Luigi Mantovani

Artist: Luigi Mantovani (1880-1957)

Born in Milan in 1880, Luigi Mantovani was initiated into painting by his father Giuseppe engraver, and in 1896 he enrolled at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts, where he studied with Giuseppe Mentessi, Vespasiano Bignami and Cesare Tallone. He made his debut at the IV Triennial Exhibition of Brera, in 1900, with two landscape studies and started an exhibition activity that saw him continuously present at the exhibitions set up at the Milanese Artistic Family and at the Society for Fine Arts and Permanent Exposition, establishing himself on the art scene in 1906, with participation in the Milan International Exposition. From the 1920s he distinguished himself in Milanese cultural circles, in particular he was one of the animators of the Lombard Watercolor Association and of the "Milanese Family" and, in 1926, he was awarded a gold medal, on the occasion of the exhibition dedicated to the landscape Lombard. His production of city views and landscapes is characterized by a shattered brushstroke and by the adoption of a clear and transparent chromatic range, which is in fact his characteristic feature. After the long suspension of the exhibition activity due to the war conflict, during which Luigi Mantovani continued to paint in the attic of his home in Milan, the artist returned with his repertoire of Milanese and Venetian views, which has now become repetitive and conventional. but with a more fluid and free painting technique. Mantovani died in Milan on 25 September 1957.

Age: 20th Century / 1901 - 2000

20th Century / 1901 - 2000