Guglielmo Lochis

Count Guglielmo Lochis (1789 – 25 July 1859) was an Italian nobleman, politician, art collector and art connoisseur. Born in Mozzo into a family which had been active in Bergamo since the 16th century and which had held the title of count since the 18th century, he entered public life in 1816 as a member of the Lombard-Venetian guard during the visit to Bergamo of Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor. In 1835 Bergamo's Accademia Carrara made him its auction commissioner; he also served as the city's podestà from 1842 to 1848, with his resignation from the latter role triggered by the Revolutions of 1848. He died in Bergamo. Collection Lochis acquired several artworks in the 1820s, gathering a collection of around 500 works in Villa delle Crocette in Mozzo, which became a stop on the tourist-trail in the area. Two-thirds of the collection was left to the city as the Fondo Lochis on the stipulation that these works remain in the Villa, with the rest remaining with the family or sold off on the art market; the Portrait of a Scholar or Portrait of a Gentleman of the Albani Family by Giovanni Battista Moroni, for example, is now in a private collection in Berlin.