Ferdinando Albertolli was born on 11 November 1780. He was a member of a family of painters, architects, and stucco artists who lived in Ticino during the eighteenth century.
The Albertolli family’s work synthesized various Italian styles, including aspects of High Renaissance and Neoclassical art and architecture. Ferdinando worked not only as an architect, but also as a printmaker, designer, and professor. He received his education at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera in Milan. By 1804, he was teaching design and architecture at the high school level in Verona, and in 1807, he began teaching design at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Venice. Ferdinando took his uncle Giocondo Albertolli’s position as a professor of architectural ornamentation at the Brera in 1812, a position he held until his death. Ferdinando’s academic works were widely published in Verona, Venice, and Tuscany. His works not only demonstrate his uncle’s influence, but also his synthesis of Greek and Roman architecture.
In 1838, he was awarded the distinction of Honorary Fellow to the Royal Institute of British Architects, and he was nominated as a member of the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Vienna in 1843. In addition to architectural designs, he illustrated Giocondo’s publications and plates for Giovanni Antonio Antolini’s Il Tempio di Minerva in Assisi confrontato con le tavole di Andrea Palladio (Milan, 1803) and the Descrizione del Foro Bonaparte (Parma, 1806). He also worked on illustrations for Cagnola’s Le solenni esequie di monsignor Filippo Visconti (Milan, 1802). Ferdinando was well-traveled throughout Italy and Greece, and he did travel abroad; he was convinced, however, like his uncle Giocondo, that one did not need to look outside of Italy for inspiration in art and design. He died in Milan on 24 April 1844.
References:
Mezzanotte, Paolo. “ALBERTOLLI in “Dizionario Biografico.” “ In “Dizionario Biografico”. Accessed November 10, 2017. http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/albertolli_(Dizionario-Biografico)/.
Giuliana Ricci. “Albertolli.” Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press, accessed November 10, 2017, http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T001571pg4.
Frontespizio delle tavole, etching, 1808, deposito al Comune di Milano Civica Raccolta Bertarelli
Pianta e prospetto del palazzo di campagna detto La Soranza vicino a Castel Franco, 1808, etching, deposito al Comune di Milano Civica Raccolta Bertarelli
Progetto architettonico: veduta prospettica dell’Arco della Pace, etching, 1833, Archivio Soprintendenza di Brera