Sebastian dell'Albergo

Sebastian Robert dell'Albergo (born July 18, 1935) is an American artist, art restorer and international art dealer.

Albergo represented Abstract Expressionist and Surrealist artists of the Peggy Guggenheim circle. He was responsible for developing the career of Lucien Ruolle by establishing the artist's first exhibition in Monaco at the Galerie Hermitage Monte Carlo in 1958. Albergo also owned the Belmont Gallery in Chicago, located on the Magnificent Mile, where he organized a solo show for Ruolle in 1960.

History

Albergo's family were highly cultured patrons of the arts who became involved in Chicago's art scene by association with John Cuneo Sr., a prominent business man whose art collection and home in Vernon Hills, Illinois would later be turned into Cuneo Museum. Sebastian's family first came to the U.S. from Italy in the 19th century as one of the patrons of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad. Sebastian's father was an electrical engineer who was endorsed by Frederic Adrian Delano of the Commercial Club of Chicago to oversee the electrical development for a new industrial museum in Chicago, what was to later become the Museum of Science and Industry (Chicago), a project of Julius Rosenwald

As a youth, Albergo earned top honors for the Culture of America art contest held at the Addison Gallery of American Art Phillips Academy. His entry was a combined effort with his friend Gottfried Nabicht, and the work took inspiration from California history with references to missionary architecture. Ironically, Albergo would later establish Addison Gallery, an art restoration facility on Chicago's Addison Street. Albergo received his artistic training from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the American Academy of Art, earning the prestigious William H. Mosby Scholarship. By 1956, Albergo had illustrated The Shining Star, a childrens book by author Peggy Lois French whose main character, a boy of independent spirit, shares similar qualities to the central character in The Shining Star, a television program of the same name.

In the 60's, Albergo was a staple of the Chicago art scene. He had fully embraced the Modernist movement, in CONTRAST to his father whom primarily collected the works of European masters from the 18th and 19th centuries. The 60's was also the decade that Albergo met Grace Talarico di Capace, an aristocratic Roman woman associated with the fashion house of Emilio Pucci, while Pucci served as vice president of design and merchandising for Formfit-Rogers fabric mills in Chicago. In 1966 Sebastian and Grace wed, and in the summer of 1973, they gave birth to a son.

Albergo was also involved with the Arts Club of Chicago where he helped established a solo exhibition for Surrealist painter Enrico Donati in 1959. The Arts Club of Chicago was also instrumental in furthering Albergo's career in restoration after he was endorsed by the club to oversee the restoration of the complete art collection of Rush Medical College, a collection amassed during Rush's connection to the University of Chicago from 1898-1942. The restoration of Rush's collection began during the final years that Rue Winterbotham Shaw was the president for the Arts Club of Chicago.