Michele Fanoli


Michele Fanoli was an Italian painter and engraver, mainly of religious subjects and portraits in a Neoclassical style.

Biography

He was born in Cittadella, province of Padua. He studied under Leopoldo Cicognara at the Academy of Fine Arts at Modena, and at the Accademia di Belle Arti of Venice at the urging of Cicognara. He traveled to Paris where he learned the art of lithography.
In Paris he made lithographic reproductions of major works including Deposition, Les Willis, Marriage at Cana, Orpheus, Last Supper, and Immaculate Conception, printed by Lemercier in Paris. When he returned to Italy in 1860, he was made director of the School of Lithography at the Brera Academy.
Fanoli made a widely circulated painting from a scene in the I Promessi Sposi. He also engraved a fanciful inventory of the sculptural works of Antonio Canova. He was a lifelong friend of Luigi Carrer. He painted two works in Cittadella: La riconoscenza displayed in City Hall, and an altarpiece for the Duomo of the town.