Antonio Verrio (Lecce, c. 1636 – London, 1707) was an Italian painter who introduced Baroque mural painting to England, where he served the Crown for about thirty years. He trained in his native Lecce under Giovanni Andrea Coppola. Around 1665 he settled in the Toulouse area and later worked in Paris. In 1672, on the suggestion of Ralph Montagu, he crossed the Channel, which opened his way to the English court.
Under Charles II he received English nationality in 1675 and took on his most ambitious commission at Windsor Castle: twenty ceilings, three staircases, the King's Chapel and St George's Hall. On its completion in 1684 he was named Principal Painter to the Court. After the Glorious Revolution he lost royal favour and returned to aristocratic patrons at Burghley House and Chatsworth House, until William III recalled him. His legacy is visible in the frescoes at Hampton Court and in his influence on Louis Laguerre and James Thornhill.
Works (2)
Painted by Antonio Verrio for the ceiling of the Queen's Presence Chamber at Windsor Castle, this work shows Catherine of Braganza, wife of Charles II, seated beneath a billowing canopy among allegorical figures that celebrate her. It is one of only three surviving ceiling paintings from an original group of twenty, most of which were lost during George IV's nineteenth-century rebuilding of the castle.
Where to see the work
- Royal Collection · 1
- Musée des Augustins Toulouse · 1
Curiosities
A nearly vanished ensemble
Only three of the Windsor ceilings survived the redecoration of the castle commissioned by George IV during the 1820s. As a result, his most ambitious work there survives only in part, which makes the remaining fragments a very valuable record of his style.
A post beyond painting
In March 1685 he was appointed "Keeper of the Great Garden in St James's Park", a position showing that the court could also entrust him with duties unrelated to painting. The sources do not describe what that post involved.