Innocenzio Ansaldi (

Pescia Pescia () is an Italian city in the province of Pistoia, Tuscany, central Italy. It is located in a central zone between the cities Lucca and Florence, on the banks of the river of the same name. History Archaeological excavations have suggest ...

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 ...

, February 12, 1734 - 1816) was an Italian painter and writer on art.

Biography

It is not clear that he is related to either Casto Innocenzio Ansaldi (1710 — 1780), a prolific contemporary writer and theologian from Piacenza or Giovanni Andrea Ansaldi (1584 – 1638), a prolific Genoese painter. Innocenzio enrolled to obtain a classical education at the College of

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 ...

. However, he inclined towards painting and the arts. In Florence, he briefly worked with Father Alberigo de Vellano, a priest who had trained with Ottaviano Dandini and

Sebastiano Conca Sebastiano Conca (8 January 1680 – 1 September 1764) was an Italian painter. Biography He was born at Gaeta, then part of the Kingdom of Naples, and apprenticed in Naples under Francesco Solimena. In 1706, along with his brother Giovanni, wh ...

. Patronage with various ecclesiastical and diplomatic figures allowed him to trave through Italy. In 1772, he traveled to Rome, where he became a follower of

Anton Raphael Mengs Anton Raphael Mengs (12 March 1728 – 29 June 1779) was a German Neoclassicism, 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 wh ...

. Returning to Florence and Tuscany, he made paintings of sacred subjects. Among his writings on art are ''Descrizione delle Pitture, Sculture, ed Architetture delle Citta e Subborghi di Pescia nella Toscano'' 8vo, Bologna, 1772; a ''Catalogo delle migliori Pitture, &c, della Valdinievole'', printed in the ''Istoria di Pescia''; and a translation in verse of Charles Alphonse du Fresnoy's ''Art of Painting'' (''Il Pittore Instruito'') published, with a memoir of Ansaldi by Canon Moreri, Bologna, 1820.,''Il pittore'', originale poemetto didascalico del pittore e poeta Innocenzio Ansaldi.
(1816), By Innocenzo Ansaldi, Domenico Moreni. His works are recondite, erudite, and panegyrical poems about art and artists, full of classical references, but often short on insight.

References

1734 births 1816 deaths Italian art historians 18th-century Italian painters Italian male painters 19th-century Italian painters Painters from Tuscany 19th-century Italian male artists 18th-century Italian male artists {{Italy-painter-18thC-stub