Mauro Antonio Tesi (1730–1766), often known as Mauro Tesi ⓘ, was an Italian painter, draughtsman, and architect active in Bologna and Rome during the mid eighteenth century. He is best known for architectural compositions and capricci that combine Baroque spatial drama with an emerging classical discipline.

Trained in Bologna, Tesi developed a refined command of architectural form, perspective, and ornament. His work demonstrates a transition away from the exuberance of late Baroque decoration toward a more measured and archaeologically informed approach to classical architecture. Ruins, colonnades, and idealised architectural settings form a central part of his visual language.

Although primarily recognised as a painter and designer rather than a sculptor, Tesi’s work is highly relevant to the sculptural arts of the period. His architectural visions provided conceptual frameworks for relief sculpture, statuary placement, and decorative programmes, influencing how sculpture was conceived within architectural space.

Tesi’s career was cut short by his early death, but his work occupies an important position in the development of eighteenth-century Italian classicism, bridging Baroque scenography and the emerging Neoclassical sensibility that would dominate later in the century.