Italian painter, active in Poland. He studied in Rome with Marco
Benefial and in 1750 was summoned to the Dresden court of Elector
Frederick Augustus II (Augustus III of Poland), where he worked as a
draughtsman in the picture gallery. In Dresden, Bacciarelli also
painted portraits. Along with the entire Saxon court, he spent the
years 1756–64 in Warsaw, working as portrait painter to the
aristocracy. At this time he also moved in Polish circles, getting
to know the family of the future Polish king, Stanislav II
Poniatowski (reg 1764–95), among others. In 1764–6 Bacciarelli
worked at the imperial court in Vienna. From 1766 he settled
permanently in Warsaw, where he was closely associated with
Stanislav II and his court and worked as the chief propagator and
interpreter of the artistic policy of the monarchy. In 1786 he was
admitted into the Polish nobility. He became the King’s principal
painter, organizing and maintaining the artistic workshop in the
Royal Castle, supervising the decoration of the King’s residence
(1776–85) and coordinating the accumulation and maintenance of the
royal collection. In 1786 he was appointed Director-General of the
royal buildings. Bacciarelli enjoyed both the confidence and the
friendship of the King. In 1787 he travelled to Italy, where he was
elected to membership of several academies. When the King was forced
in 1795 to abandon the capital and abdicate the throne, Bacciarelli
remained in Warsaw, maintaining overall control of artistic affairs
in the city, and after the death of Stanislav II in 1798 he took
control of matters relating to the King’s estate and the disposal of
the royal collections. In 1816 he became honorary dean and professor
at the newly founded faculty of education and fine art at Warsaw
University. Bacciarelli regarded Poland as his homeland, and his
descendants assumed Polish citizenship.
Portrait des Stanislaus II. August Poniatowski, König von Polen
Portrait of a noble woman
Caliope
Portrait of Apolonia Poniatowska with her Son Stanislaw
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