Neoclassical architect Giocondo Albertolli was born on 24 July 1743 in the town of Bedano in Switzerland. Trained in Aosta and Parma, Albertolli worked widely in Italy including Tuscany, Rome, Naples, and Milan, where he became professor of design at the Brera Academy in 1776. He taught there until 1812 and died twenty-seven years later at the age of ninety-six.
Some of his most acclaimed works include the stuccoes decorating the Gran Salone at Villa Poggio Imperiale for Leopold, Grand Duke of Tuscany (1770-75), the Villa Melzi at Bellagio built for Francesco Melzi d’Eril, Duke of Lodi (1808-9), and the high altar of San Marco in Milan (1816).
He died 15 November 1839 in Milan.
For more on Albertolli, see: Giuliana Ricci. “Albertolli.“ Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. <http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/
article/grove/art/T001571pg1>.
Carlo Gerosa, Giocondo Albertolli, oil on canvas, ca. 1835, Milan, Accademia di Brera
Salone delle Feste, Villa Poggio Imperiale, Florence
Villa Melzi, Bellaggio, Lake Como
Marble Portrait of Giocondo Albertolli (1742-1839), loggia of the Accademia di Brera, Milan
Enrico Colle, Giocondo Albertolli: i repertori d’ornato (The Repertoires of Decoration. Milan: Silvana, 2002.