Marcello Bacciarelli

Marcello Bacciarelli (February 16th 1731, Rome - January 5th 1818, Warsaw) is an Italian painter polonized of the period Baroque.

After having studied with Rome, it is destined for Dresden in 1750 to enter to the service of the court of the Voter of Saxony Frederic-Auguste II (also king of Poland under the name of Auguste III). It works there as Dessinateur but it carries out already some portraits. Of 1756 with 1764, it settles with Warsaw with all the court saxonne, working as portraitist for the aristocracy. At that time, he attends the Polish Noblesse and makes in particular to the knowledge of the family of the future king de Pologne Stanislas II Auguste Poniatowski. In 1764, it starts a two years stay to Vienna, with the service of Marie-Therese of Austria, in order to carry out the portraits of the family members imperial.

In 1766, it settles definitively in Warsaw where it will be closely associated to the king Stanislas II Auguste Poniatowski and at his court. At the request of the king, it creates a school of painting to the royal castle. He becomes the person in charge of the artistic policy of monarchy. In 1768, it is anobli. He becomes the principal painter of the king, person in charge of the workshop of the royal castle, supervising the decoration of the royal residence (1776 - 1785), managing the royal collections. In 1786, he becomes the managing director of the royal buildings. Gradually, he became the confidant and the friend of the king. In 1787, it accomplishes a voyage in Italy in order to buy paintings to supplement the royal collections. In 1795, when the king is forced to leave the capital and to abdicate, it remains with Warsaw, keeping under control the artistic life of the city. In 1798, with died of Stanislas II Auguste Poniatowski, it deals with managing the royal inheritance. In 1816, because of the services rendered to Polish art, it is named professor and honorary senior of the new faculty of arts of the royal university of Warsaw.

Honorary member of the academies of the fine arts of Dresden, Vienna and Berlin, it dies out in Warsaw in 1818, leaving a monumental work mainly made up of portraits and representations of historical scenes. Its influence on Polish painting was considerable.

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