Archive · Chronicle · Memory Anteprima Turin, Italia
TORINOMIA
en

Francesco Gonin

Francesco Gonin (Turin, 16 November 1808 – Giaveno, 14 September 1889) was a painter, lithographer and illustrator, famous for his illustrations of I promessi sposi and the Storia della colonna infame, commissioned by Alessandro Manzoni.[1][2]

Training

Born to Waldensian parents, he studied at the Accademia di Torino from 1820 to 1828; from 1822 he worked with the workshop of Felice Festa, the first to experiment with lithography in the Kingdom of Sardinia, and between 1824 and 1832 he produced the lithographs for Paroletti's «Viaggio romantico-pittorico».[1] He made his debut in 1829 at the Valentino exhibition, and from 1839 to 1842 created the illustrations for I promessi sposi.[1]

The Turin Frescoes

Under the direction of Pelagio Palagi he worked for a long time at Palazzo Reale: the Blessed Umberto and Bonifacio for the Council Hall (1837), the frescoes from the Iliad in the rotunda now housing the Armeria Reale (1842) and the frieze of the Hall of the Guards (1847); in 1841–1843 he frescoed the Margherie chapel at Racconigi.[1] In 1837 he directed the costumes and figurines for the Teatro Regio, in 1845 he frescoed the ceiling of the Teatro Carignano and between 1845 and 1847 the dome of Santissima Trinità.[1] In 1852 he painted the apse and the pendentives of the dome of San Massimo, in 1858 the dome of the Basilica of Santi Maurizio e Lazzaro, and in 1870 the ceiling of the nineteenth-century hall of Palazzo Carignano.[1][3] His paintings, such as «The Death of Carlo Alberto» (1850), are in the Basilica di Superga.[1]

Legacy

In 1855 he directed the lithography review «L'Arte moderna».[1] In Giaveno, where he died, the «Omaggio a Gonin» project reproduced sixteen of his illustrations for I promessi sposi on the facades of the historic center.[4][5]

Pages linking here

Sources

  1. Treccani, Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani —
  2. MuseoTorino
  3. MuseoTorino
  4. TorinoToday — 25 April 2017
  5. ValsusaOggi — 30 January 2020

Report a mistake.