Biography of Casali, Andrea (Italian painter and art dealer, 1705-1784, active in England)
| Name | Casali, Andrea (Italian painter and art dealer, 1705-1784, active in England) |
| Person type | Artist/Maker |
| Biographical notes | Artist Andrea Casali was born in Rome on 17 November 1705 and died on 7 September 1784. He was a pupil of Sebastiano Conca and Francesco Trevisani. In 1728 he received his first commission for the church, painting the cloister of S Sisto Vecchio, Rome, which was being restored for Benedict XIII. Many commissions followed for churches in Italy. Then in 1735 he went to Spain to decorate the palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso, near Madrid, with history paintings. He returned to Rome, but left for England via Paris, in 1740. He was drawn there by the promises of Grand Tourists for whom he had acted in Rome, including Henry Howard, 4th Earl of Carlisle. During the 1750's Casali was highly sought after and he worked in many large private houses such as Holkham Hall. William Beckford the elder (1709-90) was Casali's greatest patron who, after a fire in 1755 at Fonthill, his country house in Wiltshire, replaced it with a Palladian House (c.1757-c.1770, destroyed), and filled it with pictures. Casali's works were dispersed by the younger Beckford in 1801. Casali returned to Rome in 1766 and continued to paint and send pictures to London to be exhibited. |
Objects by Casali, Andrea (Italian painter and art dealer, 1705-1784, active in England)
