Giovanni Battista Lusieri
Giovanni Battista Lusieri | |
|---|---|
| File:Bay of Naples 1781.jpg View of the Bay of Naples, ca. 1781 | |
| Born | 1755 |
| Died | 1821 |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Known for | Elgin Marbles |
Giovanni Battista Lusieri (1755, Rome – 1821, Athens), was an Italian landscape painter. He was court painter to Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies before he worked for Lord Elgin and became involved in the removal and shipping of the Elgin Marbles to England.
Biography
According to the RKD, Lusieri travelled in Naples, Greece, and Turkey.[1] He was employed by Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin to make drawings of the Acropolis.[1] He is known today for removing and shipping the Elgin Marbles to London.[2]
Lusieri believed that he may have been more famous as an artist if he had not spent so much time working for Lord Elgin and his antiquity collection. He had originally been known for his accurate landscapes and studies of buildings in Italy and Sicily that he often sold to young gentlemen on their Grand Tour, especially after he moved to Naples in 1782 and concentrated on views of Mount Vesuvius. These paintings sold well because the volcano was quite active then. Lord Byron regarded him as an important Italian artist, although he may have been biased as he was also the good friend of Lusieri's brother-in-law, Nicolo Giraud.[3] Lusieri painted his landscapes in accurate detail, and resisted the fashion for imaginative constructions imitating Claude Lorrain, arguing that paintings should be taken from real life. From 1799 he spent his time working for Lord Elgin in Greece and he spent less time painting.[4]
Elgin Marbles
He was employed by Lord and Lady Elgin even though he was not able to speak in English. The contract was drawn up between them in French and Lusieri was paid £200 per year.[5] Lusiari had been the Court Painter to the King of Naples and Elgin's secretary, William Hamilton, had written to the King to ask his permission to employ his painter.[6] Lusieri was originally employed to create sketches for Elgin of Greek antiquities. Lusieri was empowered to also employ moulders who were to create casts of Greek sculptures.[5] Elgin however found that marble sculptures were missing and they had allegedly been destroyed. It was Lusieri who persuaded the reluctant Elgin to remove the sculptures in order to protect them from Turkish opportunists who were breaking off bits to sell to tourists.[6] In 1801 Elgin had Lusieri supervise the removal of the sculptures at a cost of £70,000.[7][8]
Legacy
His body of works was seriously reduced when many of his paintings were lost in a shipwreck in 1828.[4]
A considerable number of his paintings that are extant are in the possession of the Elgin family. These paintings and others were in Lusieri's first ever exhibition which was created at the Scottish National Gallery in 2012.[2]
References
- ^ a b Giovanni Battista Lusieri in the RKD
- ^ a b "Expanding Horizons". Scottish National Gallery. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
- ^ Byron, George Gordon (1973). Famous in my Time. Harvard University. p. 298.
- ^ a b "Giovanni Battista Lusieri". getty.edu.art. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
- ^ a b Vrettos, Theodore (2011). The Elgin Affar. Skyhorse Publishing. ISBN 9781611453157.
- ^ a b Percy, Reuben (1833). The Mirror of literature, amusement, and instruction, Volume 22 p.137 & 287. J. Limbird.
- ^ King, Dorothy (2004-07-21). "Elgin Marbles: fact or fiction?". London: The Guardian.
- ^ Elgin Marbles in The Mirror of literature, amusement, and instruction, Volume 22, by Reuben Percy & John Timbs, 1833, pg 137, on Google books