1827 – 27 December 1908) was an Italian sculptor, painter and architect.
Biography
He was born at Monte San Pietrangeli in the Marche. He first began training between 1838 and 1841 at Macerata under Gaetano Ferri; t ...
,
Giovanni Battista Ajraghi,
Ambrogio Riva,
Carlo Gerosa,
Giovanni Pagani,
Luigi Zuccoli, and
Gaetano Barabini.
[Caini, Page 56-57.]
Sources
* ''Pelagio Palagi artista e collezionista'', Bologna, Grafis, 1976;
* ''Pelagio Palagi pittore. Dipinti dalle raccolte del Comune di Bologna”, a cura di Claudio Poppi, Milano, Electa, 1996;
* Valeria Roncuzzi Roversi-Monaco – Sandra Saccone, ''Librerie private nella biblioteca pubblica. Doni, lasciti e acquisti'', in ''Biblioteca comunale dell'Archiginnasio, Bologna'', a cura di Pierangelo Bellettini, Fiesole, Nardini, 2001;
* ''Pelagio Palagi alle collezioni Comunali d'arte. Bologna, palazzo Comunale, Collezioni comunali d'arte'', a cura di Carla Bernardini, Edisai, 2004;
* ''Pollenzo. Una città romana per una real villeggiatura romantica'', a cura di Giuseppe Carità, Savigliano, L'artistica, 2004;
* ''Magnifiche prospettive. Palagi e il sogno dell’antico'', a cura di Carla Bernardini, Anna Maria Matteucci, Antonella Mampieri, Edisai, 2007.
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Palagi, Pelagio
1775 births
1860 deaths
Artists from Bologna
18th-century Italian painters
Italian male painters
19th-century Italian painters
18th-century Italian sculptors
Italian male sculptors
19th-century Italian sculptors
19th-century Italian male artists
18th-century Italian male artists