Sculptor Pompeo Marchesi was born 7 August 1783 in Saltrio. He studied first at the Accademia di Belle arti in Milan, gaining enough attention by 1804 to win a government scholarship to continue his education in Rome, where he remained for five years, studying under Antonio Canova.
After returning to Milan in 1811 to work on several government commissions, in 1813 he was summoned by the architect Luigi Cagnola to take part in the sculptural decoration of the Arco della Pace in Milan, for which he created various marble reliefs.
A favorite of the Austrians and Germans, he obtained many public commissions for monuments from schools to palaces in Vienna and Frankfurt.
Reference: Marica Magni. “Marchesi, Pompeo.” Grove art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press.
The Penitent Magdalene, 1832. Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, England, M.7-1974
The Death of Julius, 1831, interior relief, Villa Vigoni, Menaggio. Photo: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Villa Vigoni Fondation.
Monument to Goethe, 1838. Photo: Stadtbibliothek of Frankfurt, Germany.
Busto of Vittorio alfieri, ca. 1835. Photo: Carlo Virgilio arte moderna e contemporanea, Rome.
Francesco Hayez, Portrait of Pompeo Marchesi, 1830. From Wikimedia Commons.
Further Reading
Amerigo Sassi. Pompeo Marchesi Scultore ( Saltrio 1783 – Milano 1858 ). Saltrio: Edito a cura del Comune di Saltrio, 1983.
Anna Ottani Cavina. Geometries of Silence: Three approaches to Neoclassical Art. New York: Columbia University Press, 2004.