Antonio Isopi
| Antonio Isopi | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Antonio Aloysius Petrus Isopi 5 February 1758 Rome |
| Died | 3 October 1833 (aged 75) Ludwigsburg, |
| Nationality | Italian, Württembergian |
| Known for | Sculpting |
| Movement | Classicism |
Antonio Isopi (5 February 1758 – 3 October 1833) was a Roman sculptor of Classicism mainly working at the court of the Dukes (later Kings) of Württemberg. Antonio Aloysius Petrus Isopi first lived and worked in his home city as a sculptor and soon specialized on restoring antique pieces of art. The iron cast Württemberg heraldic animals lion and hart – still to be seen in front of Stuttgart’s New Castle – are one of his major works.
Antonio was the third son of Silvestro and Geltrude Isopi née Orlandi. The father was a servant of Don Giuseppe Finali, a cleric at the papal court. Only four of the eleven children born between 1754 and 1772 reached adulthood. The Isopis lived in the centre of Rome near the Trevi fountain. Since 1768 until Antonio’s departure to Germany the family lived in a servant wing of Palazzo Apostolico Quirinale – once the summer residence of the pope, today the residence of Italy’s president.
Isopi was trained by the sculptors Francesco Franzoni (1734–1818 ) and Lorenzo Cardelli (1733–1794). Equally, the re-discovery and restoration of antique sculptures and the work of sculptor and restorer Bartolomeo Cavaceppi influenced Isopi’s style. He worked in the Villa Borghese and in the Museo Pio Clementino. Cardelli’s workshop was next-door to Antonio Canova‘s, the new star in the world of art. Franzoni – coming from an established family of stone sculptors and marble quarry owners in Carrara – was becoming the leading restorer of antique statues in the Vatican. Several times Pope Pius VI personally visited his workshop.
In the 1780s Isopi had his own workshop and training centre in Rome, where he taught sculpting, restoring and ornamenting, which was beneficial for his later occupation in Württemberg.
The ambassador to the Vatican of Württemberg’s Duke Carl Eugen, Gaetano Marini, recommended Isopi to the duke as an ornament designer and animal sculptor. Isopi was to be a professor at the Hohe Karlsschule and teach Württemberg’s youth stone sculpting. These plans were never realized, since Duke Carl Eugen died in 1793, soon after Isopi’s arrival in Stuttgart. The school was closed soon afterwards.
In 1795 Isopi became a member of the committee for residence construction and worked in the castles in Stuttgart, Hohenheim and Ludwigsburg. The quality of his stucco ornaments attracted even Goethe who would have liked to employ him in Weimar permanently. It was, however, not until 1798/99 that Isopi in fact was in Weimar for a temporary employment. He helped re-building the Weimar Castle.
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