Giuseppe Cammarano

Giuseppe Cammarano (4 June 1766 – 8 October 1850) was an Italian painter of frescoes and portraits.

Biography He was born in Sciacca. His father, Vincenzo (1720–1809), was a comic actor known as "Giancola". While still very young, he began working at the Royal Court of Naples. His first notable works were frescoes, which have since degraded, in the Reggia di Carditello. They were inspired by the works of Fedele Fischetti, one of his teachers, and , a scenographer. These enabled him to find a patron in King Ferdinand I, who funded his studies in Rome. There, he developed a style with both Rococo and Neoclassic elements. Intending to stay for five years, illness forced him to return to Naples after only two.

Upon returning in 1788, he opened his own painting school, which he operated until 1799. Later that year, he was commissioned by the King to restore the frescoes in the Royal Palace, which had been damaged by the French troops that were sent in to quell the Neapolitan Revolution. He also applied for a position at the Reale Accademia di Belle Arti, but was not accepted. In 1806, Joseph Bonaparte appointed him to succeed Domenico Mondo as the Accademia's Deputy Director. That position was eliminated after only five months, but he remained as a "Master of Painting" until 1824.

In addition to his work there, he did restorations and original frescoes at the , and painted a Last Supper for the . He acted occasionally, with other members of his family, and wrote lyric poems in the Neapolitan dialect.

His brother, Antonio, was also an artist, but, except for a few drawings, very little is known of him. His son, Salvadore, was a librettist and playwright. His grandson, Michele, took his first drawing lessons from him and became a well-known history painter. Cammarano died in Naples of typhus, aged 84.