Carlo Bossoli

Carlo Bossoli: Santa Maria della Salute in Venice

Carlo Bossoli (born December 6, 1815 in Davesco-Soragno , † August 2, 1884 in Turin ) was a Swiss painter , lithographer , illustrator and caricaturist .

Live and act

Carlo Bossoli's father was a stonemason of Italian origin and worked in Switzerland, where his son Carlo was born. In 1820 his family moved to take work in Odessa . Carlo Bossoli attended the Capuchin School until 1826. After that he worked in an antique shop.

In 1828 he was employed by the Odessa Opera as an assistant to Rinaldo Nannini, a stage designer who had studied at Scala in Milan with Alessandro Sanquirico (1777-1849). He started selling his paintings in 1833. His father died three years later and Carlo Bossoli became his family's sole breadwinner.

His work attracted the attention of Prince Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov , who commissioned him to paint several views of Odessa. Princess Elizabeta Ksawerewna Branitzkaja was impressed by his skills and let him study in Italy from 1839 to 1840. In the same years he made his first trip to Rome , Naples and Milan. From 1840 he lived in the Vorontsov residence in Alupka . In 1843 a second stay in Italy followed. From 1844 to 1853 he lived in Milan. He often visited Switzerland and also Spain , Morocco , Great Britain , France , Norway and Germany .

Forced by the Austrian government to leave Milan, he moved to Turin, where he stayed for life. Here he also painted the views of the Turin – Genoa railway line, from which fifteen lithographs come. In 1855 he published the album Illustrazioni di Crimea , which was based on youthful memories.

In 1856 he was the guest of Queen Victoria and, commissioned by Prince Eugene of Savoy-Carignano, painter of the Risorgimento campaigns of 1859, 1860 and 1861. In 1862 he was appointed “royal history painter ”. In 1883, at the age of 68, he married 21-year-old Adelaide de Carolis.

His cousin Francesco Edoardo Bossoli (* 1830 in Odessa, † 1912 in Turin) was also a painter.

literature

• Hans Vollmer : Bossoli, Carlo . In: Ulrich Thieme , Felix Becker (Hrsg.): General Lexicon of Fine Artists from Antiquity to the Present . Founded by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker. tape 4 : Bida – Brevoort . Wilhelm Engelmann, Leipzig 1910, p. 407 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
• Tapan Bhattacharya: Carlo Bossoli. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .

Web links

Commons : Carlo Bossoli  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Mariangela Agliati Ruggia: Bossoli, Carlo. In: Sikart (it.)
• Carlo Bossoli. Biographical data and works in the Netherlands Institute for Art History (Dutch)