Vincenzo Damini (before 1700 – c.1749) was an Italian artist, a pupil of Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini, who spent some time in England.
Life
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Damini was born in Venice towards the end of the 17th century.[1] He was a pupil of Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini, whom he accompanied to England in about 1720. His portrait of the London scenery painter John Devoto is known from a mezzotint after it, made by John Faber.[2] In the north transept of Lincoln Cathedral, he executed a wall painting of four bishops beneath Gothic canopies, replacing an older version of the same subject; his assistant while working on it was the English artist Giles Hussey.[3][4] Also in Lincoln, he painted a fresco of the Ascension in the chancel and apse of the church of St Peter-at-Arches. The church was demolished in the 1930s, but Damini's oil modello for the work survives.[5]
Five decorative paintings inset into the plaster ceiling of a room designed by James Gibbs for a house in Henrietta Street, London, are attributed to Damini. The entire room, dating from around 1727-32 is preserved in the Victoria and Albert Museum.[6]
He returned to Italy in 1730, accompanied by Giles Hussey, whom, according to Edward Edwards he abandoned in Bologna, making off with his belongings.[7] By 1737 he was in L'Aquila, in Abruzzo, where, in that year, he painted an altarpiece at the church of the monastery of San Giuliano.[8] There are three works by him in the collection of the Museo Nazionale d'Abruzzo: Il battesimo di Gesù (1740), San Tommaso d'Aquino incatena l'eresia (1739) and Carlo d'Angiò ai piedi della Vergine e San Tommaso d'Aquino (1741).[1]
He died in L'Aquila in about 1749.[6]
References
edit- ^ a b "Vincenzo Damini". Museo Nazionale d'Abruzzo. Retrieved 5 November 2012.
- ^ "John Devoto by John Faber Jr, after Vincenzo Damini". National Portrait Gallery.
- ^ Sanderson, Robert (1851). Lincoln Cathedral; an exact copy of all the ancient monumental inscriptions. London: Simkin & Marshall. p. 52.
- ^ Kendrick, A. F. (1928). The Cathedral Church of Lincoln. London: George Bell and Sons. p. 116.
- ^ "Vincenzo Damini (Venice late-17th Century-c. 1749 L'Aquila) The Ascension: a modello for the apse and cupola of St. Peter-at-Arches, Lincoln". Christies. Retrieved 5 November 2012. Previously in the Parish Church of St Giles in Lincoln, the modello was sold at Christies in 2009
- ^ a b "Room-Parlour from 11 Henrietta Street". Victoria and Albert Museum.
- ^ Edwards, Edward (1808). "Giles Hussey". Anecdotes of Painters who have Resided or been born in England. London. pp. 150–1.
- ^ "San Giuliano, la Storia". Archeoclub d’Italia - Sede L’Aquila.
