Stefano Tofanelli

Stefano Tofanelli (1750-c. 1810) was an Italian painter during the Neoclassic period.

He was born in Lucca. He was a pupil of Niccolo Lapiccola in Rome. He was employed by engravers to make drawings for them, and, for example, for Volpato, he drew "Parnassus" by Raphael and a "Sibyl and two Prophets" by [Michelangelo] , "Martyrdom" by Guido Reni, "Aurora" and "Day & Night" by Guercino, and a Landscape by Claude Lorraine. For the artist Morghen, he completed a drawing of Poussin's "Dance of the Hours", of Raphael's "Jurisprudence", "Transfiguration", and "Miracle of Bolsena"; and of Murillo's "Magdalene". He also worked for Bettelini, Fontana, and Giovanni Folo. Tofanelli also painted altarpieces, portraits, and mythological scenes. In 1781 he opened an Art School in Rome, but afterwards returned to Lucca, and in 1802 became Professor of Drawing in the University of San Frediano. He died in Lucca.

References

*cite book| first=Michael| last=Bryan| year=1889| title="Dictionary of Painters and Engravers, Biographical and Critical" (Volume II L-Z)| editor = Walter Armstrong & Robert Edmund Graves| pages= page 577| 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=K2cCAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1&dq=Michael+Bryan+Painters+Engravers#PPP7,M1| authorlink=