Benedetto Sangiovanni

Benedetto Sangiovanni was born in Naples. According to a catalogue note of 1853 he was ‘employed for some years’ under Joachim Murat’s generals in their struggle against southern Italian brigands, which ‘gave him an opportunity of studying their character and modelling their figures with so much vigour’ (Christie, 28 June 1853, in GPC). His models of brigands and rustic Neopolitan scenes were exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1828. In 1830 his address was 15 Warren Street, London.

By 1844 he was established at 23 Nassau Street, near the Middlesex Hospital. That year the Art Union described him as ‘an Italian gentleman who has been compelled by circumstances to adopt as “a business” the occupation which he long followed as an accomplishment’. The journal praised his exhibits at the Society of Artists that year: ‘We have more than once had occasion to direct attention to the studio of this artist in Nassau-street ... We rejoice to see that examples of his genius have been placed where they can be seen and appreciated’. Sangiovanni’s works were executed or finished in plaster, which the journal considered an unfortunate choice for the British audience, who would associate plaster with reproduction: ‘the distinction will not be at once perceived between a work moulded with the hands ... and a mere plaster cast of a similar object. The difference in cost between the two is consequently so great as at first to startle an admirer’ (AU 1844, 97) In the following year Sangiovanni exhibited his Contadina of the Province of Salerno, which the same journal described as ‘perfect in costume and character and modelled with the utmost nicety of execution’ (21).

He died in Brighton in 1853 and his will was proved on 20 July that year.

Literary References: Gunnis 1968, 339-40; Johnson 1975, 411; Pyke 1981, 37 Archival References: GPC Will: PROB 11/2176

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The photo above is a Patinated bronze model of an English Setter by Benedetto Sangiovanni and dated 1852.