Giuseppe Bossi
Encyclopedia
Giuseppe Bossi 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 Appiani
or Manzoni
.
, near Milan
. He was educated at the college of Monza
; and his early fondness for drawing was fostered by the director of the college. He then studied at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts
at Milan, and spent the years 1795–1801 in Rome, where he drew Roman remains and honed his skills in drawing anatomy at the morgue of a hospital and formed an intimate friendship with Canova
, who made a portrait bust of Bossi http://www.artandarchitecture.org.uk/images/conway/5baf296e.html. He met Jacques-Louis David
in Lyon in 1802, though his own style employed a less rigorously classicizing technique.
On his return to Milan he fell in with the circle of progressive young artists that formed the Cameretta Portiana He became assistant secretary, and then secretary (1802–1807) of the Brera Academy, whose collection of paintings, the Pinacoteca he essentially founded. In 1804, in conjunction with Barnabo Oriani, he drew up revised organizational rules for the three academies of art of Bologna
, Venice
and Milan, which lent weight to the need for public collections of great examples of the arts, which were being supplied from the dissolved monasteries and secularized churches of Lombardy, under Napoleonic administration. He was rewarded with the Order of the Iron Crown
. On the occasion of the visit of Napoleon
to Milan in 1805, Bossi exhibited at the Pinacoteca a drawing of the Last Judgment of Michelangelo
, and paintings representing Aurora and Night, Oedipus and Creon, and the Italian Parnassus.
By command of prince Eugène de Beauharnais, viceroy of Italy, Bossi undertook to make a copy of The Last Supper of Leonardo da Vinci
, then almost obliterated, for the purpose of getting it rendered in mosaic. The drawing was made from the remains of the original with the aid of copies and the best prints. The mosaic, 9.18 m in length, was executed by the Roman mosaicist Giacomo Raffaelli
, and was placed in the Minoritenkirche, Vienna. Bossi made another copy in oil, which was placed in the Pinacoteca Brera. The Brera Academy owed to him its fine collection of casts of great works of sculpture acquired at Paris, Rome and Florence. For himself, Bossi collected books, drawings, prints, paintings, coins, sculptures, and antiquities.
Bossi devoted a large part of his life to the study of the works of Leonardo, whose drawing manner he imitated accurately enough for his productions to have passed as Leonardos. and his last work was a series of drawings in monochrome representing incidents in the life of that great master. He left unfinished a large cartoon in black chalk of the Dead Christ in the bosom of Mary, with John and the Magdalene. In 1810 he published a special work in large quarto, entitled Del Cenacolo di Leonardo da Vinci, which had the merit of greatly interesting Goethe, who shared Bossi's urgent dream of saving Leonardo's fresco.
Bossi's other publications were Delle Opinioni di Leonardo intorno alla simmetria de corpi umani (1811), and Del Tipo dell'arte della pittura (1816). His diary, 1807–1815, is a useful guide to the official artistic life of Napoleonic Milan.
Bossi died at his home in via S. Maria Valle, Milan
. A monument by Canova was erected to his memory in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana
, and a bust was placed in the Brera.
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
, arts administrator and writer on art. He ranks among the foremost figures of Neoclassical culture
Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome...
in Lombardy, along with Ugo Foscolo
Ugo Foscolo
Ugo Foscolo , born Niccolò Foscolo, was an Italian writer, revolutionary and poet.-Biography:Foscolo was born on the Ionian island of Zakynthos...
, Giuseppe Parini
Giuseppe Parini
Giuseppe Parini was an Italian Enlightenment satirist and poet of the neoclassic period.-Biography:Parini was born in Bosisio in Brianza, Lombardy...
, Andrea Appiani
Andrea Appiani
Andrea Appiani was an Italian neoclassical painter.-Biography:He was born in Milan. He had been intended to follow his father's career in medicine but instead entered the private academy of the painter Carlo Maria Giudici . He received instruction in drawing, copying mainly from sculpture and prints...
or Manzoni
Alessandro Manzoni
Alessandro Francesco Tommaso Manzoni was an Italian poet and novelist.He is famous for the novel The Betrothed , generally ranked among the masterpieces of world literature...
.
Biography
He was born in the town of Busto ArsizioBusto Arsizio
Busto Arsizio is a city and comune in the region of Lombardy, in northern Italy, 25 km north of Milan in the province of Varese.The economy of Busto Arsizio is mainly based on industry and commerce.-History:...
, near Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
. He was educated at the college of Monza
Monza
Monza is a city and comune on the river Lambro, a tributary of the Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy some 15 km north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the Province of Monza and Brianza. It is best known for its Grand Prix motor racing circuit, the Autodromo Nazionale Monza.On June...
; and his early fondness for drawing was fostered by the director of the college. He then studied at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts
Pinacoteca Brera
The Pinacoteca di Brera is an art collection in Milan, Italy. It contains one of the foremost collections of Italian paintings, an outgrowth of the cultural program of the Brera Academy, which shares the site in the Palazzo Brera.The Palazzo Brera owes its name to the Germanic braida, indicating a...
at Milan, and spent the years 1795–1801 in Rome, where he drew Roman remains and honed his skills in drawing anatomy at the morgue of a hospital and formed an intimate friendship with Canova
Antonio Canova
Antonio Canova was an Italian sculptor from the Republic of Venice who became famous for his marble sculptures that delicately rendered nude flesh...
, who made a portrait bust of Bossi http://www.artandarchitecture.org.uk/images/conway/5baf296e.html. He met Jacques-Louis David
Jacques-Louis David
Jacques-Louis David was an influential French painter in the Neoclassical style, considered to be the preeminent painter of the era...
in Lyon in 1802, though his own style employed a less rigorously classicizing technique.
On his return to Milan he fell in with the circle of progressive young artists that formed the Cameretta Portiana He became assistant secretary, and then secretary (1802–1807) of the Brera Academy, whose collection of paintings, the Pinacoteca he essentially founded. In 1804, in conjunction with Barnabo Oriani, he drew up revised organizational rules for the three academies of art of Bologna
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
, Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
and Milan, which lent weight to the need for public collections of great examples of the arts, which were being supplied from the dissolved monasteries and secularized churches of Lombardy, under Napoleonic administration. He was rewarded with the Order of the Iron Crown
Order of the Iron Crown
The Imperial Order of the Iron Crown was established June 5, 1805 by Napoleon Bonaparte . It took its name from the ancient Iron Crown of Lombardy, a medieval jewel with an iron ring, forged from what was supposed to be a nail from the True Cross as a band on the inside. This crown also gave its...
. On the occasion of the visit of Napoleon
Napoleon I of France
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
to Milan in 1805, Bossi exhibited at the Pinacoteca a drawing of the Last Judgment of Michelangelo
Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni , commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art...
, and paintings representing Aurora and Night, Oedipus and Creon, and the Italian Parnassus.
By command of prince Eugène de Beauharnais, viceroy of Italy, Bossi undertook to make a copy of The Last Supper of Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
, then almost obliterated, for the purpose of getting it rendered in mosaic. The drawing was made from the remains of the original with the aid of copies and the best prints. The mosaic, 9.18 m in length, was executed by the Roman mosaicist Giacomo Raffaelli
Giacomo Raffaelli
Giacomo Raffaelli was an Italian mosaicist from Rome. He is the author of a copy of Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper commissioned by Napoleon I. The mosaic resides at Vienna in the Minoritenkirche.- Sources :...
, and was placed in the Minoritenkirche, Vienna. Bossi made another copy in oil, which was placed in the Pinacoteca Brera. The Brera Academy owed to him its fine collection of casts of great works of sculpture acquired at Paris, Rome and Florence. For himself, Bossi collected books, drawings, prints, paintings, coins, sculptures, and antiquities.
Bossi devoted a large part of his life to the study of the works of Leonardo, whose drawing manner he imitated accurately enough for his productions to have passed as Leonardos. and his last work was a series of drawings in monochrome representing incidents in the life of that great master. He left unfinished a large cartoon in black chalk of the Dead Christ in the bosom of Mary, with John and the Magdalene. In 1810 he published a special work in large quarto, entitled Del Cenacolo di Leonardo da Vinci, which had the merit of greatly interesting Goethe, who shared Bossi's urgent dream of saving Leonardo's fresco.
Bossi's other publications were Delle Opinioni di Leonardo intorno alla simmetria de corpi umani (1811), and Del Tipo dell'arte della pittura (1816). His diary, 1807–1815, is a useful guide to the official artistic life of Napoleonic Milan.
Bossi died at his home in via S. Maria Valle, Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
. A monument by Canova was erected to his memory in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana
Biblioteca Ambrosiana
The Biblioteca Ambrosiana is a historic library in Milan, Italy, also housing the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, the Ambrosian art gallery. Named after Ambrose, the patron saint of Milan, it was founded by Cardinal Federico Borromeo , whose agents scoured Western Europe and even Greece and Syria for books...
, and a bust was placed in the Brera.
Further reading
- (Chiara Nenci, editor), 2004. Le memorie di Giuseppe Bossi: Diario di un artista nella Milano napoleonica 1807-1815 (Milan: Jaca Book)