Luigi Bonazza, Portrait of Cesare Battisti, etching, 1916

Sold

Buyer protection

SILVER Seller in Milano, Italy

Follow this seller

Explore Seller's Store

100 % Positive feedback

Write to the Seller

Item description

Etching by Luigi Bonazza (Arco, 1877 – Trento, 1965) depicting the portrait of Cesare Battisti, 1916. Bonazza was an Italian painter who trained in Vienna at the Kunstgewerbeschulen following the lessons of Felician Myrbach (Ukraine, 1853 – Austria, 1940) and Franz Josef Karl Matsch (Vienna, 1861 – Vienna, 1942). He mainly created small illustrations, portraits and advertising posters; he trained in contact with the artists of the Viennese Secession. His vocation was etching which he put into practice in the early 20th century. He exhibited and participated in various exhibitions in Europe and Moscow. In 1911 he settled in Trento where he taught at the technical institute. In 1915, to avoid enlisting, he fled to Italy and settled near the Caproni factory for which he worked until 1918. He opened an engraving studio and created ex libris or illustrations for propaganda. With the end of the First World War he returned to Trento to dedicate himself to painting and engraving, dealing with subjects and landscapes of neo-Divisionist taste, allegories and portraits of Liberty style. On the sheet, in the foreground is the portrait of Cesare Battisti (Trento, 1875 – Trento, 1916) Italian patriot, journalist, socialist politician and irredentist. His proud and serene face occupies the central part of the composition. Behind him unfolds an arid mountainous landscape framed by a twisted tree. In the background on the left, the gallows that will be used to hang him. Lieutenant Battisti was in fact captured, tried, convicted of high treason and hanged as a civilian on 16 July 1916 in Trento. The sky radiates a light from behind the mountains according to the pointillist technique. Below the image are verses by Giovanni Bertacchi (Chiavenna, 1869 – Milan, 1942), poet and literary critic; "From the proud leader, oh Baptists, who made the foul snare sacred/cloud of death on the barbarian, light of dawn on us". The print run was carried out in favor of the Trentino Emigration Commission, embossed stamp on the bottom right "FOR CARE OF THE TRENTINA EMIGRATION COMMISSION MILAN 1916". Gorgeous impression printed in dark blue ink on thick ivory paper. Wide editorial margins. Excellent state of conservation. Measurements: 25.5 x 19.7 cm. Sheet: 58.5 x 47.0 cm. Bibliography: Luigi Bonazza (1877-1965), edited by Rossana Bossaglia, Gabriella Belli, Oswald Oberhuber, exhibition catalogue, 1985, Trento, Museo Provinciale d'Arte, n. 98 p. 205.

ID: 11318-1715874801-90885