Portrait of Francesco Antonio Franzoni Francesco Antonio Franzoni (1734–1818) was an Italian sculptor and restorer.

Biography

Born in 1734 in the marble city of

Carrara Carrara ( ; ; , ) is a town and ''comune'' in Tuscany, in central Italy, of the province of Massa and Carrara, and notable for the white or blue-grey Carrara marble, marble quarried there. It is on the Carrione River, some Boxing the compass, ...

and trained there, Francesco Antonio Franzoni settled 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, ...

in the 1760s and established a workshop that specialised in the restoration of antique

Roman sculpture The study of Roman sculpture is complicated by its relation to Sculpture of Ancient Greece, Greek sculpture. Many examples of even the most famous Greek sculptures, such as the ''Apollo Belvedere'' and ''Barberini Faun'', are known only from Roman ...

, for which there was an insatiable demand, scarcely supplied by redoubled efforts at excavations. He worked on restoring, completing and refinishing sculptures destined for the

Museo Pio-Clementino The Vatican Museums (; ) are the public museums of the Vatican City. They display works from the immense collection amassed by the Catholic Church and the papacy throughout the centuries, including several of the best-known Roman sculptures and ...

and provided marble revetments and sculptural details for its interiors, notably the ''

biga Biga may refer to: Places * Biga, Çanakkale, a town and district of Çanakkale Province in Turkey * Sanjak of Biga, an Ottoman province * Biga Çayı, a river in Çanakkale Province * Biga Peninsula, a peninsula in Turkey, in the northwest part ...

'' (two-horse chariot) assembled in 1788 from antique elements,Including what was probably a votive marble chariot of the first century CE, which had been used as a ''

cathedra A ''cathedra'' is the throne of a bishop in the early Christian basilica. When used with this meaning, it may also be called the bishop's throne. With time, the related term ''cathedral'' became synonymous with the "seat", or principa ...

'' at San Marco (Touring Club Italiano, ''Roma'' 669.) in the ''sala del Biga'' of the Braccio Nuovo. He worked for

Pope Pius VI Pope Pius VI (; born Count Angelo Onofrio Melchiorre Natale Giovanni Antonio called Giovanni Angelo or Giannangelo Braschi, 25 December 171729 August 1799) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 15 February 1775 to hi ...

, for whom he filled a room with animal sculptures, some made up from antique fragments, in the Palazzetto del Belvedere; he also worked for the papal family at

Palazzo Braschi Palazzo Braschi () is a large Neoclassical palace in Rome, Italy and is located between the Piazza Navona, the Campo de' Fiori, the Corso Vittorio Emanuele II and the Piazza di Pasquino. It presently houses the Museo di Roma, the "Museum of R ...

. He died in Rome in 1818.

References

External links

Getty Museum: Francesco Antonio Franzoni
marble side table and drawing {{DEFAULTSORT:Franzoni, Francesco Antonio 1734 births 1818 deaths 18th-century Italian sculptors Italian male sculptors 19th-century Italian sculptors 19th-century Italian male artists Sculptors from Carrara 18th-century Italian male artists

Biography

See also

Further reading

References

External links