Paolo Mei

Paolo Mei (18 June 1831 21 March 1900) was an Italian painter active in Rome.

Biography

He was born in Rome to his father, Domenico, and his mother, Matilde Farrajoni. Parish records list the name sometimes as Meo, but Mei was used throughout his life.[1] His father died when Paolo was three years old, and his mother died when he was 19 years old; this left him inheriting little in terms of financial resources.[2]

His initial training was under Tommaso Minardi, then a professor at the Accademia di San Luca in Rome.[3] By 1856, he had formulated a strong friendship with the painter Cesare Fracassini, who was to help him obtain many commissions.[4] He often also collaborated with Cesare Mariani. In 1859, he helped decorate the rooms in the Palazzo Raffaelli in Cingoli, in the province of Macerata. He also painted in Tivoli and Civitavecchia.

Among his works for churches are:

In 1860, he provided some designs for the engraver Giuseppe Marcucci. He painted a number of small canvases with scenes of life in Ancient Rome (also called Neo-Pompeian themes). In 1865, he traveled to Naples, where he made contact with Domenico Morelli. After the death of Minardi in 1871, he completed some of the frescoes (Art and Poetry) in the portico of the cemetery of Verano (Campo Verano) in Rome. Guglielmo De Sanctis completed the other two.[9][10] He is buried in this cemetery. In 1893, he was admitted as a member to the Congregazione pontificia de’ Virtuosi of the Pantheon. Mei died in Rome on 21 March 1900.

References

  1. Archivio storico del Vicariato, S. Agostino, Liber mortuorum, Roma, 1894-1922
  2. Francesco Franco, ISSN 1127-4883B - Paolo Mei (1831-1900). Notizie inedite fino al 1867, dalle lettere a Cesare Fracassini, in BTA - Bollettino Telematico dell'Arte, 13 Marzo 2008, n. 483,
  3. A. Della Massea, Cesare Fracassini, ed. Roma 1956, p. 38
  4. Francesco Franco, ISSN 1127-4883B - Paolo Mei (1831-1900). Notizie inedite fino al 1867, dalle lettere a Cesare Fracassini, in BTA - Bollettino Telematico dell'Arte, 13 Marzo 2008, n. 483,
  5. A. Monti, Le pitture di S. Maria in Aquiro, in Il Buonarroti, July–August 1866, p. 141 n. 1
  6. B. Magni, Le pitture del professor Cesare Mariani in S. Lucia del Gonfalone, ed. Roma 1867, p. 13
  7. Stefania Alunni BTA - Bollettino Telematico dell'Arte, 25 June 2008, n. 499
  8. Guglielmo De Sanctis, Tommaso Minardi e il suo tempo, ed. Roma, 1900, p. 205
  9. Archivio di Stato di Roma, Fondo Ovidi - Minardi, b. 15, c. 247: Sottoscrizione per il monumento del prof. Minardi
  10. Treccani.it, Mei, Paolo, in Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, - C. Franco - volume 2073, ed. Roma, 2009

Bibliography

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