Ferdinando Brambilla
Ferdinando Brambilla (1763 – 23 January 1834) was an Italian-Spanish painter and engraver. He is best known for his landscapes made from his experiences on the Spanish-funded Alejandro Malaspina circumnavigation expedition (during 1791–1794).[1]
Biography
He was born in Fara di Gera d'Adda, Province of Bergamo. He studied painting at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts. Malaspina, once on his expedition, determined to obtain prime artists, and through the efforts of the Italians Paolo Greppi and Francesco Melzi d'Eril, recruited Brambilla and the engraver Giovanni Ravenet. After traveling to Spain in 1791, they traveled to join the expedition from Acapulco, Mexico.
Among his many drawings were landscape vedute of Guam, Philippines, Macao, Tonga, Port Jackson (Sydney, Australia in 1793), Perú, Chile and Argentina. In Spain, he made engravings of the landscapes. His work gained him appointment in 1798 as court painter to the Spanish royal family. In 1814 he was appointed director of the Fine Arts Academy of San Fernando in Madrid.[2]
Brambilla also contributed to the series Ruinas de Zaragoza (1814) and to the Colección de las vistas de los sitios reales (started in 1821, published 1833)[3] Brambilla died in 1834 in Madrid.
References
- ↑ Design and Art Australia Online (DAAO) brief biographical details on Brambilla.
- ↑ Website for Alejandro Malaspina Research Center at Vancouver Island University (formerly Malaspina University College) in Nanaimo, located on the east coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada.
- ↑ British Museum database entry.