Jacopo Amigoni - Artists, Facts and Personal Life

Jacopo Amigoni’s Childhood And Early Life

Although not much is known about Jacopo Amigoni’s early life, it’s commonly held that he was born in Naples, while some trace his lineage to Venice. A painter of international repute, Amigoni started his career in Venice by painting mythical and religious scenes. However, as his popularity grew northwards, he started painting parlor works depicting gods in aesthetic languor or games. Amigoni’s style of expression influenced Giuseppe Nogari, another important Venetian painter of the late-Baroque period.  Jacopo Amigoni is also responsible for giving this world a slew of other great painters like Charles Joseph Flipart, Michelangelo Morlaiter, Pietro Antonio Novelli, Joseph Wagner and Antonio Zucchi, who were his pupils.

Later Years

From 1717- 1719, he worked Bavaria in Castle of Nymphenburg before he moved on to the Castle of Schleissheim. He stayed there from 1725-1729. He then moved to the Benedictine Abbey of Ottobeuren after which he returned to Venice in 1726. His work, “Arraignment of Paris” still hangs in Villa Pisani at Stra. During 1730-1739, he worked in Pown House, Moor Park and also in the Theatre Of Covent Garden in England. There, he spoke to Canaletto about the sufficient patronage available in England and convinced him to move in. In 1736, during his travel to Paris, he met Farinelli, who was a celebrated castrato. He also painted a self-portrait with a singer and his group, later in Madrid. Jacopo Amigoni also came across the paintings of Boucher and Francois Lemoine during this time. In 1739, he returned back to his birthplace Naples and toured Montecassino, Italy. He left back two canvases in the Abbey, which was destroyed during the Second World War.

Jacopo Amigoni painted for Sigismund Streit, Casa Savoia and was also commissioned to paint various buildings in the city in the year 1747 for which he travelled to Venice. It was in 1747, when he decided to leave Italy and settle in Madrid. There, he acquired the position of the Director of the Royal Academy of Saint Fernando and also became the court painter to Ferdinand VI of Spain. He died in Madrid, but the old master continues to live through his paintings.