ANTONIO VERRIO

'Antonio Verrio' (1639-1707) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active in England.
He came from Paris to England in 1671 under the patronage of the Duke of Montagu, and executed wall-frescoes for the nobility and royalty showing vast baroque mythologies. He was greatly admired by Charles II for whom he labored in over two dozen rooms and staircases at Windsor Castle, in collaboration with the architect Hugh May and sculptor Grinling Gibbons. These frescoes were lost during later redecorations. His extant masterpiece is considered his illusionistic frescoes of cavorting classical Gods and demigods in the Heaven Room (1688-1698) at Burghley House in Lincolnshire. Verrio's most prominent pupil was the Frenchman Louis Laguerre.
Alexander Pope ironically said,

On painted ceilings you devoutly stare

Where sprawl the saints of Verrio or Laguerre.

''See also'' English school of painting

Contents

References

Note

References

★ ''English Baroque Sketches at Marble Hill'', Jeffery Daniels. The Burlington Magazine (1974) p 420-423.

★ Encarta online entry for British Art
Hampton Court Palace has murals and ceilings painted by Verrio and during the month of September 2007 there will be specific guided tours of his works.

Note

In the movie, Da Vinci Code Verrio frescoes in Burghley House were used to simulate the plush Baroque interiors of the Papal retreat at Castelgandolfo.