FRANCESCO GRANDI. — Painter, born in Rome on 21 April 1831, died there in 1891. Pupil of Lodovico Venuti and of the Accademia di S. Luca, he was among the most active painters of sacred subjects that Rome had during the 19th century.
In the basilica of S. Paolo fuori le mura he painted two large frescoes in the main nave depicting S. Paolo preaching to the people and S. Paolo driven from the Temple; he painted two others in the transept of S. Giovanni in Laterano depicting Pope Sylvester receiving the Donation of Constantine and Vespignani presenting to Pope Leo XIII the plans for the restoration of the Basilica. Other works of his are in S. Maria in Aquino. In 1869 he completed the frescoes begun by Fracassini in S. Lorenzo fuori le mura, which were unfortunately almost entirely lost during the Second World War. He also painted, in the dome of the cathedral of Vercelli, scenes from the life of St Eusebius, and numerous canvases for churches, not only in Rome, employing traditional figurative schemes interpreted in the manner of the most modern yet reasonable naturalism.
G. was also a painter of profane subjects, as in some rooms of the theatre in Fano, for which he also painted the curtain, as well as a designer of stage sets and a portraitist (portraits of Pius IX and Leo XIII).