Viera Bartková
An Artist's Journey to Rome in Search of Knowledge and Self-Knowledge
The paper focuses on a group of visual artists who travelled to Rome in the first half of the 19th century. It presents and analyses the artists' motivations driving them to journey to the Apennine Peninsula, but also influencing the length and nature of their stays there. The starting point of the text is the author's long-term research in Roman archives and libraries, with a focus on artists coming from Slovakia in confrontation with older sources. For this reason, the author pays special attention to painter Eduard Spiro (1790/1805-1856) from Bratislava. Spiro was active on the artistic scene of Rome in the second decade of the 19th century, having arrived there in 1821 thanks to the support of Count Anton Apponyi after a stay of almost two years in Milan. Despite unconfirmed information about his academic education, during his more than seven years of residence in Rome Spiro became part of a circle of the artistic scene's protagonists and their aristocratic supporters. His works, currently still missing, were reviewed by an important journal of the time, and the painter's name was included in the list of the most famous artists settled in Rome (E. Keller). Research in the Roman archives revealed the painter's contribution to the founding of an association bringing together local and foreign artists and patrons (Societ? degli Amatori e Cultori delle Belle Arti). Thanks to records in the registers of Roman parishes (Status Animarum), the research has yielded new information regarding the uncertain date of birth and national identity of the painter. Spiro's ambitions in the Roman milieu were probably high. A commission from Kingdom of Hungary, for which he left Rome and which should have been an important career boost, did not materialise, which had the opposite effect on him. The artist returned to Rome only briefly after 1830, living and working in Vienna until his death.
Keywords: Eduard Spiro - Anton Apponyi - Rome - art exhibitions in Rome in the 19th century - lists of artists in Rome - Enrico Keller - Societ? degli Amatori e Cultori delle Belle Arti - Neoclassicism
design by Bedřich Vémola
