Giovanni Beltrami (gem cutter)

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Giovanni Beltrami (* 1777 in Cremona ; † April 1854 there ) was an Italian gem cutter .

Giovanni Beltrami, around 1825
The last kiss of Romeo and Juliet , 1824
The tent de Darius , 1828

Life

He was the son of a jeweler and nephew of the painter Antonio Beltrami . He received his first artistic lessons from the painter Giacomo Guerrini and was self-taught in the field of stone cutting. At the time of French rule in Italy, he found in Eugène de Beauharnais , the viceroy of Italy and stepson of Napoleon , a patron and patron. On his behalf he made, among other things, a chain of 16 cameos depicting the story of the psyche . Beltrami also received several commissions from Napoleon, who from 1805 was Emperor of the French and King of Italy in personal union . Among other things, there was also a carnelian medallion with the portrait of Napoleon and his wife Joséphine de Beauharnais , which is still considered lost today.

In 1815 he worked for a while at the court of the Bavarian King Maximilian I Joseph , for whom he made several works, including a portrait of the king, which is now in the Museum of the Vienna Hofburg (treasury). Around 1825 he created a portrait of her husband, Emperor Ferdinand I, on behalf of Karoline Auguste von Bayern - the daughter of Maximilian I Joseph.

He frequently cut copies of famous masterpieces, such as an 18 millimeter stone with about 20 figures representing the tent of Darius after Charles Lebrun and a 27 millimeter topaz with the Last Supper after Leonardo da Vinci .

Others

The famous Italian mathematician Eugenio Beltrami was a grandson of Giovanni Beltrami.

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Beltrami, Giovanni
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian gem cutter
DATE OF BIRTH 1777
PLACE OF BIRTH Cremona
DATE OF DEATH April 1854
Place of death Cremona