Explore: Spiridione Gambardella

(c.1815 - 1886)

Spiridione Gambardella was born in Corfu, Greece. He was sympathetic for the movement to unify Italy and escaped as a political refugee to the United States in the 1830s. In 1841, he settled in London. Gambardella exhibited mainly domestic scenes in London between 1842 and 1852, showing four works at the Royal Academy and eight at the British Institution. He was patronised by the Second Duke of Wellington. He spent a period in Liverpool, painting portraits of merchants, before returning to Italy, where he died.