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Born 15 Dec 1777 in Cremona
Father: Gaetano Aglio
Mother: Anna Maria Mondoni
He had one brother and two sisters who died of smallpox within a year of
his birth .
Married : Letitia Clarke
16th March 1805
Saint Anne Soho, Westminster,
London,
Son Augustine Aglio
1816-1885
Daughter Emma Walsh
Daughter Mary Elizabeth
Son John William Emily
(Emilius) 1820 Died aged 2
Son Peter Augustine 11th
Oct 1816 to Jane Tomlinson
Ancestry
records show that Agostino and Letitia had a son John William Emily (Emilius)
Aglio baptised at St Mary Abbots Church in Kensington on 5 July 1820. We
have no date of birth but it may be assumed that he was born a few weeks
before baptism.
This is the first reference found of this son and
sadly he died a couple of years later in 1922.
Ancestry
records show that in the same month that Augustine was born, Augustine (Agostino)
Aglio and Jane Tomlinson, presumably a lover or mistress,
had a son Peter Augustine Aglio born on 11th Oct 1816
and baptised 28 Oct 1816 at
St Marylebone , Westminster.
The ancestry
records referring to this event was found in Aug.2016 and before this
time there had never been any mention of a mistress or lover. The
implications of a child of marriage and a love child born in the same
month are amazing.
What a busy time he must
have had!
Agostino Aglio died 30 January 1857
Link to The Clarke Family
Link to the Walsh Family
Agostino
Aglio in Historical Context |
Painting by his Great Granddaughter
Marian Aglio
Montford (nee Dibdin)
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Because there is so much already written about Agostino Aglio, it seems
sensible to give just a short introduction to his life and then refer to
the numerous biographies and his autobiography which are all available
for the reader.
Some effort has been made in the web page Agostino
Aglio in Historical Context
to tie in aspects of Aglios life with the events and celebrities of
the era.
Agostino Aglio Sr.
was born at
Cremona in 1777 and came to England in 1803 at the invitation of Mr William
Wilkins (architect). He married Letitia Clarke in 1805 and they had a son and
two daughters.
The full details of his life is well covered in
four major documents and two shorter ones.
Further Links to relevant pages on this website are
listed below.
The son of a notary while living in Milan as a
child, his artistic talent was recognized and his was promised a place at
University by none other that the Holy Roman Emperor when he came of age however
all this was pushed aside by the him joining, as did many other students at he
time, Napoleon who was invading Italy and Austria with the view of creating a
Republic.
At the age of 20 years old, Aglio was involved in
battles near Venice as a volunteer in
the Legion of the Cisalpina Republic in 1897, at the Bridge of Faenza under the
command of General Victor, as also at the following surrender of Ancona and
at Tolentino when the peace with Pius VI was signed He was finally stationed at
Perugia where he was taken seriously ill was released from Napoleon's
army and moved to Rome with the view of learning landscape painting with a
renowned artist Campovecchio.
| Battle of Faenza
The Battle of Faenza, also known as the Battle of Castel Bolognese on
February 3, 1797
saw a 7,000 troops from the Papal Army commanded by Michelangelo
Alessandro ColliMarchi
facing 9,000 troops from the French Army under the command of Claude
VictorPerrin.
The veteran French troops quickly overran the Papal army, inflicting
disproportionate
casualties. The town of Castel Bolognese was located on the banks of the
Senio River 40
kilometres (25 mi) southeast of Bologna, and the city of Faenza was also
nearby. The action
took place during the War of the First Coalition, as part of the French
Revolutionary Wars.
Fall of the Republic of Venice
The Fall of the Republic of Venice was a series of events that
culminated on 12 May 1797
that led to the dissolution and dismemberment of the Republic of Venice
at the hands of
Napoleon Bonaparte and Habsburg Austria.
In 1796, the young general Napoleon had been sent by the newly-formed
French Republic to
confront Austria, as part of the French Revolutionary Wars. He chose to
go through Venice,
which was officially neutral. Reluctantly, the Venetians allowed the
formidable French army to
enter their country so that it might confront Austria. However, the
French covertly began
supporting Jacobin revolutionaries within Venice, and the Venetian
senate began quietly
preparing for war. The Venetian armed forces were depleted and hardly a
match for the
battle-hardened French or even a local uprising. After the capture of
Mantua on 2 February
1797, the French dropped any pretext and overtly called for revolution
among the territories of
Venice. By 13 March, there was open revolt, with Brescia and Bergamo
breaking away.
However, pro-Venetian sentiment remained high, and France was forced to
reveal its true
goals after it had provided military support to the underperforming
revolutionaries.
On 25 April, Napoleon openly threatened to declare war on Venice unless
it democratised.
The Venetian senate acceded to numerous demands, but facing increasing
rebellion and the
threat of foreign invasion, it abdicated in favor of a transitional
government of Jacobins (and
thus the French). On 12 May, Ludovico Manin, the last doge of Venice,
formally abolished the
Most Serene Republic of Venice after 1,100 years of existence.
Napoleon's aggression was not without cause since the French and the
Austrians had
secretly agreed on 17 April in the Treaty of Leoben that in exchange for
providing Venice to
Austria, France would receive Austria's holdings in the Netherlands.
France provided an
opportunity for the population to vote on accepting the now public terms
of the treaty that
yielded them to Austria. On 28 October, Venice voted to accept the terms
since it preferred
Austria to France. Such preferences were well founded, as the French
proceeded to a
thorough looting of Venice and either stealing or sinking of the entire
Venetian Navy and the
destruction of much of the Venetian Arsenal, a humiliating end for what
had once been one of
the most powerful navies in Europe.
On 18 January 1798, the Austrians took control of Venice and ended the
plunder. Austria's
control was short-lived, however, as Venice would be back under French
control by 1805. It
then returned to Austrian hands in 1815 as the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia
until its
incorporation into the Kingdom of Italy in 1866.
Taken from Wikipedia |
Once in Rome it was through Angelica Kaufmann and
Canova that he obtained work with the Cambridge Professor of Architecture, Wilkins,
who wished to study the antiquities of Magna Graecia and Egypt and through this
work Aglio ended up emigrating to England in 1803 to work at Cambridge.
For more details his life refer to Agostino
Aglio in Historical Context
which leads to his work after leaving Cambridge and his work on walls frescos
and ceilings, drawings, mezzotints, aquatints
engravings and lithographs. He became paralysed in 1849 and then produced a
number of watercolour paintings with his left hand.
He was working in London at the same time as
W.J.M. Turner and John Constable exhibiting at the Royal Academy at the time and
he was a key artist in the work at Buckingham Palace in the Pavilion which
needed frescos from 8 of the top artists of the time.
That he was well respected by Italy and particularly Cremona is
demonstrated by the biographical references to him and to his having a
road in the town named after him.
Federico Sacchi, arelation, wrote his biography in 1868 and
there is reference to him in the Alphabetic Biography
of Painters,
Sculptors and Architects from Cremona, 1827 by Giuseppe Grasselli |
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This road is on the West Side of Cremona
Cemetary.
Thanks to people in Cremona who directed me here.
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There is record that he lived at Edwardes Square, Kensington, for
1814 - 1820 and designed the gardens in the Square. His son Augustine was born
during this period.
In 2012 the residence association of the Square were planning for
a 200th year celebration.
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The Gardens of Edwardes Square |
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No. 15 Edwardes Square |
More Photographs in the Aglio
Gallery |
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Edwardes Square -- Notable Residents
Residents in Edwardes Square have included: Agostino
Aglio, artist and decorator, 1814–20 (No. 15); From: 'The Edwardes
estate: Edwardes Square area', Survey of London: volume 42: Kensington
Square to Earl's Court (1986), pp. 249-263. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50323
Date accessed: 11 June 2012.
The garden of Edwardes Square was laid out, ‘in groups
and winding walks, in a manner different from most other squares’, by
Agostino Aglio, the Italian artist and decorator who lived at No. 15
Edwardes Square from 1814 to 1820. (ref. 92) Ref. 92.
Notes made and kindly lent by Dr. Stephen Pasmore from
miscellaneous papers in the possession of the Edwardes Square Garden
Committee: J. C. Loudon, An Encyclopaedia of Gardening, 1822, p. 1189:
R.B.
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50323 |
Between 1824 and 1830 he worked for Lord Kingsborough on a set
of seven books called on the Antiquities of Mexico. http://www.famsi.org/mayawriting/codices/pdf/Aglio-KingsboroughParisCodex.pdf
Sir Thomas Phillipps
was involved in this project. These books were published
but the process resulted in bankruptcy for Aglio and Kingsborough who died 1837
after being in debtors jail. A very sad affair. Summary of the
Story.
Between 1831 and 1834, he worked at Manchester
Town Hall doing the inside decoration. It was during this time that bankruptcy
occurred as a result of the Mexican Antiquities affair.
As seen from the autobiography and biographies, Agostino was a hard worker and
prolific artist working still at the age of 69, with the help of his son on the
decoration of the Olympic Theatre.
Soon after this he became paralysed and spent the last 5 years
of his life painting watercolours with his left hand. He died at the age of 80
and is buried in Highgate cemetery
Further details of the work life and family
can be explored through the following pages
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