Ignazio Hugford
Ignazio Hugford, or Ignatius Heckford (1703 - 1778), was an Italian painter active mostly in Tuscany in an early Neoclassic style.
Life and work
Ignazio Hugford was born in Pisa, the son of a resident English watchmaker who worked for the House of Medici.
Hugford was first apprenticed at the age of 9 years to Anton Domenico Gabbiani. In 1745, he painted over a dozen canvases for the refectory of the Benedictine Abbey of Vallombrosa, where his brother, Enrico, became abbot. Hugford joined the Accademia del Disegno of Florence, and published a biography on his mentor. Among his masterpieces is the Countess Matilde Donates her Riches to the Church in the church of San Bartolommeo in Pantano in Pistoia[1]. In the same Pistoiese church are canvasses of St. Peter crosses the fire and Sant'Atto receives the relics of Sant'Jacopo. The Pieve di S. Andrea a Doccia houses an altarpiece of Saints Charles Borromeo, Philip Neri and Antonio Abate before a Crucifix (1776).
Hugford died in Florence. Nowadays he is more known as a critic, art scholar, and for his efforts as an agent for collectors. Among his pupils were Francesco Bartolozzi, Lamberto Gori, Giovanni Battista Ciprione, and Sante Pacini.
Notes
- ^ "Pistoia, Italy" (description), webpage: pistoia.turismo.toscana.it-ptsbart.
References
- Giovanna Perini, "Dresden and the Italian art market in the eighteenth century: Ignazio Hugford and Giovanni Ludovic Harrier eagles", The Burlington Magazine , 1993, vol. 135, not. 1085, pp. 550-559.
- Bruce Cole; Ulrich Middeldorf. Masaccio, Lippi, or Hugford?,
The Burlington Magazine (1971) pp. 500-505, 507.