Joseph Bonomi the Elder

Joseph Bonomi, to distinguish him from his son of the same called the Elder ( born January 19, 1739 Rome, † March 9, 1808 in London ) was an Italian architect and draftsman, who worked in England from 1767.

After he had spent his youth in Italy, he moved to London in 1767. Here he worked from 1768 to 1781 with the architect Robert Adam and his brother James Adam, before he started his own business. In 1775 he married a cousin of Angelica Kauffmann. In 1789 he became an associate member of the Royal Academy of Arts, and was able to perform from this point on exhibitions of his drawings. In 1804 he was appointed architect at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. He died in 1808 in London.

His main works include the family chapel of St James', which was built in 1789 on the grounds of his villa Packington Hall in the county of Warwickshire in the classical style for the Earl of Aylesford.

Joseph Bonomi the Elder was the father of Ignatius Bonomi (1787-1870), also an architect, and Joseph Bonomi the Younger, who was a well-known sculptor and Egyptologist.