Louis Fagan

author

Louis Fagan

1845–1903

An Anglo-Italian art writer and etcher, he spent much of his working life at the British Museum and turned that experience into books about prints, drawings, and artists. His writing brings together a curator’s eye for detail and a practicing artist’s feel for the subject.

2 Audiobooks

The life and correspondence of Sir Anthony Panizzi, K.C.B., Vol. 1 (of 2) Late principal librarian of the British museum, senator of Italy, etc.

The life and correspondence of Sir Anthony Panizzi, K.C.B., Vol. 1 (of 2) Late principal librarian of the British museum, senator of Italy, etc.

by Louis Fagan

The life and correspondence of Sir Anthony Panizzi, K.C.B., Vol. 2 (of 2) Late principal librarian of the British museum, senator of Italy, etc.

The life and correspondence of Sir Anthony Panizzi, K.C.B., Vol. 2 (of 2) Late principal librarian of the British museum, senator of Italy, etc.

by Louis Fagan

About the author

Born in Naples in 1845, Louis Alexander Fagan was an Anglo-Italian writer, artist, and etcher whose career moved between art making and art history. He came from a family with artistic and diplomatic connections, and that background seems to have fed his lasting interest in European culture and visual art.

Fagan is best known for his long service in the Department of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum, where he worked from 1869 to 1894. Alongside his museum work, he wrote books connected to the collection and to artists he admired, helping make specialist subjects more approachable for general readers.

He also practiced as an artist himself, which gives his authorial voice an appealing double perspective: part scholar, part maker. He died in Florence in 1903, leaving behind a body of work shaped by museums, print culture, and a strong affection for Italian art and life.