Francis Bernasconi (1762 – 1 January 1841), aka Francisco Bernasconi, was an English ornamental carver and plasterer of Italian descent. He became one of the most successful ornamental carvers and plasterers in Georgian Britain.

Early life

Francis Bernasconi was the son of Bartholomew (Bartolomeo) Bernasconi (died 1786), who hailed from a family of architects and stuccoists from the environs of Lugano, Switzerland. He is likely to have been related to the ornamental plasterer Bernardo or Bernato Bernasconi, "a poor man with a large fameley in the town of Buckingham". His more distant cousins of the same Lugano dynasty included various architects, sculptors and stuccatore active in Italy, Germany, Spain and Russia.

Works

Family

He had two children, a son Bartholomew and a daughter Frances, both of whom survived him. His nephew, George Vincent Bernasconi (b. 25 December 1805), was employed in Francis Bernasconi's company. George Henry Bernasconi (24 November 1841 – 1916), (son of George Vincent Bernasconi) was a successful Birmingham illustrator and photographer.

Death

He died on 1 January 1841 from asthma at his home of 19 Alfred Place in Bloomsbury, London.