Cesare Laurenti (November 6, 1854 – 1936) was an Italian painter.

Biography

Laurenti was born in

Mesola Mesola ( Ferrarese: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Ferrara in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about northeast of Bologna and about east of Ferrara. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 7,331 and an area ...

Ferrara Ferrara (; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, capital of the province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main ...

. He moved to

Padua Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 20 ...

at the age of 18 to work as an engraver under the guidance of the sculptor

Luigi Ceccon Luigi (; ) is a character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. Part of Nintendo's ''Mario'' franchise, he is a kind-hearted, cowardly Italian plumber, and the younger fraternal twin brother and sidekick of Mario. Like ...

. He was supported by the Count Leopoldo Ferri in this regard, and was able to meet the art critic Pietro Selvatica. In 1875, he married Annina Levi. In 1876, he moved to continue his training at the Accademia di Belli Arti in Florence. He arrived in Florence in 1876, and trained under

Giuseppe Ciaranfi Giuseppe Ciaranfi (1838, Pistoia - 18 January 1902, Florence) was an Italian history and genre painter. Biography He initially studied with Enrico Pollastrini in Florence. In 1859, he was admitted to the nude figure lessons at the Accademia d ...

. He moved to

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

two years later and worked under

Domenico Morelli Domenico Morelli (4 August 182313 August 1901) was an Italians, Italian painter, who mainly produced historical and religious works. Morelli was immensely influential in the arts of the second half of the 19th century, both as director of the Ac ...

. Having returned to Padua in 1881, he finally settled in

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

. After early works of genre painting, he developed a personal approach aimed at expressing the range of human feelings through intense female figures. He painted in oil, pastels, and watercolors. In 1883, at a Rome exhibition, he displayed ''After the Journey'' (pastel); ''Trai fiori''; and ''A priest''. At the National Exposition of Venice, he displayed a pastel portrait; ''In Pescheria''; and a painting titled ''Frons Animi Interpres''. A paraphrase of Luigi Chirtani's comments notes: ''Women kneeling in pews, one likely young, a hiding face in praying hands, the other old, sits next with reckless and provocative expression''.Gubernatis, page 257:''Di fronte alcune donne inginocchiate sui banchi di chiesa, una a testa bassa si nasconde il viso nelle mani orando; è giovane, deve essere bella, ha dei capelli stupendi, una carnagione di latte e rose; è di forme tonde e morbide, una vecchia con la corona fra le dita le siede accanto con ignobile espressione di provocatrice e guarda la bella giovane come un mercante di cavalli guarda un magnifico puledro, sul quale si può tentare un grosso affare.'' The awards Laurenti won include the Prince Umberto Prize at the first Milan Triennale in 1891. The new century saw a change in style, as the artist began treating

Symbolist Symbolism or symbolist may refer to: *Symbol, any object or sign that represents an idea Arts *Artistic symbol, an element of a literary, visual, or other work of art that represents an idea ** Color symbolism, the use of colors within various c ...

themes and further developed the study of Renaissance art commenced during his Florentine period, now under the influence of

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...

. He took part in the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

on a regular basis from 1895 to 1909, with a solo show of his work in 1907. A highly respected decorator and architect, he designed the new fish market at the

Rialto The Rialto is a central area of Venice, Italy, in the ''sestiere'' of San Polo. It is, and has been for many centuries, the financial and commercial heart of the city. Rialto is known for its prominent markets as well as for the monumental Ria ...

, inaugurated in 1908, and produced some of the sculptural elements himself. Laurenti died in Venice in 1936. (Treviso) Cesare Laurenti - La chioggiotta - Musei civici - Santa Caterina.jpg, ''La chioggiotta'', 1894 Artgate Fondazione Cariplo - Laurenti Cesare, La meraviglia in attesa.jpg, ''La meraviglia in attesa'', 1891-1897 (

Fondazione Cariplo Fondazione Cariplo is a charitable foundation in Milan, Italy. It was created in December 1991 when the Amato law, Law no. 218 of 30 July 1990, came into force. Under this law, saving banks were required to separate into a not-for-profit foun ...

) (Treviso) Cesare Laurenti - Ritratto di modella.jpg, ''Ritratto di modella'', ca 1900, Private collection Pescheria Venezia.jpg, Pescaria (Gothic Revival, 1908)

References

* Laura Casone
Cesare Laurenti
online catalogu
Artgate
by

, 2010, CC BY-SA (source for the first revision of this article).

Other projects

{{DEFAULTSORT:Laurenti, Cesare 19th-century Italian painters Italian male painters 20th-century Italian painters 20th-century Italian male artists 1854 births 1936 deaths Art Nouveau painters Symbolist painters People from the Province of Ferrara 19th-century Italian male artists