Veduta di Gaeta

Penna was born in Rome on December 21, 1807, and lived, fintil he was over 30, in the church of Santa Maria Maggiore, in an apartment on Via di San Paolo Primo Eremita, together with his father, who had been widowed, and his three younger brothers Luigi, Stefano, and Camillo. He likely had to learn the art of engraving from his father, who does not appear to have had his own studio separate from the dwelling; the latter was, however, located near the Quattro Fontane, not far from Piazza Barberini, an area with a notable concentration of artists' and sculptors' studios, a destination for tourists in search of works to buy, such as statues, paintings, prints and souvenirs. There is no information on how and where Penna had learned the principles of drawing, and in particular architectural drawing, but it is a fact that, not yet 20 years old, he came into the limelight with a series of small-format views devoted to Roman antiquities, under the title Raccolta di dodici Vedute antiche di Roma disegnate ed incise alla pittorica da Agostino Penna in the year 1827 on commission from the Calcografia Camerale. Also in 1827 Penna began to produce a series of engravings, in a larger format this time, with views of ancient and modern Rome, very well publicized by the "Diario di Roma": the work was undertaken by subscription with the contribution of a "copious number of the principal artists who associated themselves." The years between the third and fourth decades of the nineteenth century were undoubtedly the most prolific, and his name appears on several occasions in the lists of professional businesses under the heading Copperplate Engravers; Penna's studio appears to have been located initially at Via delle Quattro Fontane 49 and later at Via dei Chiavari, where he resided. From the 1840s his activity as an engraver seems to begin to thin out, probably limiting himself only to the translation into print of others' inventions, as in the case of the large engraving of the Panorama of Rome (1846) based on a drawing by Wilhelm Friedrich Gmelin(1760-1820) begun to be engraved by Wilhelm Noack (1800-1833) around 1830 but left unfinished. He had to begin from this time onwards to engage almost exclusively in the business of a print dealer and corresponding agent for the sale of foreign periodicals. Penna died on November 7, 1881, and the funeral was officiato in the church of his parish, San Carlo ai Catinari: in the parish book of deceased he is recorded as "Penna Don Augustinus Romanus," a sign that the elderly artist must have enjoyed a considerable reputation at the time.