28/03/2025
Francesco PODESTI
Ancona, 1800 – Rome, 1895
Cleopatra presented to Caesar
China, white lead on brown paper, mm 235 x 330.
Signed lower left: F. Podesti 1824
Inscribed lower center: Cleopatra presentata a Cesare.
Born in Ancona on 21 March 1800, the young Francesco lost his mother at the age of only
twelve. His father sent him to study military architecture at the school of Pavia, where he
was to remain until 1814. The following year, however, he lost his father, too, and thus also
the means to pursue his studies.
Thanks to the intervention of the Marchese Carlo Bourbon del Monte, he was given an
annual grant by the Ancona city authorities in 1816, and this allowed him to move to Rome
to study painting under Vincenzo Camuccini and Gaspare Landi at the Accademia di San
Luca. While in Rome, he supplemented his lessons at the Accademia by also frequenting the
workshop of Antonio Canova, who soon began to feel a paternal affection for the young
artist.@oldmasterdrawingworld