Silvestro Valeri (Rome, December 31, 1814 – 1902) was an Italian painter and educator. He taught at

Accademia di Belle Arti di Perugia The Accademia di Belle Arti di Perugia ("Academy of Fine Arts of Perugia") is a private tertiary academy of art in Perugia, in Umbria in central Italy. It is not one of the 20 official Italian state academies of fine art, but is legally recognise ...

Biography

As a young man, he was enrolled in the Academy of Fine Arts of St Luke in Rome. By his second year in 1827, he won first prize in design with ''The Dying Gladiator''. Among his instructors was

Tommaso Minardi Tommaso Minardi (December 4, 1787 – January 12, 1871) was an Italian painter and author on art theory, active in Faenza, Rome, Perugia, and other towns. He painted in styles that transitioned from Neoclassicism to Romanticism. Biography Mi ...

, professor of design at the Academy. Valeri remained for many years as a major assistant of Minardi. One of his first works was a ''San Primo'', commissioned by Prince Don Filippo Doria for the church of

Santa Maria in Via Lata Santa Maria in Via Lata is a church on the Via del Corso (the ancient Via Lata), in Rome, Italy. It stands diagonal from the church of San Marcello al Corso. It is the stational church for Tuesday in the fifth week of lent. History The first ...

in Rome. In 1837, when there was an epidemic of

cholera Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...

in Rome, Prince Borghese commissioned an oil canvas depicting '' St Francis of Sales visits prisoners'', and ''Four Evangelists'', in tempera for the private chapel of Prince Doria. The Prince also commissioned a ''Nativity'' for the church of the Fornari Tedeschi, next to

Sant' Andrea della Valle Sant'Andrea della Valle is a titular church and minor basilica in the rione of Sant'Eustachio of the city of Rome, Italy. The basilica is the seat of the general curia of the Theatines and is located on the Piazza Vidoni, at the intersection of ...

. Valeri also painted portraits. In 1845, he won a competition for a position as professor of painting at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Perugia. He remained at this post for 28 years. Among his pupils were

Annibale Brugnoli Annibale Brugnoli (22 February 1843 – 11 December 1915) was an Italian painter, mainly of genre and historical pieces, in oil and fresco. Biography He was born in Perugia, where he initially studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Perugia und ...

Ulisse Ribustini Ulisse Ribustini (August 26, 1852 – 1944) was an Italian painter, mainly of conventional sacred subjects and genre subjects. He also painted large decorative murals at Ponte della Pietra, at the chapter house of the Cathedral of Perugia, at t ...

, Domenico Bruschi, Francesco Moretti, Count Lemmo Rossi Scotti, Eliseo Fattorini, and Luigi Sabatini. Among his paintings as professor were portraits of two prominent families; frescoes (1854) in the apse of

Todi Cathedral Todi Cathedral () is a mainly Gothic-style Roman Catholic cathedral in Todi, Umbria, Italy, dedicated to the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary. It was formerly the seat of the bishops of Todi, and since 1986 has been a co-cathedral of the dioce ...

; two oil canvases for the church of the Monastery of San Francesco of

Todi Todi (; ''Tuder'' in antiquity) is a town and ''comune'' (municipality) of the province of Perugia (region of Umbria) in central Italy. It is perched on a tall two-crested hill overlooking the east bank of the river Tiber, commanding distant view ...

; an ''Immaculate Conception'', and the other ''St Francis receiving stigmata''. In 1804, while in Perugia, he was named honorary associate of the Institute of Fine Arts of the Marche in

Urbino Urbino ( , ; Romagnol: ''Urbìn'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italy, Italian region of Marche, southwest of Pesaro, a World Heritage Site notable for a remarkable historical legacy of independent Renaissance culture, especially und ...

; in 1805, he was knighted into the

Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus The Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus () (abbreviated OSSML) is a Roman Catholic dynastic order of knighthood bestowed by the royal House of Savoy. It is the second-oldest order of knighthood in the world, tracing its lineage to AD 1098, a ...

; and in 1871, he was named academic professor of merit at the Roman Academy of St Luke. In 1873, he retired, married as his second wife the contessa Sistilia Francisci, widow of Piccini, and moved to a small villa (villetta Torricella) near Todi. He continued to paint there. ‘‘Dizionario degli Artisti Italiani Viventi: pittori, scultori, e Architetti.’’
by Angelo de Gubernatis. Tipe dei Successori Le Monnier, 1889, page 536. One of his pupils was

Napoleone Verga Napoleone Verga (Perugia, February 1833 − Nice, 1916) was an Italian painter, mainly of illuminated manuscripts, but also of paintings. Biography He initially studied design at the Academy of Perugia: then he moved to Rome, where he studied pa ...

References

1814 births 1902 deaths Painters from Rome 19th-century Italian painters People from the Papal States Italian male painters 20th-century Italian painters 20th-century Italian male artists 19th-century Italian male artists {{Italy-painter-19thC-stub