Giovanni Battista Comolli

Who was Giovanni Battista Comolli?

Giovanni Battista Comolli was an Italian sculptor.

He became a pupil of the Milanese sculptor Giuseppe Franchi at the Brera Academy, but was strongly influenced by Antonio Canova.

In 1798, he supported the revolution that led to the establishment of a brief Roman Republic. Upon this revolutionary failure, he fled to Grenoble. When the North of Italy was evacuated by the Austrian troops, he moved to Milan, and in 1800 was named Conservator of National studio of Sculpture. Over the next decade he moved around many times throughout the north of Italy, and to Paris, where he set up a studio for portrait busts. Among his work was a larger than life, hagiographic plaster statue of Napoleon the Peacemaker. The statue while generating interest, was not commissioned in more lasting materials. Political problems caused him to move frequently. He then moves back to Grenoble and from there to Turin, where in 1802 he completes a series of busts of Napoleon, Jourdan, Brune, and Massena for the local atheneum. He was briefly named professor or sculpture of the Accademia Albertina of Turin. The production of busts and works for private patrons supported him.