AGLIO, Augustine (Agostino) (1777-1857) — London
Artist & lithographer. Produced Plan of the city of Santiago, the capital of Chile for Peter Schmidtmeyer, “Travels into Chile” 1824. Also known for a variety of views and illustrated work, e.g. his “Architectural ornaments : or a collection of capitals, friezes, roses, entablatures, mouldings etc.” 1820–1821, and his major work “Antiquities of Mexico : comprising fac-similes of ancient Mexican paintings and hieroglyphics preserved in the royal libraries” 1830–1848. Numerous examples of his prints and drawings are in the print rooms of the BM and V&A. The frontispiece to his “To Godfrey Wentworth junr. esqre. this series of sketches of the interior & temporary decorations in Woolley Hall, Yorkshire” 1821 is a lithographic self-portrait.
Born Agostino Maria Aglio 15 Dec 1777 at Cremona, Italy, the son of Gaetano Aglio, a notary, and his wife Marianna Mondini. The family moved to Milan in 1787, where Aglio was educated at the Collegio dei Barnabiti. After admission to the Accademia di Brera, he was taught painting by Andrea Appiani and design by Giocondo Albertolli. He served as a volunteer in the Legione della República Cisalpina and fought in the battle of Faenza in 1797. He subsequently joined the studio of the landscape painter Luigi Campovecchio in Rome. In 1799, on the recommendation of Canova, Aglio was employed by the architect William Wilkins as a draughtsman on an expedition to Sicily, Greece, and Egypt, the results of which were eventually published as “Antiquities of Magna Graecia” 1807. In 1803, Wilkins enabled him to become drawing-master at Caius College, Cambridge, but after a quarrel, Aglio left to become a drawing-master in London. He married Laetitia Clarke (1783-1849), the daughter of a merchant, with whom he had several children, at St. Anne Soho 16 Mar 1808. Aglio was in the King’s Bench prison for debt in 1811-1812 and his bankruptcy was announced in the London Gazette 23 Oct 1813, with a final creditors’ meeting scheduled for 12 Nov 1814. He subsequently laid out Edwardes Square, Kensington, his home in 1814-1820. His later career was one of scene-painting for the London theatres and the production of frescoes, notably for the Catholic church of St. Mary Moorfield in 1819 (later restored by himself and his son of the same name — Morning Herald, 28 Feb 1865), for the Duke of Bedford at Woburn, and for the nineteenth-century Manchester Town Hall. The Manchester Times 23 Mar 1833 carried a full description of the Manchester murals, “the object of M. Aglio has been to commemorate the principal subjects which establish the glory of the British empire, in arts, sciences, manufactures, and commerce, as well as military power, and great political influence, in the four quarters of the globe”. He exhibited at the Royal Academy, the Royal Society of British Artists, and elsewhere 1807-1850, and began working in lithography in 1809. There were financial difficulties again in the 1830s, brought on by the bankruptcy of his chief backer, Viscount Kingsborough. Aglio was once more declared bankrupt in March 1832, in proceedings which continued to at least April 1837, in connection with which a number of his paintings were auctioned at the Exchange Rooms, Manchester, 23 May 1837. In May 1844, he was among of a deputation of leading artists which went to Downing Street to protest at legislation relating to Art Unions (Morning Herald, 8 May 1844). In 1850, Aglio suffered from a stroke which partially paralysed him. He never fully recovered and died at his son’s house in Camberwell 30 Jan 1857. He was buried in Highgate Cemetery 6 Feb 1857. His children, Augustine Lewis Gaetano Aglio (1816-1885) and Mary Elizabeth Aglio (1818-1892), also exhibited at the Royal Society of British Artists.
43 Gerard Street, Soho — 1807
8 Gerard Street, Soho — 1807
15 Broad Street, Golden Square — 1813-1814
Edwardes Square, Kensington — 1814-1820
48 Berners Street — 1820-1821
36 Newman Street, Marylebone — 1824-1831
James Street, Cheetham, Manchester — 1831
Smedley, near Manchester — 1832
2 Osnaburgh Street, Regent’s Park — 1836-1850
34 Sidney Street, Chelsea — 1851-1852
Alexander. BBTI. BM. BNA. Bryan. Census 1841-1851. Graves (1901) (1905). Hake. Johnson (1975). LG. LHD. LMA. ODNB. Twyman.