- Luigi Calamatta
Luigi Calamatta (1801 - February 1868) was an Italian painter and engraver. He was born at
Civitavecchia . Orphaned early, he went to live with an uncle, then move to Rome to live in the l'Ospizio San Michele. He was expelled from the hospice, and became the ward of fellow artists.He studied drawing at
Rome underGiangiacomo , took his early lessons in engraving fromMarchetti . and executed his first plate under the eye of Ricciari. He went toParis in 1822, and became a follower ofIngres , whose style he copied in his engraving of "The Vow of Louis XIII". He made his first appearance at the Salon of 1827, with an engraving of "Bajazet and the Shepherd", afterPierre Joseph Dedreux-Dorcy . He next produced the "Mask of Napoleon", from the cast taken by Dr. Antommarchi atSt. Helena in 1814, grouping around it a symbolic gathering, embracing portraits, chiefly from Ingres' drawings, of Madame Dudevant, Paganini, Martin, and Duclos. He visitedFlorence in 1836, and the following year saw him installed as professor of engraving atBrussels . He was later appointed byGiuseppe Longhi to a similar post at theBrera inMilan , und where he died in 1869. His wife was also an artist, and produced an excellent portrait of her father, the archeologistRaoul Rochette , as well as "The Virgin" (1842), "Eudora and Cymadaceus" (1844),"St. Cecilia" (1846),"Eve" (1848), "St. Veronica" (1851).Among Calamatta's works are:
*"Mona Lisa" (1837) after Da Vinci.
*"Madonna di Foligno" "Madonna della Sedia", "The Vision of Ezekiel", and "Peace" (1855) afterRaphael .
*"Our Lord walking on the Sea"; afterCigoli
*"Francesca da Rimini"; after Scheffer.
*"Duke of Orleans"; "Count Molè" (1865); "The Vow ofLouis XIII "; and "Madmouiselle Boimara"; afterIngres
*"Guizot"; afterDelaroche .
*Portraits of "Actor" and "Miss Lèvera"; afterDeveria .
*Portrait of "Lamennais"; afterAry Scheffer .
*"Beatrice Cenci" (1857) afterGuido Reni .
*"Recollections of Rome", partly etched; after Stevens
*Portraits of "Rubens ", "Georges Sand ", and "Ingres".
*Portrait of the "King of Spain"; afterMadrazo .References
*cite book| first=Michael| last=Bryan| year=1886| title="Dictionary of Painters and Engravers, Biographical and Critical" (Volume I: A-K)| editor = Robert Edmund Graves| pages= pages 208-209| publisher=George Bell and Sons|location=York St. #4, Covent Garden, London; Original from Fogg Library, Digitized May 18, 2007 |id= |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=4GYCAAAAYAAJ&printsec=titlepage&dq=DICTIONARY+AACHEN+AALST&as_brr=1| authorlink=
* [http://www.larteastampa.it/calamatta/luicala.htm Short biography]
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