Looking towards London from the Heath
Gaetano Meo (1849–1925)
Camden Local Studies and Archives Centre
Gaetano Giuseppe Faostino Meo was born in Laurenzana, Baslicata, Italy in 1850, the son of a shepherd of Greek extraction. He was an accomplished lute player and with his brother toured southern Italy as musicians with a circus. They subsequently moved Paris where they stayed briefly before moving to England in 1866. The brother then emigrated to the USA, whereas Gaetano settled in London. Between the late 1860s and early 1880s he supplemented his income by working as an artists' model. Among artists for whom Meo posed were Simeon Solomon, Frederic Leighton, Edward Burne-Jones, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, George Heming Mason, Ford Madox Brown, William Blake Richmond and Hamo Thornycroft. Meo was a talented artist in his own right, receiving lessons in landscape painting from William Blake Richmond.
In addition to his work as a painter, Meo was also a mosaic artist and stained glass designer. He assisted Richmond in the mosaic decoration of St. Paul's Cathedral in London between 1891 and 1903. He also worked with Richmond on the frescoes of Christ Church in Cheltenham from 1893 to 1895; stained glass window for St. Paul's; and for Holy Trinity Church in Sloane Street, London from 1905 to 1910. Independent of Richmond he created mosaics for the house of Ernest Debenham at 8 Addison Road, London, and for St. Andrew's Chapel in Westminster Abbey, London.
In 1886 Meo became a British citizen and moved with his family to 39 Devonshire Hill, Hampstead. He died on 16 January 1925 and was buried in Hampstead Cemetery.
Text source: Art History Research net (AHR net)
Text source: Art History Research net (AHR net)
