Pelagio Palagi
Pelagio Palagi (Bologna, 25 May 1775 – Turin, 6 March 1860) was a painter, architect, furniture designer and collector; from 1832 he directed, for Carlo Alberto, the decoration of the royal palaces of Turin, of the Castello di Racconigi and of Pollenzo.[1]
Before Turin
From 1806 he worked in Rome, where in 1810 he won a gold medal at the Paris Salon and in 1813 was admitted to the Accademia di San Luca; from 1815 he lived in Milan, where together with Francesco Hayez he frescoed the Sala della Lanterna of the royal palace, destroyed in 1943.[1]
The painter of the royal palaces
At the end of 1832 Carlo Alberto summoned him to Turin to oversee the decoration of Racconigi; in 1834 he became "painter in charge of the decoration of the Royal Palaces" and director of the ornamental school of the Accademia Albertina.[1] From 1835 he directed the renovation of Palazzo Reale, coordinating painters such as Francesco Gonin and the cabinetmaker Gabriele Capello, known as il Moncalvo.[1] For the Council Hall, where Carlo Alberto signed the Statuto on 4 March 1848, he designed the furniture; also his are the railing of Piazzetta Reale with the Dioscuri by Abbondio Sangiorgio and the layout of the Biblioteca Reale (1837-1842).[2][3][4]
At Racconigi he created the Etruscan cabinet, presented at the Great Exhibition in London in 1851, and the neo-Gothic Margherie, among the earliest examples of neo-Gothic architecture in Italy.[5][1] In 1837 he renovated the hall of the Teatro Regio, destroyed by the fire of 1936, and the monument to the Conte Verde in Piazza Palazzo di Città, from 1847, appears to be his only sculpture.[5][6][1]
The final years
In 1856 Vittorio Emanuele II relieved him of his duties with the title of royal painter; he died in Turin and left his collection to the City of Bologna.[1] On 25 May 2022 the discovery of his tomb at the Cimitero Monumentale was announced, found within the tomb of another family.[7]
Related articles: Monumental Cemetery of Turin, Palazzo Civico of Turin, Palazzo Reale
Pages linking here
- Francesco Gonin
- Monumental Cemetery of Turin
- Palazzo Civico of Turin
- Palazzo Reale
- Racconigi Castle
- Royal Armoury of Turin
- Royal Library of Turin
- Teatro Regio