Jean-Robert Ango

Nothing is known about his origins, his early life, his master, or how he got from France to Rome. Interest for Argo was renewed in the late 20th century and early 21st century, when four albums by Ango were acquired and exhibited by the Copper Hewitt National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution. Julien's last mention of him was on January 16, 1773. According to French historian Pierre Rosenberg, Ango died in 1773.

Most biographical information on Ango comes to us through his friend Jean-Antoine Julien, a French painter. In his autobiography, Julien established that Ango was already in Rome in November 1760. Ango's first patron was Jean-Claude Richard de Saint-Non, while his second and only other patron was Jacques Laure Le Tonnelier, le Bailli Breteuil (1723-1785). Ango's four albums in New York once belonged to the latter. Ango surviving oeuvre consists entirely of drawings. Four paintings were recorded, but they are now lost. Julien described Ango as a painter as well. Most of his surviving drawings are of notable paintings and decorations in Roman churches and palaces; however, some attest a knowledge of Naples. In fact, on March 18, 1761, Ango and Jean-Honoré Fragonard were given permission to draw copies of the artwork in the gallery of Capodimonte, in Naples. Many of Ango's drawings are copies after Old Masters' paintings and sculptures, such as that of an untraced painting by Guercino, and Duquesnoy's Tomb of Ferdinand van den Eynde. In some instances, his copies are after some contemporary artists, and he also reworked counterproofs of drawings. Ango recorded in drawing the paintings in Bailli de Breteuil's collection in Rome, who, as mentioned, was his second and only other patron besides Richard, and an ambassador of the Order of Malta to the Holy See from 1758 to 1780. In fact, in 1770 Ango referred to himself as dessinateur de M. le Bailli de Breteuil. His best known opus, however, is the collection of drawings after which 27 etchings were engraved by Jean-Claude Richard for his Recueil de griffonnis, de vues, paysages, fragments antiques et sujets historiques. All of them are copies of paintings located in Rome.