Marianna Candidi Dionigi (1756-1826) born in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, was an Italian painter, writer and salonnière who took an interest in archaeology. She wrote archaeological descriptions of buildings and monuments during a journey in

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

Biography

Dionigi was born to Giuseppe and Maddalena Candidi Scilla, an aristocratic Roman family, in 1756. She was well educated, speaking various languages, and an excellent musician. She also took an interest in both archaeology and painting, studying initially under the landscape painter

Carlo Labruzzi Carlo Labruzzo (1748–1817) was an Italian painter, primarily of landscapes who was born in Rome. In 1798, he was nominated professor at the Academy of Fine Arts of Perugia, and in 1812, he became director. He died in Perugia in December 1817. H ...

, then studying at the Academy of Fine Arts of

Perugia Perugia ( , ; ; ) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area. It has 162,467 ...

. left, Paesaggio by Dionigi Dionigi wrote a monograph on painting and about her travels through Lazio. The story is told in a series of letters from a 50 year old woman. She describes archaeological sites and each letter was accompanied by a sketch. She describes five towns south of Rome which had been believed to have been founded by the mythological god

Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant, with an average radius of about 9 times that of Earth. It has an eighth the average density of Earth, but is over 95 tim ...

. Each of the etchings were detailed and accurate. Moreover Dioigi included plans and elevations and transcribed inscriptions. She was a salon hostess and she was a friend of

Vincenzo Monti Vincenzo Monti (19 February 1754 – 13 October 1828) was an Italian poet, playwright, translator, and scholar, the greatest interpreter of Italian Neoclassicism in all of its various phases. His verse translation of the ''Iliad'' is considered o ...

, Shelley,

Antonio Canova Antonio Canova (; 1 November 1757 – 13 October 1822) was an Italians, Italian Neoclassical sculpture, Neoclassical sculptor, famous for his marble sculptures. Often regarded as the greatest of the Neoclassical artists,. his sculpture was ins ...

Giacomo Leopardi Count Giacomo Taldegardo Francesco di Sales Saverio Pietro Leopardi (29 June 1798 – 14 June 1837) was an Italian philosopher, poet, essayist, and philologist. Considered the greatest Italian poet of the 19th century and one of the greatest a ...

and the archeologist Jean Baptiste d'Agincourt. As a young woman she married the jurist Domenico Dionigi, a Count of the

Lateran Palace The Apostolic Palace of the Lateran (; ), informally the Lateran Palace (), is an ancient palace of the Roman Empire and later the main pope, papal residence in Rome. Located on Saint John's Square in Lateran on the Caelian Hill, the palace is ...

and aristocrat from Ferrara. They had seven children. Her drawings and paintings were displayed at the

Palazzo della Cancelleria The Palazzo della Cancelleria (Palace of the Chancellery, referring to the former Apostolic Chancery of the Pope) is a Renaissance palace in Rome, Italy, situated between the present Corso Vittorio Emanuele II and the Campo de' Fiori, in the rion ...

, the

Accademia di San Luca The Accademia di San Luca () is an Italian academy of artists in Rome. The establishment of the Accademia de i Pittori e Scultori di Roma was approved by papal brief in 1577, and in 1593 Federico Zuccari became its first ''principe'' or director; ...

, and the

Reggia di Caserta The Royal Palace of Caserta ( ; ) is a former royal residence in Caserta, Campania, north of Naples in southern Italy, constructed by the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies as their main residence as kings of Naples. The complex is the largest pal ...

. She died in Lanuvio.Famous people
Comune di Ferentino, personaggi illustri, Retrieved 12 October 2016 Dionigi died in 1826 in

Lanuvio Lanuvio is a (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Rome in the Italian region of Latium, located about southeast of Rome, on the Alban Hills. Lanuvio borders the following municipalities: Aprilia, Ariccia, Genzano di Roma, Velletri. Hist ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dionigi, Marianna Candidi 1756 births 1826 deaths 18th-century Italian painters 19th-century Italian painters Italian salon-holders 18th-century Italian women painters 19th-century Italian women painters Artists from the Papal States