Jean-Robert Ango
( fl 1759-70; d after 16 Jan 1773). French draughtsman and painter. Most of the biographical information about him comes from the writings of his friend, the painter Jean-Antoine Julien, who established in his autobiography that Ango was already in Rome in November 1760; he also described Ango as a painter, although only drawings by him survive. In 1772, in correspondence with the Belgian painter Andries Cornelis Lens, Julien referred to an attack of apoplexy that had left Ango half-paralyzed and reduced to living on charity. Julien's last mention of him is on 16 January 1773. Dated drawings known to be by Ango are from the period 1759-70. Most of the surviving drawings are of paintings and decoration in Roman churches and palaces, but some attest to a knowledge of Naples, and it is recorded that on 18 March 1761 Ango and Jean-Honor? Fragonard were given permission to draw copies of the paintings in the gallery of Capodimonte there. Many of Ango's drawings are copies after Old Masters such as St Lawrence Giving Alms to the Poor (red chalk; Paris, Louvre), a copy of a painting by Guercino (untraced; ex-S Lorenzo fuori le Mura, Rome). Some are after his contemporaries Fragonard and Hubert Robert (e.g. the Corpus Domini Procession, black chalk, Paris, Gal. Cailleux after the original by Robert (London, priv. col.)), and in a number of instances he reworked counterproofs of drawings by Robert (e.g. the Draughtsman of Antiques, black and red chalk, 1762; Cambridge, MA, Fogg) after the original drawing by Robert (Valence, Mus.). Ango also recorded in drawings the paintings in the collection of Bailli de Breteuil, ambassador of the Order of Malta to the Holy See from 1758 to 1780, but he is best known for the 27 etchings and aquatints after his drawings engraved by the Abb? de Saint-Non for his Recueil de griffonnis, de vues, paysages, fragments antiques et sujets historiques (Paris, 1755-78), all of them copies of paintings located in Rome. Ango's draughtsmanship is characterized by strong contours and heavy modelling; he usually worked in red or black chalk.
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