Francesco Casanova

Francesco Giuseppe Casanova (1 June 1727, London – 8 July 1803, near Mödling) was a painter of Italian parentage who specialised in battle scenes. His older brother was Giacomo Casanova, the famous adventurer, and his younger brother was Giovanni Casanova; also a well-known painter.

He was born in London, where his parents, Zanetta Farussi, an actress, and Gaetano Casanova, an actor and dancer, had a theatrical engagement. It was rumoured that his father was actually the Prince of Wales (who shortly after became King George II); whether for scurrilous motives or publicity is unclear. They returned to Venice when he was still young and, after his father's death in 1733, he and his siblings were placed in the care of the Grimani family.

His career began in the workshops of Giovanni Antonio Guardi, a very unpleasant time for him, according to the memoirs of his brother Giacomo. Later, he moved to the studios of Antonio Joli, who was a set designer for the theatres owned by the Grimanis. This was also, apparently, unsatisfactory and he took up studies with the battle painter, Francesco Simonini. In 1751, upon his brother Giovanni's advice, he went to Paris and became an apprentice of Charles Parrocel. The following year, after Parrocel's death, he went to Dresden and spent a year studying the battle paintings at the "Gallery of the Electors of Saxony". In 1758, he returned to Paris and set himself up as a free-lance artist.

Success did not come immediately, and his first exhibition was a failure. In 1761, he became a member of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture and was promoted to full member in 1763. As a result of favourable criticism from Denis Diderot, he began to receive commissions from the aristocracy. Diderot would later express negative opinions about Casanova's work, but his reputation was already made. His fame soon spread eastward and he received commissions from Catherine the Great for the Hermitage, beginning in 1768. Two years later, he produced his four famous "disaster paintings", which were purchased by Jean-Benjamin de la Borde on behalf of King Louis XV. In 1771, he exhibited two large canvases depicting scenes from the Thirty Years' War (The Battle of Freiburg and the Battle of Lens) and once again won Diderot's approval.

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