Luigi Calamatta

[2] Orphaned at an early age, he went to live with an uncle, who enrolled him in the school of arts at the Ospizio San Michele, where he learned to draw.

His exceptional talent led his drawing teacher, Antonio Ricciani [fr], to dissuade him from becoming a priest.

He made his first appearance at the Salon in 1827, with an engraving of Bajazet and the Shepherd (a scene from a play), after Pierre Joseph Dedreux-Dorcy.

In 1836, he visited Florence and, the following year, was appointed a professor at the engraving school in Brussels, which later became part of the Royal Academy.

[2] In 1857, he was named a member of the Pontifical Academy of Fine Arts and Letters of the Virtuosi al Pantheon.