Antonio Marini (27 May 1788 – 10 September 1861) was an Italian painter, mainly of sacred subjects for churches in

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of 3,660,834 inhabitants as of 2025. The capital city is Florence. Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, artistic legacy, and its in ...

. He is distinct from the Antonio Maria Marini from Venice.

Biography

He was born in

Prato Prato ( ; ) is a city and municipality (''comune'') in Tuscany, Italy, and is the capital of the province of Prato. The city lies in the northeast of Tuscany, at an elevation of , at the foot of Monte Retaia (the last peak in the Calvana ch ...

. Early in his career, he painted frescoes, including one depicting ''Zeus in Olympus'', for the Esterhazy Palace in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. He developed an anachronistic style that imitated

quattrocento The cultural and artistic events of Italy during the period 1400 to 1499 are collectively referred to as the Quattrocento (, , ) from the Italian word for the number 400, in turn from , which is Italian for the year 1400. The Quattrocento encom ...

painters, learned in part from his activity restoring such works. He is described by 1836 by the contemporary

Luigi Mussini Luigi Mussini (19 December 1813 – 18 June 1888) was an Italian painter, linked especially to the Purismo movement and to the Nazarenes. Life Mussini was born in Berlin, son of the composer Natale Mussini, ''Kapellmeister'' at the Prussi ...

as having begun to paint ''Madonnas weakly imitated after the neo-purism of the (pre-Raphaelite) Germans'' such as Overbeck and his associates. Among his frescoes are those depicting: ''Sacred and Profane Music, Poetry, and a Choir of Putti'' (1852) in a salon of the house of count Guicciardini and in the Palazzo Martelli in

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

. He painted the frescoes of the ''Life of St Anne'' for the chapel dei Giuntini in San Giuseppe. Among his canvases in oil is one of the ''Virgin about to embrace her Jesus as a child'' (1843) and a ''Glory of the Virgin'' (1847) for the church of

Santa Maria delle Carceri Santa Maria delle Carceri may refer to: *Santa Maria delle Carceri, Prato, basilica in Prato, Tuscany *, Camaldolese monastery in Padua; see Antonio Bernardo (humanist) Antonio Bernardo ( – 15041512) was a Republic of Venice, Venetian professor o ...

in Prato. Marini was employed in restoration (1840) of the frescoes in the

Palazzo del Podesta A palace is a large residence, often serving as a royal residence or the home for a head of state or another high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome whi ...

of Prato. His wife, Giulia Marini, painted landscapes and still-life.Palazzo Pretorio in Prato
collections. He died in Florence.

References

Antonio Marini on Treccani.it
1788 births 1861 deaths 19th-century Italian painters Italian male painters Painters from Tuscany Italian neoclassical painters 19th-century Italian male artists {{Italy-painter-18thC-stub