Maxim Gauci (11 February 1774 – 3 November 1854), born Massimo Gauci, was a

Maltese Maltese may refer to: * Someone or something of, from, or related to Malta * Maltese alphabet * Maltese cuisine * Maltese culture * Maltese language, the Semitic language spoken by Maltese people * Maltese people, people from Malta or of Maltese ...

lithographer and painter who was active in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

in the 19th century. He was an early exponent of lithography for botanical illustration.

Life

Family grave of Massimo Gauci in Highgate Cemetery

Gauci was born in

Valletta Valletta ( ; , ) is the capital city of Malta and one of its 68 Local councils of Malta, council areas. Located between the Grand Harbour to the east and Marsamxett Harbour to the west, its population as of 2021 was 5,157. As Malta’s capital ...

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

on 11 February 1774. He studied painting under Michele Busuttil, and was later sent to 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; ...

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, ...

on the recommendation of Grand Master

Emmanuel de Rohan-Polduc Fra' Emmanuel Marie des Neiges de Rohan-Polduc (18 April 1725, in La Mancha, Spain – 14 July 1797, in Valletta, Malta) was a member of the wealthy and influential Rohan family of France, and Prince and 70th Grand Master of the Order of St. J ...

. Gauci eventually moved to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, and married there in 1804. While he was there, he was known as Maxime Gauci and he worked in the studio of

Jean-Baptiste Isabey Jean-Baptiste Isabey (; 11 April 1767 – 18 April 1855) was a French artist during both the First Empire and the Restoration. Early life and education Isabey was born in Nancy, France on 11 April 1767. At the age of 19, following some lessons ...

. He was father of William Gauci, another printer, and the landscape painter Paul Gauci. Gauci travelled to

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

and the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

before settling in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in 1809. He never went back to Malta, but he was often visited by his relatives and other Maltese people. Gauci remained active until his eyesight began to decline, and he died in London on 3 November 1854, at the age of 80. He was buried in the Gauci family grave on the western side of

Highgate Cemetery Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in North London, England, designed by architect Stephen Geary. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East sides. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for so ...

Works

His firm completed works that included

Nathaniel Wallich Nathaniel Wolff Wallich (28 January 1786 – 28 April 1854) was a surgeon and botanist of Danish origin who worked in India, initially in the Danish settlement near Calcutta and later for the Danish East India Company and the British East Indi ...

’s ''

Plantae Asiaticae Rariores ''Plantae Asiaticae Rariores'' is a horticultural work (alternative title ''Descriptions and figures of a select number of unpublished East Indian plants'') published in 1830–1832 by the Danish botanist Nathaniel Wallich. ''Plantae Asiaticae R ...

'' and

James Bateman James Bateman may refer to: * James Bateman (horticulturist) (1811–1897), British landowner and horticulturist * James Bateman (artist) (1893–1959), English painter of rural scenes * James Bateman (MP), MP for Carlisle * James Bateman (banker) ...

’s ''Orchidaceae of Mexico and Guatemala'' (1837–43), boasting the largest lithographic plates ever produced. Wilfrid Blunt had nothing but praise for Gauci, calling him ''“a master of the process, he ranged his tone from the palest of silvery greys to the richest velvet black; his outline is never mechanical or obtrusive.”''Grosvenor Prints
/ref> He also produced the lithography for

John Forbes Royle John Forbes Royle (10 May 1798 – 2 January 1858), British Botany, botanist and teacher of materia medica (pharmacology), was born in Kanpur (then Cawnpore) in India in 1798. He was in charge of the botanical garden at Saharanpur and played a r ...

, ''Illustrations of the botany and other branches of the natural history of the Himalayan Mountains, and of the flora of Cashmere''. Vol.II – Plates, London: Wm.H. Allen & Co., 1840. Gauci also painted

portrait miniature A portrait miniature is a miniature portrait painting from Renaissance art, usually executed in gouache, Watercolor painting, watercolor, or Vitreous enamel, enamel. Portrait miniatures developed out of the techniques of the miniatures in illumin ...

s in his early career, and he later produced lithographed portraits. Many of his portraits are in the

National Portrait Gallery, London The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London that houses a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. When it opened in 1856, it was arguably the first national public gallery in the world th ...

. Se
here

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gauci, Maxim 1774 births 1854 deaths 18th-century Maltese artists 19th-century British artists 19th-century lithographers 19th-century Maltese artists British lithographers Burials at Highgate Cemetery Maltese emigrants to the United Kingdom Maltese lithographers People from Valletta Portrait miniaturists Crown Colony of Malta people