# Robert Fagan > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Robert_Fagan > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Robert_Fagan.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Fagan > Source revision: 1232378545 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|British painter}} {{for|the Canadian snowboarder|Robert Fagan (snowboarder)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}} thumb|right|300px|''Portrait of Miss Emily Manley'', '''Robert Fagan''', Oil on canvas in a fine carved neo-classical frame, 27½ x 23½ in, 70 x 59 cm [[File:MaryFagan.jpg|thumb|''Anna Maria Ferri, the Artist's First Wife'', by '''Robert Fagan''', circa 1790–92 ([Tate](/source/Tate_Britain))|alt=]] '''Robert Fagan''' ({{Circa|1761}} – 26 August 1816) was a [painter](/source/Painting), [diplomat](/source/diplomat) and [archaeologist](/source/archaeologist). Born in London, he spent most of his career in Rome and Sicily. ==Career== The son of [Cork](/source/Cork_(city)) immigrants, Fagan was born ca. 1761 in [London](/source/London). He arrived in Rome in 1781. Like other artists in Rome he became involved in dealing in antiquities, and, with the financial backing of some British patrons, carried out several archeological digs. In 1792 he excavated at Vigna San Sebastiano on Via Appia, financed by Corbet Corbet (whose portrait he painted that year). In 1793 the visiting British Prince Augustus Frederick secured permission from the Pope for Fagan to export antiquities. As an archaeologist he was involved in the excavations near [Laurentum](/source/Laurentum), which resulted in the discovery of the [Venus](/source/Capitoline_Venus), now at the [Capitoline](/source/Capitoline). As an artist, he made a career out of painting portraits, often for traveling British families. He was married twice, first to Anna Marie Ferri and then to Maria Ludovica Flajani a young Italian girl whom he married in 1801, just six months after his first wife's death.[http://www.ricorso.net/rx/az-data/index.htm] Fagan at Ricorso Following the Napoleonic occupation of Rome Fagan fled to Naples in 1797, but after a brief stay in Florence he returned to Rome and managed to despatch to Britain paintings by Claude and Moroni and other possessions to Naples. In 1807 he moved to Sicily. In 1809, following his daughter's marriage to William Baker, Fagan was made British [Consul general](/source/Consul_general) in [Sicily](/source/Sicily).Aspects of Irish Art. National Gallery of Ireland. Cahill & Co. 1974. Pg 108. Retrieved 18 March 2008. That year he began digging at Selinunte, and in 1812 at Tyndaris. Fagan fell into debt, and committed suicide in [Rome](/source/Rome) by jumping from a window.{{cite web |url=http://geocities.com/jcanu/art/art4aug/art0826.html |title=Art 4 a Day |accessdate=2010-10-13 |url-status=bot: unknown |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090809054016/http://geocities.com/jcanu/art/art4aug/art0826.html |archivedate=9 August 2009 }}. 14 July 2004. Retrieved 13 May 2008.Obituary in ''Gentleman's Magazine'' (1816 October), p.177 After his death his young widow sold to the Vatican museums the antiquities which he had excavated. His grandson [Louis Alexander Fagan](/source/Louis_Alexander_Fagan) was a noted engraver and writer.{{Cite web |title=Louis Alexander Fagan (Biographical details) |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303194840/https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/term_details.aspx?searchTerm=louis&orig=/research/search_the_collection_database/search_results_provenance.aspx&personId=125614&personAssociation=&termDisplay=Fagan,+Louis+Alexander&sortby= |archive-date=March 3, 2016 |website=British Museum}} File:Robert Fagan - The Muses, Terpsichore and Polyhymnia.jpg|The Muses, Terpsichore and Polyhymnia (between 1793 and 1795) File:Robert Fagan - The Muses, Clio and Thalia.jpg|The Muses, Clio and Thalia (between 1793 and 1795) File:Robert Fagan - The Muses, Euterpe and Melpomene.jpg|The Muses, Clio and Thalia (between 1793 and 1795) File:Robert Fagan (1761-1816) - 'Pasquino', Menelaus Supporting the Body of Patroclus - 609091 - National Trust.jpg|Pasquino (Menelaus supporting the Body of Patroclus) (between 1793 and 1795) ==References== {{reflist}} ==Further reading== * I. Bignamini, C. Hornsby, ''Digging And Dealing in Eighteenth-Century Rome'' (2010), p. 266-268 * ''A Dictionary of British and Irish Travellers in Italy, 1701-1800, Compiled from the [Brinsley Ford](/source/Brinsley_Ford) Archive by John Ingamells'' (1997) * R. Trevelyan, 'Robert Fagan un inglese in Sicilia', in ''Kalos'' (1993 December), p. 6-15 * R. Trevelyan, 'An Irish Bohemian in Italy', in ''Apollo''; 96 (1972 October), p. 298-331 * {{cite DNB|wstitle=Fagan, Robert|first=Louis Alexander|last= Fagan}} == External links == *{{Art UK bio}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Fagan, Robert}} Category:18th-century British painters Category:British male painters Category:British archaeologists Category:1760s births Category:1816 deaths Category:Artists who died by suicide Category:Painters from London Category:Suicides by jumping in Italy Category:1810s suicides --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Robert Fagan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Fagan) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Fagan?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.