Coiny Joseph(1795-1829) & Calamatta (1802-1869) Biography
Coiny Joseph, born in 1795 in Paris and died in 1829, was a French engraver, son of the well-known engraver Jacques Joseph Coiny. In 1816 he won the Prix de Rome for engraving, but little is known about his artistic life. From sources we know that Coiny made his debut at the 1827 Salon with his work "Bajazet and the Shepherds", based on a work by Dedreux-Dorcy, but he was not satisfied with it. At that time, Coiny was a "pensionnaire" at the Villa Medici and a friend of Taurel, who entrusted the task of completing the plate to his student Luigi Calamatta. Coiny died on August 1, 1869.
Luigi Calamatta was born in Civitavecchia on 21 June 1801 and died in Milan on 8 March 1869. At a very young age, Calamatta had his first apprenticeship at Concioli. The first engraving works date back to 1817. In that period, Calamatta met the famous Italian sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen and the French engraver Taurel, who taught him the technique of French engraving. When Taurel returned to Paris, Calamatta followed him to France. In 1824, Calamatta was commissioned by Taurel to complete a plate by the engraver Joseph Coiny, called “Bajazet and the shepherds”, inspired by a work by Dedreux-Dorcy. In 1836, Calamatta was appointed professor at the engraving school in Brussels, with the agreement of being able to stay six months a year in Paris. However, he always remained in contact with Italy and, in 1860, he left Brussels to become a professor of engraving at the Brera Academy in Milan, replacing Giuseppe Longhi. During Garibaldi's expedition to Trentino, Calamatta, despite being over sixty-five years old, decided to enlist. After the mission, he returned to teach in Brera and continued his engraving activity, dedicating himself above all to portraits of friends. Calamatta died in Milan on 8 March 1869.
