Felice Schiavoni

Felice Schiavoni was born into the trade in 1803. His father, Natale Schiavoni, was a well-known Venetian painter and engraver, and Felice learned first in his studio, then at the Brera Academy in Milan and later in Vienna. From 1821 he lived in Venice, painting portraits, genre scenes and historical subjects.

His most ambitious work was a large canvas showing the death of Raphael, the great Renaissance master, at his easel. Schiavoni worked on it for about 15 years for the Russian emperor Alexander II, who is said to have paid 60,000 lire for it. An earlier tsar, Nicholas I, had already given him a prize and a medal.

His brother Giovanni was a painter as well. The Schiavoni were a whole family of painters in 19th-century Venice.