| He studied under Giuseppe Bertini at the Accademia di Belli Arti di Brera in Milan and then travelled extensively in Italy, especially in Florence and Venice, where he developed an appreciation of Renaissance and Baroque art. After 1860 he selected themes from Italian or English history for his paintings, as in Tasso Reading and Jane Grey in Prison, working in an academic style much appreciated in annual exhibitions in Italy and Switzerland. He later turned his attention to subjects from Swiss history, often using local rather than national figures, as in his portrayal of the hero of the canton of Grisons, Jurg Jenatsch. He painted religious subjects, genre scenes, landscapes and portraits, of which Salomon Volkart is generally considered to be one of his finest. He was also very much in demand as a decorator, helping to revive the use of large-scale fresco designs in public buildings and churches. His first important cycle was in 1867 for S Spiridione, in Trieste, followed by significant commissions for the Hotel National in Lucerne, two large frescoes for the Reformierte Kirche in Horgen in 1875 and, after 1890, decorations for the Bundeshaus in Berne, where he painted various lunette and ceiling designs in the vestibules. He settled permanently in Lugano in 1896. Barzaghi-Cattaneo never subscribed to any of the modern schools of painting, preferring instead to remain within the canons of the late Renaissance narrative style. He was frequently awarded prizes in exhibitions and enjoyed popular success until his death. |
