Francesco Fernandi

Who was Francesco Fernandi?

Francesco Fernandi, also known as Imperiali, was an Italian painter of the late-Baroque or Rococo period.

Born in Milan, he initially apprenticed with the painter for the Borromeo family, Carlo Vimercati. After a spell in Palermo, of which little is known, he moved to Rome sometime around 1705. There he joined projects of the large studio of painters working with Carlo Maratta. He was patronized in Rome by the Cardinal Giuseppe Renato Imperiali, from whom he acquired the last name Imperiali. We know little of his works for the Vatican and the Ottoboni family.

In Rome, he gained an independent studio, and was apparently popular with visiting British painters, having mentored Allan Ramsay, WIlliam Hoare, Alexander Clerk, William Mosman, and James Russell. Among his Italian pupils is the little-known, Camillo Paderni and the more prominent Pompeo Batoni.

In August 1723, he apparently backed the litigation and lobbying by the academic outsiders like Michelangelo Cerruti, who sought to liberalize the control over artistic production held by the Academy. He himself was appointed along with his friend, Agostino Masucci to the Academy in 1723.