Francesco Carlo Rusca

He was born in Torricella, and studied law at the University of Turin, where he may have earned his doctorate.

He soon turned to painting, however, but had difficulty obtaining clients so, sometime in the 1720s, went to Venice and became a student of Jacopo Amigoni.

In 1733, he went to Kassel at the invitation of Landgrave William VIII, for whom he created several large portraits.

His wife died in 1735 and, the following year, he moved to Hannover then, in 1737, on to Potsdam and Berlin,[2] where he painted for the Prussian royal family.

[1] His portraits were so well thought of that King George II called him "Cavaliere", which is why he later referred to himself as "Ritter" (Knight).

Marie Ana Ludowiga von Roll von Emmenholz (1760s)
Portrait of an Actor (1730s)
Vision of St. John the Evangelist (1737)