Notable graves

Hendrik Andersen (1872-1940), sculptor, born in Norway, then an immigrant to the USA, he settled in Rome permanently in 1896. With him in the family tomb, which he designed, are buried his mother Helen, his brother Andreas and his wife Olivia, and their adopted sister Lucia, who lived until 1978. He became a friend and correspondent of Henry James, and his portrait bust of James is one of his best. His house-studio in Rome, the Villa Hélène, is a fine example of Art Nouveau architecture and is now a museum of his work.

Karl Pavlovich Brullov (1799-1852), the first Russian painter to gain recognition in the west, and regarded as a key figure in the transition from Russian neoclassicism to romanticism. His best-known work, The Last Day of Pompeii (1830-1833; State Russian Museum, St Petersburg), is a vast composition resulting from a visit to the site in 1827. It was compared by Pushkin and Gogol to the best works of Rubens and Van Dyck and created a sensation when shown in Italy. He lived in Italy for health reasons for the last two years of his life.

Jacob Asmus Carstens (1754-1798), a German/Danish painter (from Schleswig), considered the founder of the later school of German historical painting. On visits to Rome in 1783 and 1792 he was influenced by the painting of Giulio Romano. He produced some fine subject and historical paintings, e.g., Plato’s Symposium and the Battle of Rossbach. In 1795 a great exhibition of his works was held in Rome, where he died in 1798. Not until 1819 did a simple flat stone mark his grave and only in 1874 was the present monument completed.

Carl Philipp Fohr (1795-1818), German landscape and portrait painter, born in Heidelberg. His watercolours of the Neckar region and of Baden, commissioned by the Grand Duchess Wilhelmina of Hesse, are much admired. Walking to Italy, he settled in Rome in 1816, where he produced notable portraits of the Nazarene painters living there before tragically being drowned while swimming in the river Tiber.

John Gibson (1790-1866), Welsh sculptor, who first visited Rome at the age of 27 and stayed until he died. Taken under the wing of Canova, he soon won many commissions for portraits and monumental sculpture in the round from patrons in England. He also carved the gravestones in the Cemetery for his younger brother Benjamin and his friend/rival sculptor in Rome, Richard Wyatt.

Lindsay Kemp (1938-2018), British dancer, actor and choreographer. His training benefitted from David Hockney in art, Hilde Holger in dance and Marcel Marceau in mime. An inspirational teacher, he formed his own company in the 1960s. Among those he trained were David Bowie and Kate Bush. He left England in 1979 for Spain and then for Italy where he was much admired as a teacher and as a producer of opera.

Belinda Lee (1935-1961), English film actress born in Devon. Now little known but in the 1950s a popular star for her acting ability and her glamorous good looks. Her career changed direction after moving to Italy, only to have it prematurely ended in a car accident while travelling from Las Vegas to Los Angeles. A sculpture of the torso of a draped Classical female figure marks her grave, very close to that of Shelley.

August Riedel (1799-1883), German painter who studied first at Munich and then at Dresden. In 1832 he moved permanently to Rome and became a professor at the Academia di San Luca. He is known for his sensitive portraits and for his genre scenes and landscapes in Italy. His tomb of pink granite has a fine portrait medallion in gilt bronze (restored in 2009).

Joseph Severn (1793-1879), English painter, who looked after Keats during his final illness. As a painter he was versatile, producing portraits, genre scenes, and biblical and literary subjects. He returned to Rome in 1861 as British consul, a post he filled amiably but without distinction. In 1882, following a public subscription, he was buried next to Keats, with a gravestone of a size, shape and design similar to that of Keats’.

William Wetmore Story (1819-1895), the most prominent American sculptor in Rome for 40 years. He designed the Angel of Grief, the best-known and arrestingly beautiful sculpture in the Cemetery, as a monument to his wife (Story was buried in the same tomb after his own death).  His life was the object of a biography by Henry James, William Wetmore Story and his Friends (1903).

Richard Wyatt (1795-1850), English sculptor, a rival and a friend to John Gibson. Both of them studied with Canova and Thorvaldsen. He is noted for his neo-classical figures, especially female, which are now found in many public and private collections. On his death in Rome, John Gibson asked to design the monument, which he did with a portrait and a touching inscription.