{{Short description|Italian-British artist's model and painter}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox artist | birth_date = {{birth date text|1849}} | birth_place = Basilicata, Italy | death_date = {{death date and age|16 January 1925|1849}} | death_place = London, United Kingdom }} thumb|210px|Simeon Solomon, ''Bacchus'', oil on paper, 1867, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham, UK '''Gaetano Giuseppe Faostino Meo''' (1849 – 16 January 1925) was an Italian-British artist's model, landscape painter, and a noted craftsman in mosaic and stained glass.<ref name="Smith1996">{{cite book|author=Alison Smith|title=The Victorian Nude: Sexuality, Morality, and Art|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2TihtTWL5LUC&pg=PA198|access-date=25 January 2013|year=1996|publisher=Manchester University Press|isbn=978-0-7190-4403-8|pages=197–198}}</ref> His unpublished autobiography is a useful source for art historians of the Aesthetic Movement and Edwardian Era.<ref name="Smith1996"/>
==Model== He was a son of Rocco Meo, an Italian shepherd of Greek descent whose surname was probably a diminutive version of Bartolomeo,<ref name="Jiminez"/> and Maria Francesca Meo (née Pignone).<ref name="Jiminez"/> He had at least three elder brothers and a younger sister,<ref>[https://www.ancestry.co.uk/genealogy/records/gaetano-meo-24-qbb5kz Gaetano Meo], from Ancestry.com</ref> and grew up in the town of Laurenzana, in Basilicata, southern Italy.<ref name="Jiminez">Simon Reynolds, "Gaetano Meo," in Jill Berk Jiminez, ed., ''Dictionary of Artists' Models'' (Chicago, IL: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 2001), pp. 368-370.</ref> In 1864, Meo (age 15) and an older brother walked from Naples to Paris. Playing harp and lute, they supported themselves as street musicians while saving money for passage to the United States.<ref name='IndObt'/> By 1866, Meo was posing as an artist's model in Paris.<ref name="Jiminez"/> The pair lacked passports, and were smuggled into the United Kingdom aboard a freighter from Boulogne.<ref name="Lancaster"/> Meo remained in London, but his brother continued on to America.<ref name='IndObt'/>
Alone in London, Meo sought to play his harp in Italian restaurants, a safer place than busking in the streets, where he was more likely to be arrested by police, and deported.<ref name="Rogers">Patrick Rogers, "Cathedral Mosaicists – Gaetano Meo," ''Oremus: Westminster Cathedral Magazine'', no. 217 (September 2016), pp. 14-15. [http://www.westminstercathedral.org.uk/downloads/AugustSeptember16website.pdf (PDF)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211208155414/http://www.westminstercathedral.org.uk/downloads/AugustSeptember16website.pdf |date=8 December 2021 }}</ref> Pre-Raphaelite painter Simeon Solomon claimed to have discovered the 18-year-old playing harp in the streets.<ref name="Smith1996"/> "Meo represented a form of classical southern beauty much sought after in paintings of scenes from Greek mythology."<ref name="Jiminez"/> In 1867, in Rome, Solomon painted a three-quarter-length watercolor of another model dressed as Bacchus.<ref name="Solomon">Simeon Solomon, ''Bacchus'', Sotheby's Auctions, London, 12 July 2018, Lot 11.[https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2018/victorian-pre-raphaelite-british-impressionist-art-l18132/lot.11.html]</ref> That same year, in London, he painted a head-and-bust oil portrait of Meo as Bacchus.<ref name="Solomon"/>
Meo posed for other British painters such as Ford Madox Brown,<ref name="Jiminez"/> Edward Burne-Jones,<ref name="Jiminez"/> Luke Fildes,<ref name="Jiminez"/> Henry Holiday,<ref name="Jiminez"/> Henry Holland (1839–1927),<ref name="Jiminez"/> Frederic Leighton,<ref name="Jiminez"/> Edwin Long,<ref name="Jiminez"/> George Heming Mason,<ref name="Jiminez"/> William Blake Richmond,<ref name="Jiminez"/> Dante Gabriel Rossetti,<ref name="Jiminez"/> and sculptor Hamo Thornycroft.<ref name="Smith1996"/> By 1870, he was also working as Rossetti's studio assistant.<ref name="Jiminez"/>
Male models in England generally insisted on wearing loincloths,<ref name="Jiminez"/> but Meo would pose fully nude.<ref name="Smith1996"/> In his autobiography, Meo contrasted how models were treated in France versus England: <blockquote>In Paris the artists treated their models as friends, they were regarded as fellow workers in a great undertaking, coadjutors to whose dramatic and artistic co-operation the artists were greatly indebted. After work, the artist and his model dined together and talked, and the model, if intelligent, learnt much of Art. … But English artists were different, as a rule they treated their models as dirt! Not so Richmond and Rossetti, and Burne Jones – God bless him! – they treated their models as human beings.<ref>Gaetano Meo, unpublished autobiography, Craig family papers, quoted in Alison Smith, ''The Victorian Nude: Sexuality, Morality, and Art'' (Manchester University Press, 1996), p. 198.</ref></blockquote>
===Edward Burne-Jones=== thumb|Edward Burne-Jones, ''Phyllis and Demophoön'', watercolour, 1870, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham, UK thumb|Edward Burne-Jones, ''Dies Domine Window'' (1876), St. Michael & St. Mary Magdelene Church, Easthampstead, UK. (circular window at top) Edward Burne-Jones used his mistress, Maria Zambaco, and Meo as the models for ''Phyllis and Demophoön'' (1870).{{efn|"Phyllis has the unmistakable features of Maria Zambaco, with whom Burne-Jones had been infatuated since 1868. Her depiction in such a scene as this, with its poignant Latin tag—"Tell me what I have done, except to love unwisely?"—has provoked much discussion on the psychological implications of the picture, which at the very least must have served as an act of catharsis in exorcizing the artist's feelings of guilt toward his wife as well as toward his mistress."<ref name="MMA 1998"/>}} In the legend from Ovid's ''Heroides'', Phyllis was the daughter of the King of Thrace, and Demophoön the son of King Theseus of Athens. On the day after their wedding, Demophoön departed for his father's land, promising to return for his bride.<ref name="MMA 1998"/> Phyllis would go to the shore each day to watch for his ship, but it never came. Finally, in despair, she hanged herself and the gods transformed her into an almond tree.<ref name="MMA 1998"/> When Demophoön finally did return, he remorsefully embraced the almond tree and it burst into bloom. The gods took pity on Phyllis, and transformed her back into a woman.<ref name="MMA 1998"/> Burne-Jones's innovation was to portray the moment of transformation, in which the branches entangling Demophoön suddenly become the arms of Phyllis embracing him.<ref name="MMA 1998">Stephen Wildman and John Christian, "Catalogue – 48. Phyllis and Demophoön," in Metropolitan Museum of Art, ''Edward Burne-Jones, Victorian Artist-Dreamer,'' (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1998), pp. 136-138.</ref> "When the painting was exhibited at the Old Watercolour Society for the 1870 Summer Exhibition, great controversy followed, partially because of Burne-Jones' affair, but also as a result of Demophoön's nudity. Due to the numerous complaints, Burne-Jones withdrew the painting from the exhibition two weeks after the opening."<ref>[https://www.sandersofoxford.com/shop/product/phyllis-and-demophoon/ "Phyllis and Demophoon,"] Sanders of Oxford Antique Prints and Maps (no date).</ref> Burne-Jones later painted another version in oil, ''The Tree of Forgiveness'' (1881–1882),<ref name="Tree">[https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/ladylever/collections/paintings/gallery2/treeofforgiveness.aspx The Tree of Forgiveness, 1882], from Liverpool Museums.</ref> with Phyllis emerging fully nude from the trunk of the tree, and Demophoön's genitals covered by drapery.
===William Blake Richmond=== The extremely close, nearly 50-year friendship between Meo and William Blake Richmond began with a mysterious incident. In 1872, Meo arrived unannounced at Richmond's country house seeking modeling work.<ref name="Bonhams"/> He encountered a beautiful woman inside the back door, who pointed the way to the painter's studio.<ref name="Bonhams"/> Meo came to believe that the woman had been the ghost of Richmond's first wife, Charlotte, and took it as an omen that the two men were intended to work together.<ref name="Bonhams"/> Meo became Richmond's principal model, studio assistant and student.<ref name="Bonhams"/> He likely posed for the three muscular angels guarding the funeral bier of a shrouded female corpse in ''The Watchers''{{efn|Simon Reynolds: "I am convinced that ''The Watchers'' depicts the corpse of Charlotte, dead some ten years, with a very Italian background surrounding her; the naked angels are more than likely depictions of Gaetano Meo, welcomed as he was into the intimacy of Richmond's life."<ref name="Bonhams">Sir William Blake Richmond, RA, ''The Watchers'', Bonhams Auctions, London, 26 September 2018, Lot 35.[https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/24742/lot/35/]</ref>}}—thought to be Richmond's elegy to Charlotte.<ref>Gabriel Berner, "The importance of provenance as two works set multi-estimate sums at Bonham's in London," ''Antiques Trade Gazette'', October 29, 2018.</ref> Meo later assisted Richmond on murals, acted as his business manager in negotiations with clients, and for more than ten years led the team that executed Richmond's mosaics at St. Paul's Cathedral.<ref name="Jiminez"/>
===Works for which Meo posed=== *Simeon Solomon, ''Bacchus'' (oil on paper, 1867), Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham, UK<ref>[https://www.birminghammuseums.org.uk/explore-art/items/1961P52/bacchus Bacchus] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191228173934/https://www.birminghammuseums.org.uk/explore-art/items/1961P52/bacchus |date=28 December 2019 }}, from Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.</ref> *Simeon Solomon, ''The Sleepers and One that Watcheth'' (watercolour, 1867), Leamington Spa Art Gallery, Warwickshire, UK<ref name="Jiminez"/> *Simeon Solomon, ''A Prelude by Bach'' (watercolour, 1868), private collection<ref name="Jiminez"/> *Dante Gabriel Rossetti, ''Dante's Dream at the Time of Beatrice's Death'' (watercolour, 1869–1871), Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, UK<ref name="Jiminez"/> **Rossetti painted an 1880 version in oil, now at the McManus Gallery, Dundee, UK. *Simeon Solomon, ''A Youth Relating Tales to Ladies'', (1870), Tate Britain, London<ref>[https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/solomon-a-youth-relating-tales-to-ladies-t03702 A Youth Relating Tales to Ladies], from Tate Britain.</ref> *Edward Burne-Jones, ''Phyllis and Demophoön'' (watercolour, 1870), Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham, UK<ref name="Jiminez"/> **Burne-Jones painted a variation of this in oil, ''The Tree of Forgiveness'' (1881–1882), now at the Lady Lever Art Gallery, Liverpool, UK.<ref name="Tree"/> *Frederic Leighton, ''The Arts of Industry as Applied to War'' (mural, 1870–1872), Victoria and Albert Museum, London<ref name="Jiminez"/> *Edward Burne-Jones, ''Love Among the Ruins'' (watercolour, 1870–1873), private collection<ref name="Jiminez"/> **After the watercolour was damaged, Burne-Jones painted a larger version in oil (1893–1894), now at Wightwick Manor, West Midlands, UK. *Edward Burne-Jones, ''The Feast of Peleus'' (1872, reworked 1881), Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham, UK<ref name="Jiminez"/> *George Heming Mason, ''The Harvest Moon'' (1872), Tate Britain, London<ref name="Jiminez"/> *Luke Fildes, ''Fair, Quiet and Sweet Rest'' (1872),<ref name="Dakers">Caroline Dakers, ''The Holland Park Circle: Artists and Victorian Society'', (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1999), p. 217.</ref> Warrington Museum & Art Gallery, Warrington, UK<ref>[https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/fair-quiet-and-sweet-rest-104013/search/actor:fildes-luke-18431927/page/1/view_as/grid Fair, Quiet and Sweet Rest], from Art UK.</ref> *Edward Burne-Jones, ''Dies Domine'' (watercolour, 1873–1874), unlocated.<ref name="Dakers"/> Burne-Jones portrayed Meo as Christ seated at the Last Judgment. **''Dies Domine'' was copied as a stained-glass window (1876) for the Church of St. Michael and St. Mary Magdelene, Easthampstead, Berkshire, UK **A photogravure of ''Dies Domine'' was published in 1900.<ref>[http://www.preraphaelites.org/the-collection/1900p75/dies-domini/ Dies Domini] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191231190359/http://www.preraphaelites.org/the-collection/1900p75/dies-domini/ |date=31 December 2019 }}, from Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.</ref> *William Blake Richmond, ''The Watchers'' (1873–1876),<ref name="Bonhams"/> private collection<ref name="Jiminez"/> *Frederic Leighton, ''Eastern Slinger'' (1875)<ref name="Jiminez"/> *Edward Burne-Jones, ''Le Chante d'Amour'' (''The Love Song'') (1877),<ref>[https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/435826 The Love Song], from MMA.</ref> Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City<ref name="Jiminez"/> *Frank Bernard Dicksee, ''Harmony'' (1879), Towneley Hall Art Gallery and Museum, Towneley Park, Burnley *William Blake Richmond, ''The Song of Miriam'' (1880), Chi Mei Museum, Taiwan<ref name="Jiminez"/> *Lawrence Alma-Tadema, ''An Audience at Agrippa's'' (1881), Dick Institute, Kilmarnock, UK<ref name="Jiminez"/> *Henry Holiday, ''Dante and Beatrice'' (1883), Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, UK.<ref name="Jiminez"/> Holiday used another model for Dante's hands.<ref>[http://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/1512056.1 Dante and Beatrice], from National Trust Collections</ref> *Hamo Thornycroft, ''The Mower'' (bronze, 1888–1890), Tate Britain, London<ref>[https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/thornycroft-the-mower-t03963 The Mower], from Tate Britain.</ref> *William Blake Richmond, ''Venus and Anchises'' (1890), Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, UK<ref name="Jiminez"/>
<gallery perrow=5> File:Solomon Sleepers 1867 Ford plate 19.jpg|Simeon Solomon, ''The Sleepers and One that Watcheth'', 1867, Leamington Spa Art Gallery, Warwickshire, UK. (Meo is the man on the right) File:Simeon Solomon - A prelude by Bach (1868).jpg|Simeon Solomon, ''A Prelude by Bach'', 1868, private collection File:Dante Gabriel Rossetti - Dante's Dream at the Time of the Death of Beatrice (1871).jpg|Dante Gabriel Rossetti, ''Dante's Dream on the Day of the Death of Beatrice'', watercolour, 1869–1871, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, UK File:Simeon Solomon - A Youth Relating Tales to Ladies - Google Art Project.jpg|Simeon Solomon, ''A Youth Relating Tales to Ladies'', (1870), Tate Britain, London File:Arts of Industry as Applied to War.jpg|Frederic Leighton, ''The Arts of Industry as Applied to War'', mural, 1870–1872, Victoria & Albert Museum, London File:Burne-jones-love-among-the-ruins.jpg|Edward Burne-Jones, ''Love Among the Ruins'', watercolour, 1870–1873, private collection File:George Mason - The Harvest Moon - Google Art Project.jpg|George Heming Mason, ''The Harvest Moon'', 1872, Tate Britain, London File:Edward Burne-Jones - The Feast of Peleus - Google Art Project.jpg|Edward Burne-Jones, ''The Feast of Peleus'', (1872, reworked 1881), Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, UK File:The Love Song MET DP323394.jpg|Edward Burne-Jones, ''The Love Song'', 1877, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City File:Frank Bernard Dicksee (1853-1928) - Harmony - BURGM-paoil150 - Towneley Hall Art Gallery And Museum.jpg|Frank Bernard Dicksee, ''Harmony'', 1879, Towneley Hall Art Gallery and Museum, Burnley, UK File:Richmond Song of Miriam 1880 Life & Work opp. p.16.jpg|William Blake Richmond, ''The Song of Miriam'', 1880, Chi Mei Museum, Taiwan File:An Audience at Agrippa's, by Lawrence Alma-Tadema.jpg|Lawrence Alma-Tadema, ''An Audience at Agrippa's'', 1881, Dick Institute, Kilmarnock, UK File:Henry Holiday - Dante and Beatrice - Google Art Project.jpg|Henry Holiday, ''Dante and Beatrice'', 1883, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, UK File:William Blake Richmond - Venus and Anchises - Google Art Project.jpg|William Blake Richmond, ''Venus and Anchises'', 1890, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, UK </gallery>
==Artist==
===Paintings=== Under William Blake Richmond's instruction, Meo became a proficient landscape painter and exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts.<ref name="Jiminez"/> He assisted Richmond on the frescoes of Christ Church, Cheltenham (1893–95).<ref name="Jiminez"/>
The Public Catalogue Foundation lists four paintings by Meo in public ownership in the United Kingdom.<ref name='BBC'>{{Art UK bio| retrieved=April 6, 2013|nocount=1|ref=1}}</ref> ''Looking towards London from the Heath''; ''Tooley's Farm''; and ''Wyldes Farm'' are in the collection of the Camden Council.<ref name='BBC' /> ''Arundel Castle, West Sussex, Looking from the Back of the Railway Station'' is in the collection of Eastbourne's Towner Gallery.<ref name='BBC' />
<gallery> File:Gaetano Meo (1849-1925) - Looking towards London from the Heath - 086470 - Holborn Library.jpg|Gaetano Meo, ''Looking towards London from the Heath'' (year), Holborn Library, Camden, London File:Gaetano Meo (1849-1925) - Tooley's Farm - 086548 - Holborn Library.jpg|Gaetano Meo, ''Tooley's Farm'' (year), Holborn Library, Camden, London File:Gaetano Meo (1849-1925) - Wyldes Farm - 086473 - Holborn Library.jpg|Gaetano Meo, ''Wyldes Farm'' (year), Holborn Library, Camden, London File:Gaetano Meo (1849-1925) - Arundel Castle, West Sussex, Looking from the Back of the Railway Station - EASTG 1361 - Towner Eastbourne.jpg|Gaetano Meo, ''Arundel Castle, West Sussex, Looking from the Back of the Railway Station'' (year), Towner Eastbourne Gallery, East Sussex </gallery>
===Stained glass=== thumb|left|110px|Henry Holiday, ''Study of Drapery'' thumb|165px|William Blake Richmond, ''Cartoon for the central apse stained glass window in St. Paul's Cathedral'', (1892–1893), Victoria & Albert Museum, London Henry Holiday may be best known as the illustrator for Lewis Carroll's ''The Hunting of the Snark'' (1876). "Holiday was chief designer for the stained-glass makers James Powell & Sons (Whitefriar's Glass) from 1863 to 1891, and from 1875 he employed Meo in his cartoons."<ref name="Rogers"/> By 1880, Meo had become Holiday's assistant, helping to execute his stained-glass designs.<ref name="Rogers"/>
Holiday and Richmond jointly sponsored Meo for British citizenship, that was granted in 1888.<ref name="Rogers"/> To celebrate Meo's naturalization, Holiday hosted a party, that was attended by friends, artists and art patrons, including the Duke of Devonshire.<ref name="Jiminez"/> Holiday wrote satirical lyrics, tailored to Meo and set to a Gilbert and Sullivan song from ''H.M.S. Pinafore''. From the piano, Holiday performed his parody of "He Is an Englishman," and led all in singing the choruses.<ref name="Rogers"/>
Meo assisted Richmond on stained-glass windows for the apse of St. Paul's Cathedral, including the great arched east window behind the high altar.<ref name="Lascelles"/> (Richmond's windows were destroyed in 1940, during The Blitz of World War II.)
Meo also assisted Richmond on three stained-glass windows for the Lady Chapel of Holy Trinity Church, Sloane Street (1905–10).<ref name="Jiminez"/>
Meo designed and executed the east window for the Church of St. Saviour (1902–1904), in St. Albans, Hertfordshire, UK.{{efn|"The east window, given by the Architect, Mr. [William] Woodward, was designed and executed by Mr. Gaetano Meo, of Hampstead."<ref>H. R. Wilton-Hall, ''The Story of the Church and Parish of St. Saviour's, St. Albans'', (St. Albans: Gibbs & Bamforth, Ltd., 1910), p. 19.</ref>}}
===Mosaics=== thumb|165px|Choir and apse mosaics (1892–1904), St. Paul's Cathedral, London In the 1880s, Powell & Sons appears to have sent Meo to Italy to study the mosaics of Ravenna, Venice, Sicily and Rome.<ref name="Rogers"/>
In 1891, Richmond was approached about painting murals for St. Paul's Cathedral in London. Instead, Richmond proposed mosaics, arguing that the cathedral's 17th century architect, Sir Christopher Wren, had intended them for its interior decoration, and that mosaics would survive for centuries.<ref name="Lascelles">Helen Lascelles, "The Life and Work of Sir W. B. Richmond, K.C.B., R.A." ''The Christmas Art Annual'', (London: H. Virtue & Company, December 1902).</ref> The following year Richmond received the design commission to create neo-Byzantine mosaic murals for the walls and ceiling of the cathedral's choir and apse.<ref name="St. P">[https://www.stpauls.co.uk/history-collections/the-collections/object-collection/mosaics-of-st-pauls-cathedral/mosaics-in-the-quire Mosaics in the quire], from St. Paul's Cathedral.</ref> "Richmond chose to abandon the flat surface of mosaicists like Salviati, in favour of a more vibrant treatment, based on the use of jagged, irregular glass, set at angles to the plaster, so that it would catch the light."<ref name="Victorian Web--mosaics">{{cite web |title=Mosaics designed by Sir William Blake Richmond (1842–1921) |url=http://www.victorianweb.org/art/mosaics/richmond/index.html |website=Victorian Web.org |access-date=29 July 2018}}</ref> The commission was expanded in 1902 to include mosaics for the barrel-vaulted choir aisles and quarterdomes.<ref name="Lascelles"/> For nearly twelve years, Meo led the team of craftsmen executing the mosaics in the ancient method, laying the glass piece by piece in situ into the drying plaster.<ref name="St. P"/> The entire mosaic schedule was completed in 1904.<ref name="Jiminez"/>
Meo exhibited a mosaic panel of roses at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, Missouri, USA.<ref>''Official Catalogue of Exhibitors. Universal Exposition. St. Louis, U.S.A. 1904. Department B.—Art.'' (St. Louis, MO: The Official Catalogue Company, 1904), p. 223.[https://books.google.com/books?id=HvRFAQAAMAAJ&dq=model+Gaetano+Meo&pg=PA223]</ref>
Executing the designs of architect Halsey Ricardo, Meo supervised creation of the large mosaic dome for the hall of Debenham House in London, 1912–1913.<ref name='HolEst'>{{cite web| url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=49871|title=Survey of London: volume 37: Northern Kensington|publisher=British History Online| access-date=January 24, 2013}}</ref>
Executing the designs of Scottish architect Robert Weir Schultz, Meo led the team in creating the mosaics for the Chapel of St. Andrew and the Saints of Scotland at Westminster Cathedral, 1913–1915.<ref>[http://www.westminstercathedral.org.uk/tour_5.php Chapel of St. Andrew and the Saints of Scotland] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190916080949/http://www.westminstercathedral.org.uk/tour_5.php |date=16 September 2019 }}, from Westminster Cathedral.</ref>
Executing his own designs, Meo created mosaic panels for the Church of St. John the Baptist in Clayton, West Yorkshire, 1916–1918.<ref name="Rogers"/> <gallery> File:St John the Baptist, Clayton Parish Church, Altar - geograph.org.uk - 1853178.jpg|''The Last Supper'' (1916–1918), Lady Chapel, Church of St. John the Baptist, Clayton, West Yorkshire File:St John the Baptist, Clayton Parish Church, Altar - geograph.org.uk - 1854592.jpg|''The Good Shepherd'' (1916–1918), over high altar, Church of St. John the Baptist, Clayton, West Yorkshire File:St John the Baptist, Clayton Parish Church, Mosaic - geograph.org.uk - 1854587.jpg|''Ruth Amidst the Alien Corn'' (1916–1918), Church of St. John the Baptist, Clayton, West Yorkshire File:St John the Baptist, Clayton Parish Church, Mosaic - geograph.org.uk - 1854553.jpg|''The Angel Gabriel and the Infant St. John'' (1916–1918), Church of St. John the Baptist, Clayton, West Yorkshire </gallery>
==Personal== thumb|Meo's granddaughter, Nelly Gordon Craig, with her paternal grandmother, Dame Ellen Terry, {{circa}}1912. In 1868, Meo married Agnes Morton (1849–1921), from Ulster, Ireland.<ref name="Jiminez"/> They set up home in Hampstead, and had six children—three sons and three daughters:<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/12/12/at-gaetano-meos-grave/|title=At Gaetano Meo's Grave {{!}} Spitalfields Life|language=en|access-date=2018-12-12}}</ref> *Francesco Giovanni Luigi Meo (16 August 1872, Fulham, London – 21 January 1933, East Dulwich, London) *Margarita Maria Agnes Meo (1876, Kensington, London – 6 March 1956, Eastbourne, London)<ref name='IndObt'/> *Humbert James "Little Bertie" Meo (19 July 1878, Hampstead, London – 22 September 1885, Hendon, London) *Elena Fortuna Meo (October 1879, Hampstead, London – 24 December 1957). A professional violinist, she bore three illegitimate children by married scenic designer, art director and writer Edward Gordon Craig (1872–1966), son of actress Dame Ellen Terry.{{efn|Edward Gordon Craig married Helen Mary "May" Gibson in 1893, and they had five children together.<ref name="Autobio"/> Elena Meo and Craig met in 1900, and they had three children together: Ellen (1903–1904), Nell (1904–1975),{{efn|"1904 – 11 January – Birth of Nell, second child of EGC and Elena Meo; death of their first child, Ellen, in this period."<ref name="Cockin"/>}} and Edward (1905–1998).<ref name='IndObt'/> Craig lived with Elena Meo and their two surviving children on and off, in England and Italy.<ref>[https://graphicarts.princeton.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/158/2014/11/craig-photograph7.jpg Edward Gordon Craig, Elena Meo, and their children Nelly and Teddy, Florence, Italy, {{circa}} 1910], from Firestone Library, Princeton University.</ref> May Gibson Craig would not consent to a divorce until 1932,<ref name="Autobio">Edward Gordon Craig, ''Index to the Story of My Days: Some Memoirs of Edward Gordon Craig, 1872–1907'', (New York: Viking Press, 1957), pp. 146, 304-305.</ref> after Craig and Elena Meo had permanently separated. Craig fathered other illegitimate children: a daughter with actress Jess Dorynne,{{efn|"1900 – November – Birth of Kitty, daughter of Edward Gordon Craig and Jess Dorynne"<ref name="Cockin">Katharine Cockin, "Chronology (1899–1904)," ''The Collected Letters of Ellen Terry, Volume 4'' (Abingdon, Oxon and New York: Routledge, 2016), Appendix (no page numbers).</ref>}} a daughter with dancer Isadora Duncan,<ref>Peter Kurth, ''Isadora: A Sensational Life'', (New York: Little Brown, 2001).</ref> a son with poet Dorothy Nevile Lees,<ref>Beth Carroll-Horrocks, "A Working Relationship: The Dorothy Nevile Lees Papers Relating to Gordon Craig and ''The Mask'', at the Harvard Theatre Collection," ''Cambridge Core'', vol. 46, no. 1 (May 2005), pp. 103-113.</ref> and a daughter with his secretary/translator Daphne Woodward.<ref>"Biographical/Historical Information," ''Donal Oenslager Collection of Edward Gordon Craig, 1898-1967'', The New York Public Library Archives and Manuscripts.[http://archives.nypl.org/the/21739]</ref>}} *Alfonzo Giovanni Battista Meo (4 September 1890, Hampstead, London – 10 June 1916, Somme, France). Lieutenant Giovanni Meo died in World War I during the buildup to the Battle of the Somme. *Taormina Bertha Meo (1891, Hampstead, London – 1959, Eastbourne, London)<ref name='IndObt'/>
Following his wife's 1921 death, Meo created a grave marker in Hampstead Cemetery that featured a glass mosaic of the Madonna and Child.<ref name=":0" /> Gaetano and Agnes Meo and their son "Little Bertie," who died at age 7, were buried there.<ref name='IndObt'/>
Film art designer and writer Edward Carrick—son of Elena Meo and Edward Gordon Craig—never finished his biography of his grandfather, Gaetano Meo.<ref name='IndObt'>{{cite news| url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/obituary-edward-craig-1140282.html|title=Obituary: Edward Craig|work=The Independent| access-date=January 24, 2013|location=London|date=23 January 1998}}</ref> He dramatized portions of his manuscript for a 25 November 1994 broadcast on BBC Radio 3.<ref name="Lancaster">Marie-Jacqueline Lancaster, [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/obituary-edward-craig-1143124.html Obituary: Edward Carrick], ''The Independent'', 6 February 1998.</ref>
Helen Craig—great-granddaughter of Gaetano Meo, and daughter of Edward and Helen Godfrey Carrick—is the illustrator of the ''Angelina Ballerina'' children's stories.<ref name=":0" /> In 2018, she and mosaic artist Tessa Hunkin restored the Meo grave at Hampstead Cemetery.<ref name=":0" />
==Notes== {{notelist}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category|Gaetano Meo}} * {{Art UK bio}} * {{Find a Grave|175416299}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meo, Gaetano}} Category:1849 births Category:1925 deaths Category:English artists' models Category:British landscape painters Category:British stained glass artists and manufacturers Category:English mosaic artists Category:Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood artists' models Category:Italian emigrants to England Category:Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom Category:Burials at Hampstead Cemetery