Letterio Subba (Italian, 1787 – 1868)
Letterio Subba was an Italian Romantic painter. He was born and died in Messina.
He received a rigidly academic education, initially in Naples, then in Rome and Florence. During his stay in Rome he produced two small paintings, Interior of Canova's Studio during his Sculpting of "Theseus" (painted from life in 1819 and now in the museo regionale di Messina) and Interior of Thorvaldsen's Studio during his Modelling of "The Three Graces" (now lost). He also excelled in engraving and watercolour.
He returned to his birthplace in 1823 and its city council authorised him to open a drawing and painting school near the Regia Accademia Carolina. The Bourbon government later made him director of the university's Scuola di belle Arti, attended by a whole generation of artists from the city.
In 1834 he and his brother Francesco produced a bronze sculpture of Francis I of the Two Sicilies, melted down for cannonballs in 1848. Around the same time he produced watercolours linked to the Greek War of Independence. In 1844 he designed the Teatro Mandanici in Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto and led the construction work on it. In 1848 he took part in the Revolt of Messina, but it failed, forcing him to flee to Malta, leaving the Scuola di belle Arti in the hands of Michele Panebianco. He was pardoned and in 1854 returned to Messina, working right up to his death.