Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720 - 1940

Stuccadore. Paolo Lafranchini was born on 17 January 1695 in Bironico in the Ticino in Switzerland, the second son of the fifteen children of Carlo Lafranchini of Bironico and his wife Isabella Albutio. Carlo Lafranchini, who died in 1719, does not appear to have been an artisan but a person of some property and standing, and it is not known where or why three of his sons trained as decorative plasterworkers. As a young man Paolo went to work in England, apparently by way of Fulda in Germany, followed by his younger brothers FILIPPO LAFRANCHINI  FILIPPO LAFRANCHINI and Pietro-Natale Lafranchini. At least one of the brothers had arrived in England by the end of 1731. Paolo and Filippo subsequently worked in Ireland, probably on the initiative of RICHARD CASTLE RICHARD CASTLE . Their first recorded work in Ireland was at Carton, Co. Kildare, in 1739. Paolo was the only one of the three brothers to have a wife. He married Maria Bianca Leoni of Locarno on 16 February 1732, but there were no children of the marriage. Maria Bianca never left the Ticino. It is not known when Paolo finally returned home; documents suggest that he was living in Bironico by the late 1750s. He died in Bironico on 17 January 1776 and was buried in the parish church.

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References

All information in this entry is from Carlo Palumbo-Fossati, Gli Stuccatori Ticinesi Lafranchini in Inghilterra e in Irlanda nel Secolo XVIII (Fondazione Ticino Nostro, Lugano, 1982). Professor Palumbo-Fossati summarizes the contents of this work in English in his article 'The Stuccoists Lafranchini in Ireland', BIGS 25 (1982), 5-18.


9 work entries listed in chronological order for LAFRANCHINI, PAOLO *


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Building: CO. KILDARE, CARTON
Date: 1739
Nature: Decoration of Saloon by Paolo and Filippo Lafranchini for 19th Earl of Kildare..
Refs: Carlo Palumbo-Fossati, Gli Stuccatori Ticinesi Lafranchini in Inghilterra e in Irlanda nel Secolo XVIII (Fondazione Ticino Nostro, Lugano, 1982), 61-62; Joseph McDonnell, Irish Eighteenth-Century Stuccowork and its European sources (National Gallery of Ireland, 1991), 18, Pls. 1-6;

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, ST STEPHEN'S GREEN, NO. 085
Date: 1740ca
Nature: Saloon and Apollo Room attributed to Paolo and Filippo Lafranchini.
Refs: Carlo Palumbo-Fossati, Gli Stuccatori Ticinesi Lafranchini in Inghilterra e in Irlanda nel Secolo XVIII (Fondazione Ticino Nostro, Lugano, 1982), 64; Joseph McDonnell, Irish Eighteenth-Century Stuccowork and its European sources (National Gallery of Ireland, 1991), 18, Pls. 7-37;  Christine Casey, The Buildings of Ireland: Dublin (2005), 506,507, Pls.27,28.

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, MARLBOROUGH STREET, TYRONE HOUSE
Date: 1740ca
Nature: Saloon ceiling and perhaps stairwelll attr. to Paolo and Filippo Lafranchini by Palumbo-Fossati. 3 of 1st-floor reception rooms 'have old-fashioned geometric ceilings, reminiscent of 1730s designs by Paolo Lafranchini preserved in the collection of James Gibbs' (Casey).
Refs: Carlo Palumbo-Fossati, Gli Stuccatori Ticinesi Lafranchini in Inghilterra e in Irlanda nel Secolo XVIII (Fondazione Ticino Nostro, Lugano, 1982), 66-67;  Christine Casey, The Buildings of Ireland: Dublin (2005), 153-4.

Building: CO. WICKLOW, RUSSBOROUGH
Date: 1741
Nature: Saloon ceiling and perhaps library ceiling attr. to Paolo and Filippo Lafranchini by Palumbo-Fossati.
Refs: Carlo Palumbo-Fossati, Gli Stuccatori Ticinesi Lafranchini in Inghilterra e in Irlanda nel Secolo XVIII (Fondazione Ticino Nostro, Lugano, 1982), 67-68, pl.42 (for a discussion of the plasterwork at Russborough,  see C.P. Curran, Dublin Decorative Plasterwork of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries (1967), 36-37).

Building: CO. CORK, CORK, BISHOP STREET, CATHEDRAL OF ST FINN BARRE (CI, OLD)
Date: 1745ca
Nature: Wall drops and decorative work over Venetian window by Paolo & Filippo Lafranchini for Bishop Jemmett Browne, 'undoubtedly executed by the Lafranchini troupe when they were working for Bishop Jemmett at Riverstown'.
Refs: Joseph McDonnell, Irish Eighteenth-Century Stuccowork and its European sources (National Gallery of Ireland, 1991), 22, Pls. 89-90

Building: CO. WATERFORD, CURRAGHMORE
Date: 1746p
Nature: Ceiling of billiard room by Paolo and Filippo Lafranchini.
Refs: Carlo Palumbo-Fossati, Gli Stuccatori Ticinesi Lafranchini in Inghilterra e in Irlanda nel Secolo XVIII (Fondazione Ticino Nostro, Lugano, 1982), 73-74, pl.54; Joseph McDonnell, Irish Eighteenth-Century Stuccowork and its European sources (National Gallery of Ireland, 1991), 23, pl.91

Building: CO. CORK, RIVERSTOWN HOUSE
Date: ?
Nature: Ceiling and wall panels by Paolo and Filippo Lafranchini for Jemmett Browne, Bishop of Cork & Ross..
Refs: Journal of the Rev. D.A. Beaufort, 10 Sep 1788; C.P. Curran, Dublin Decorative Plasterwork (1967), ?; Carlo Palumbo-Fossati, Gli Stuccatori Ticinesi Lafranchini in Inghilterra e in Irlanda nel Secolo XVIII (Fondazione Ticino Nostro, Lugano, 1982), 69-73, pls. 44-53; Joseph McDonnell, Irish Eighteenth-Century Stuccowork and its European sources (National Gallery of Ireland, 1991), 18-19, pls. 40-58

Building: CO. CORK, CREAGH CASTLE (DONERAILE)
Date: ?
Nature: Rooms decorated by Paolo and Filippo Lafranchini. for John Love. House destroyed by fire.
Refs: Carlo Palumbo-Fossati, Gli Stuccatori Ticinesi Lafranchini in Inghilterra e in Irlanda nel Secolo XVIII (Fondazione Ticino Nostro, Lugano, 1982), 69

Building: CO. MEATH, SUMMERHILL
Date: ?
Nature: 2 ceilings attr. to Paolo and Filippo Lafranchini by McDonnell.
Refs: Joseph McDonnell, Irish Eighteenth-Century Stuccowork and its European sources (National Gallery of Ireland, 1991), 18, Pls. 38-39