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Vincenzo Camuccini

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Vincenzo Camuccini
Camuccini's Self Portrait of the Artist with his Wife, c. 1805-1815
Born22 February 1771
Rome, Papal States
Died2 September 1844(1844-09-02) (aged 73)
Rome, Papal States
Known forHistorical and religious painting
Notable work
MovementNeoclassicism

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.[1][2]

Biography

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Early life and education

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Camuccini was born in Rome, and first educated by his brother Pietro, a picture-restorer, and Pietro Leone Bombelli, an engraver. His brother Pietro gave up his place in the studio of Domenico Corvi to Vincenzo.[3] Pietro’s taste and artistic interests influenced Vincenzo, who first came across the works of earlier masters, notably Poussin, through engravings collected by Pietro, who also suggested that Vincenzo make an intense study of works by Raphael and Michelangelo in the Vatican, Rome. Until nearly the age of 30 he mainly dedicated himself to copying old masters.[4]

During the 1790s Camuccini became acquainted with other young artists, most notably Pietro Benvenuti, Giuseppe Bossi, and Luigi Sabatelli, who were to lead the Neoclassical movement in Tuscany and Lombardy. Together they created an informal academy, using Camuccini's house as a studio, where they shared in studies of anatomy and models for life drawing, and held competitions on mutually set themes.[5]

Mature works

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Bust of Vincenzo Camuccini by Bertel Thorvaldsen

As an original painter, Camuccini belongs to the Neoclassicist school fostered in Rome by Pompeo Batoni, Anton Raphael Mengs and Angelica Kauffman. Other important sources of inspiration were Winckelmann’s writings on the ancient art and Neoclassical works by such foreign artists resident in Rome as Gavin Hamilton. Camuccini's first major independent work, completed around 1798, was a large canvas of The Death of Julius Caesar. The subject was highly topical, giving full expression to Roman Republican ideals.[6] This led to the assessment that Camuccini may have been influenced by Jacques-Louis David's classic Roman themes and style;[4] but it is more likely both were emerging from the rising Neoclassic refocus towards images of and derived from Greco-Roman themes.

Camuccini's following painting, the Death of Virginia (Naples, Museo di Capodimonte), was completed in 1804. The success of these works established his reputation in Rome and abroad.[6] In 1802 he became a member of the Accademia di San Luca and in 1803 he was nominated by Pope Pius VII Director of the mosaic workshop at St Peter’s. For the Basilica he executed a mosaic of the Incredulity of Thomas (1806–22).[6] In 1806, Gaspare Landi received a commission for two large canvases for the chapel of the Madonna of the Rosary in the church of San Giovanni in Piacenza. Ultimately, the commission was split with Camuccini who painted a Presentation in the Temple. The canvases by the two artists were completed in the early spring of 1806, and were exhibited side by side at the Pantheon at Easter of that year. Camuccini also painted a Betrothal of Psyche, and, jointly with Landi, he frescoed the ceiling of the Palazzo Torlonia.

In the following years Camuccini was appointed to a number of important posts: in 1809 he was named Superintendent of the Vatican Picture Galleries and in 1814 Superintendent of the Apostolic Palaces.[6] That same year he became Inspector of Public Paintings for Rome and the Papal States.[7] From 1806 to 1810 he was president of the Accademia di San Luca. In 1820 he became a member of the Institut de France and in 1825 he was appointed director of the Neapolitan Academy of Rome.

Portrait of Pope Pius VII

Camuccini attained considerable eminence as a portrait painter. Among his clients were many members of the House of Bourbon – Ferdinand I, and Francis I of the Two Sicilies, Charles IV of Spain, the Duke Charles Louis, and the Duchess Maria Luisa of Lucca, as well as Francis I of Austria, Grand Duke Alexander of Russia, and Charles Albert of Sardinia.[7] Camuccini also worked for Napoleon, Joachim Murat, and for many princely Roman families, church dignitaries, and members of the foreign nobility in Rome. Among the best portraits he produced are those of Pope Pius VII (now in the Gallery at Vienna); the Comte de Blacas, Ambassador from France to the Holy See; the King and the Queen of Naples; The Countess Sehouvaloff; and the Countess von Dietrichstein (1829). Several of his works were engraved by Pietro Bettelini, and some have been lithographed by Giovanni Scudellari, and published under the title of I Fasti principali della Vita di Gesù Cristo, with text in Italian and French at Rome, in 1829. Pope Pius VII conferred upon him the title of Baron, with hereditary succession, and the Emperor Francis I the order of the Iron Crown. In 1829, he was elected as an Honorary member of the National Academy of Design. He died at Rome on 2 September 1844.[8] Among his many pupils and followers were Constantino Brumidi, Giovanni Battista Biscarra, Francesco Podesti and Salvatore Lo Forte.

Art collection

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Camuccini expended no small portion of his wealth in the purchase of a fine collection of objects of art. In 1856, the greater portion of the pictures, upwards of seventy in number, were purchased being bought by the duke of Northumberland, who removed them to Alnwick Castle. They consist principally of the works of the Italian masters living in the 16th and 17th centuries, with some specimens of an earlier date, and a few others of the Dutch and Flemish painters of the 17th century. He purchased a Raphael, known as Madonna of the Pinks.

Selected works

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Notes

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  1. ^ Wolk-Simon, Linda (2006). Raphael at the Metropolitan: The Colonna Altarpiece. Metropolitan Museum of Art. p. 49. ISBN 978-0-300-11790-5.
  2. ^ Grieco, Roberto (2011-10-18). Micromosaici romani (in Italian). Gangemi Editore spa. p. 50. ISBN 978-88-492-6390-9.
  3. ^ Lucinda Lubbock. "Camuccini." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 26 Dec. 2016
  4. ^ a b Chisholm 1911, p. 139.
  5. ^ Hiesinger 1978, p. 301.
  6. ^ a b c d Lubbock 2003.
  7. ^ a b Hiesinger 1978, p. 298.
  8. ^ nationalacademy.org: Past Academicians "C" / Camuccini, Vincenzo Honorary 1829 Archived 2016-03-20 at the Wayback Machine (accessdate: 2016/1/30)

References

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Attribution:

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