Giuseppe Longhi Biography
Giuseppe Maria Longhi (Monza, 13 October 1766 – Milan, 2 January 1831) was an Italian engraver and painter, exponent of Neoclassicism. Born to Carlo Francesco Longhi, silk merchant and antiques dealer, and Cecilia Caronni, he began his studies in the seminary, first in the Bergamo seminary of Celana, then in those of Monza and Milan. Among his teachers was the future rector of the Ambrosiana Library Antonio Mussi who noticed his drawing skills and encouraged him to develop them by copying the works of the great masters. Alongside Mussi, his distant relative Fedele Caronni, a religious man from Monza known for his expertise in the antiquarian field, played a significant role in the artistic education of the young Longhi. At the end of his humanistic studies in the Milanese seminary, in 1786, Longhi decided to abandon his ecclesiastical career and dedicate himself as a self-taught to the technique of copper engraving. A few years later, in 1790, the School of Engraving was established at the Brera Academy under the direction of Vincenzo Vangelisti. The school was equipped with scholarships and Longhi obtained one; having become financially independent he moved to Milan to live with Giuseppe Appiani, the main restorer of Brera. At Brera he was a pupil of Giuliano Traballesi and formed a great friendship with Andrea Appiani, Napoleon's first painter in Italy. Memorable according to the main biographies on Longhi, were the walks between the artist from Monza and Andrea Appiani through the streets of Milan, talking about art. Giocondo Albertolli, professor of ornamentation at the Academy, commissioned the young student to make a burin engraving, his first work, published in 1792 and immediately appreciated for the naturalness of the hatching. At the end of the same year he went to Rome on a study trip: he attended Raffaello Morghen and also completed anatomy studies under the guidance of a surgeon from the S. Spirito hospital. Returning to Milan he also dedicated himself to perfecting and innovating the technique and tools for the art of engraving. At that point he achieved such technical mastery that he received common recognition. He assiduously studied Rembrandt's manner, dedicating himself in particular to the use of etching, burin and drypoint on the same plate. He also devoted himself assiduously to drawing and portrait miniatures which brought him good economic success. In 1796 he personally met Napoleon Bonaparte of whom, the following year, commissioned by the French painter Gros, he painted a portrait in memory of the battle of Arcole. Due to the fame of this portrait he was appointed professor of engraving in Milan in 1798, which received new impetus from him. In 1801 he was part of the Lyon Comitia convened by Bonaparte First Consul. The following year he went to Paris in the company of Giuseppe Bossi and Francesco Rosaspina: he stayed there for two months, establishing contacts with the most famous artists such as David, Gérard, Gros, the engraver Wille and visiting the main museums. When Napoleon arrived in Milan for his coronation as King of Italy, Longhi was among the guests at the coronation ceremony and was commissioned to engrave the first six pieces of the Fasti that Appiani had in the meantime painted in the Royal Palace. In the same 1806 he painted a small profile portrait of Napoleon, based on the life drawing during his stay in Lyon, and which was included in the frontispiece of the edition of the Italian Civil Code of the same year. The artist's activity achieved such notoriety that it earned him countless commissions. Despite the workload he also conducted works of his own inspiration; in 1813 he thus finished the copper of the Galatea which he had been working on for several years. In the years 1818-1819 he dedicated himself exclusively to the large copper plate of the Marriage of the Virgin, which he published in 1820. His interest applied to the engraving of Raphaelesque and Leonardesque paintings; in homage to his teacher and friend Appiani he transposed onto a plate the self-portrait that the artist had painted in oil a few years earlier. He dedicated his last years to the ambitious project of a work on two plates dedicated to Michelangelo's Last Judgment, a work of which only a few print proofs remain. He had numerous students, many of whom distinguished themselves in the art of engraving (Benedetto Bordiga). He left numerous writings, the most important of which is the treatise Calcography or the art of copper engraving (1830) and an unpublished manuscript relating to the second part (Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana). The artist died on January 2, 1831, suffering from an apoplectic attack. The funeral took place in the church of San Fedele where, representing the Brera Academy, the artists Longhena and Fumagalli held the eulogy in his memory. The body was then buried in the cemetery of San Gregorio outside Porta Venezia, which no longer exists today. Giuseppe Longhi, in addition to being a "calcographer", was also one of the main portraitists of neoclassical Milan and teacher of artists such as Giuseppe Molteni. He also owned one of the largest art collections in Milan. In his hands passed Bergognone's Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata (Diocesan Museum of Milan), Raphael's Saint Sebastian (Bergamo, Accademia di Carrara) and many other works dispersed in the main museums in Milan and around the world, works that made up the Longhi collection , largely rebuilt by Victor Rafael Veronesi in 2012.
