Agostino Brunias

Agostino Brunias (c. 1730 – 2 April 1796) was an Italian painter who was primarily active in the West Indies. Born in Rome around 1730, Brunias spent his early career as a painter after graduating from the Accademia di San Luca. After he befriended prominent Scottish architect Robert Adam and accompanied him back to Britain, Brunias left for the British West Indies to continue his career in painting under the tutelage of Sir William Young. Although he was primarily commissioned to paint the various planter families and their plantations in the West Indies, he also painted several scenes featuring free people of colour and cultural life in the West Indies. Brunias spent most of his West Indian career on the island of Dominica, where he would die in 1796. Historians have made disparate assessments of Brunias's works; some praised his subversive depiction of West Indian culture, while others claimed it romanticised the harshness of plantation life. Haitian revolutionary Toussaint Louverture was a prominent admirer of his work.

Early life

An engraving after an oil painting of Agostino Brunias titled Barbados Mulatto Girl.

Brunias was born in Rome c. 1730; the exact day and month of his birth is uncertain. His first name has been recorded in various ways, including Abraham, Alexander, August, or Austin, while his surname has been recorded as Brunais and Brunyas. He became a student at the Accademia di San Luca, one of the most prestigious art institutions in Rome. In 1752, he exhibited an oil painting, and in 1754 he won Third Prize in the Second Class for painting. Brunias met the prominent Scottish architect Robert Adam, who was on a Grand Tour studying the "magnificent ruins of Italy" between 1754 and 1756. Adams employed Brunias in his workshop in Rome, and Brunias accompanied Adams on his return to Britain in 1758. Brunias worked as a draughtsman and painter on many of Adam's building projects in Britain. Adam, praising his works, called Brunias a "bred painter". His murals and paintings covered the interior walls of several stately homes of the British upper class. By 1762, Brunias was residing in Broad Street, Carnaby Market, London and in 1763 and 1764, he exhibited at the Free Society of Artists. Governor Young remained Brunias' primary patron until 1773, when he returned home to Britain.

Brunias completed many sketches, watercolors, and oil paintings in the Caribbean. Like many artists working in the Americas, Brunias returned to Britain around 1775 in order to promote and sell his growing collection of work. In 1777 and 1779, three of his West Indian paintings were shown at the Royal Academy. He followed this accomplishment by publishing engravings of his West Indian paintings, some of which were "by his own hand". Engravings of his designs continued to be published posthumously. Harvard University's Fogg Museum, Yale Center for British Art and Tate (London) own examples of his works. Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, and The Brooklyn Museum.

Artistic style and interpretations

He died on 2 April 1796 at the age of 66, and was buried in the Catholic cemetery on the site of the present-day Roseau Cathedral.