Christopher Unterberger, also Christoph or Cristoforo (27 May 1732 – 25 January 1798) was an Italian painter of the early- Neoclassical period.

Biography

He was born in

Cavalese Cavalese (''Cavalés'' in local dialect, ''Gablöss'' in local german dialect) is a ''comune'' of 4,004 inhabitants in Trentino, northern Italy, a ski resort and the main center in the Fiemme Valley. It is part of the Magnifica Comunità di Fiem ...

County of Tyrol The (Princely) County of Tyrol was an Imperial State, estate of the Holy Roman Empire established about 1140. After 1253, it was ruled by the House of Gorizia and from 1363 by the House of Habsburg. In 1804, the County of Tyrol, unified with th ...

(today located in

Trentino Trentino (), officially the Autonomous Province of Trento (; ; ), is an Autonomous province#Italy, autonomous province of Italy in the Northern Italy, country's far north. Trentino and South Tyrol constitute the Regions of Italy, region of Tren ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

). He was initially taught drawing by an uncle, Franz Sebald Unterberger, and then in the

Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna The Academy of Fine Arts Vienna () is a public art school in Vienna, Austria. Founded in 1688 as a private academy, it is now a public university. The academy is also known for twice rejecting admission to a young Adolf Hitler in 1907 and 1908. ...

, where another uncle, Michelangelo Unterberger, was the co-director from 1751-1758. He then traveled to

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

and

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...

, where he studied under

Giambettino Cignaroli Giambettino Cignaroli (Verona, July 4, 1706 – Verona, December 1, 1770) was an Italian painter of the Rococo and early Neoclassicism, Neoclassic period. Biography He was a pupil of Santo Prunato and Antonio Balestra and active mostly in t ...

; and finally in 1758, to

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, ...

. In Rome, he befriended and fell under the influence of

Anton Rafael Mengs Anton Raphael Mengs (12 March 1728 – 29 June 1779) was a German Neoclassical painter. Early life Mengs was born on 12 March 1728, at Ústí nad Labem in the Kingdom of Bohemia, the son of Ismael Mengs, a Danish-born painter who eventually ...

, and copied the works of

Pietro da Cortona Pietro da Cortona (; 1 November 1596 or 159716 May 1669) was an Italian Baroque painter and architect. Along with his contemporaries and rivals Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Francesco Borromini, he was one of the key figures in the emergence of Roman ...

, in whose style he produced two altar-pieces of ''St. Jules'' and ''St. Agnes'' for the cathedral of

Brixen Brixen (; , ; or , ) is a town and communes of Italy, commune in South Tyrol, northern Italy, located about north of Bolzano. Geography Brixen is the third-largest city and oldest town in the province, with a population of nearly twenty-three t ...

. In 1772, he joined 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; ...

under the sponsorship of Mengs. In 1772, he and Mengs were commissioned to decorate the Papyrus room in the

Vatican Library The Vatican Apostolic Library (, ), more commonly known as the Vatican Library or informally as the Vat, is the library of the Holy See, located in Vatican City, and is the city-state's national library. It was formally established in 1475, alth ...

with themes from classic Roman frescoes, including grotteschi and other painted ornament, Starting in 1780, he led a team of artists replicating on canvas the Vatican Loggia designed by

Bramante Donato Bramante (1444 – 11 April 1514), born as Donato di Pascuccio d'Antonio and also known as Bramante Lazzari, was an Italian architect and painter. He introduced Renaissance architecture to Milan and the High Renaissance style to Rom ...

and

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), now generally known in English as Raphael ( , ), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of paintings by Raphael, His work is admired for its cl ...

. The commission had been communicated by

Giacomo Quarenghi Giacomo Quarenghi (; , ; 20 or 21 September 1744) was an Italian architect who was the foremost and most prolific practitioner of neoclassical architecture in Imperial Russia, particularly in Saint Petersburg. He brought into vogue an original mo ...

, the architect to Empress

Catherine II of Russia Catherine II. (born Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst; 2 May 172917 November 1796), most commonly known as Catherine the Great, was the reigning empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. She came to power after overthrowing her husband, Peter I ...

. Quarenghi replicated the classic decoration gallery in the Hermitage in

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

. He also decorated the ''Stanza d'Ercole'' (1784–86) in

Villa Borghese Villa Borghese is a landscape garden in Rome, containing a number of buildings, museums (see Galleria Borghese) and attractions. It is the third-largest public park in Rome (80 hectares or 197.7 acres), after the ones of the Villa Doria Pamphil ...

for Marcantonio Borghese. Once called Stanza del Sonno because of the statue of Sleep by

Alessandro Algardi Alessandro Algardi (July 31, 1598 – June 10, 1654) was an Italian high-Baroque sculptor active almost exclusively in Rome. In the latter decades of his life, he was, along with Francesco Borromini and Pietro da Cortona, one of the major rivals ...

. The frescoes depict the ''Apotheosis of Hercules in the center'' surrounded by four of stories of his life, ''Receiving the horns of Achelous''; ''Hercules and Lichas''; ''Nessus and Deianeira'', and the ''Death of Hercules''. In 1790-91, Unterberger also helped design the playful ''Fontana dei Cavalli Marini'' (fountain of the sea horses) and the architectural ''capriccio'' of a hemi-facade (simulated ruins) of the ''Temple of Faustina'' in the Borghese gardens. His works were mostly historical, but he also executed genre subjects, landscapes, and fruit and flower-pieces. He painted some genre paintings now in the Liechtenstein Gallery 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 painted a ''Madonna with St. John'' for the Ferdinandeum at

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; ) is the capital of Tyrol (federal state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the Wipptal, Wipp Valley, which provides access to the ...

; a ''Martyrdom of St. Pontianus'' for the cathedral at

Spoleto Spoleto (, also , , ; ) is an ancient city in the Italian province of Perugia in east-central Umbria on a foothill of the Apennines. It is south of Trevi, north of Terni, southeast of Perugia; southeast of Florence; and north of Rome. H ...

; and an ''Assumption'' for the Loreto Cathedral. A number of his works can be seen in the Pinacoteca Civica Fortunato Duranti. He saw the commission for the decoration of a ceiling of the ducal palace of

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

go to

Giandomenico Tiepolo Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo (August 30, 1727March 3, 1804) was an Italian painter and printmaker in etching. He was the son of artist Giovanni Battista Tiepolo and elder brother of Lorenzo Baldissera Tiepolo. Life history Domenico was born in Ve ...

instead of him. He died in

.His brother

Ignaz Unterberger Ignaz Unterberger (24 July 1748, Cavalese – 4 December 1797, Vienna) was a painter and printmaker, who was also an inventor. He lived his entire life in the Holy Roman Empire. He was a member of a large dynasty of Tyrolean artists. Biograp ...

was a prominent painter who was active in Vienna. One of his pupils was Giuseppe Turchi and Antonio Longo.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Unterberger, Cristopher 1732 births 1798 deaths People from Cavalese 18th-century Italian painters 18th-century Italian architects Italian male painters Italian still life painters Italian neoclassical painters 18th-century Italian male artists