Francesco Gnecchi Ruscone (8 September 1847 in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

– 15 June 1919 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 and

numismatist A numismatist is a specialist, researcher, and/or well-informed collector of numismatics, numismatics/coins ("of coins"; from Late Latin , genitive of ). Numismatists can include collectors, specialist dealers, and scholar-researchers who use coi ...

. Born into a wealthy family in the silk trade, the artist initially studied law at the University of

Pavia Pavia ( , ; ; ; ; ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, in Northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino (river), Ticino near its confluence with the Po (river), Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was a major polit ...

before enlisting as a volunteer in the war against Austria in 1866. He combined painting with the family business until 1878 and continued to sit on the board of directors of major companies in Lombardy even afterwards. A pupil of Mosè Bianchi and Achille Formis, he focused primarily on landscape and drew upon the contemporary work of the school of Lombard Naturalism. His large output of landscapes – mostly featuring Lake Maggiore, the coast of Liguria and the Engadin – reveals a cultured artist abreast of the latest developments. Constant participation in the major Milanese and national exhibitions from 1881 to 1891 also suggests the image of a professional painter. He was also the father of verismo opera composer Vittorio Gnecchi. Friendship with Luigi Scrosati fostered an interest in flower painting alongside the passion for collecting Roman coins that began in 1870 and saw the publication of a number of short works written together with his brother Ercole on the classification of his collection. This comprised some 20,000 items on his death in 1919 and was purchased by the state in 1923 for the Museo Nazionale Romano. The brothers also founded the 'Rivista italiana di numismatica' in 1888 and the Italian Numismatic Society in 1892. Gnecchi's work on numismatics was highly regarded internationally, gaining him the medal of the Royal Numismatic Society in 1906.

Published works

* (with Ercole Gnecchi) ''Le monete di Milano da Carlo Magno a Vittorio Emanuele II'', 1884 * ''Guida numismatica universale'', 1886 * ''Saggio di bibliografia numismatica delle zecche italiane medioevali e moderne'', 1889 * ''Monete romane'', 1896 (English ed.: ''Roman Coins'', 1903) * ''Medaglioni romani'', 1912.

References

* Elena Lissoni
Francesco Gnecchi
online catalogu
Artgate
by Fondazione Cariplo, 2010, CC BY-SA (source for the first revision of this article).

External links

*
Le monete di Milano da Carlo Magno a Vittorio Emanuele II
(1884) -

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

Guida numismatica universale
(1903, 4th ed.) -

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gnecci, Francesco 19th-century Italian painters 19th-century Italian male artists Italian male painters 20th-century Italian painters 20th-century Italian male artists Italian landscape painters Painters from Lombardy Italian numismatists 1847 births 1919 deaths