Umberto Veruda (6 April 1868,

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into pr ...

- 29 August 1904, Trieste) was an Austro-Hungarian painter, known for his portraits and upper-class society scenes.

Biography

He was born to a family of modest means. He was introduced to the art of painting by a local artist, originally from

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

, named Raffaele Astolfi (1829-1900); known for portraits in the

Academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, f ...

style. In 1884, at the age of sixteen, he went to Munich, where he was able to enroll at the

Academy of Fine Arts The following is a list of notable art schools. Accredited non-profit art and design colleges * Adelaide Central School of Art * Alberta College of Art and Design * Art Academy of Cincinnati * Art Center College of Design * The Art Institute ...

, where his fellow Triestini, Carlo Wostry and

Isidoro Grünhut Isidoro Grünhut (27 August 1862, Trieste – 5 May 1896, Florence) was an Italian painter of Jewish ancestry; known for genre scenes and portraits. Biography His father, Israel, was originally from Regensburg. His mother, Giuditta née Panzi ...

, were also studying. His primary instructor was

Alexander von Wagner Alexander originally Sándor von Wagner (April 16, 1838 – January 19, 1919) was a Hungarian painter. Biography Wagner was born in Pesth. After graduating from the Real-Gymnasium in his hometown at the age of nineteen, he entered the Aca ...

. During this time, he was influenced by the works of

Max Liebermann Max Liebermann (20 July 1847 – 8 February 1935) was a German painter and printmaker, and one of the leading proponents of Impressionism in Germany and continental Europe. In addition to his activity as an artist, he also assembled an important ...

. In 1887, he visited Paris for the first time and spent six months there drawing, rather than painting oils, with

William Adolphe Bouguereau William-Adolphe Bouguereau (; 30 November 1825 – 19 August 1905) was a French academic painter. In his realistic genre paintings, he used mythological themes, making modern interpretations of classical subjects, with an emphasis on the female ...

and

Joseph Nicolas Robert-Fleury Joseph-Nicolas Robert-Fleury (8 August 17975 May 1890) was a French painter. Biography Born in Cologne, he was sent by his family to Paris, and after travelling in Italy returned to France and made his first appearance at the Salon in 1824; hi ...

. After a short stay in Venice, where he studied the works of Favretto, Velàquez,

Tintoretto Tintoretto ( , , ; born Jacopo Robusti; late September or early October 1518Bernari and de Vecchi 1970, p. 83.31 May 1594) was an Italian painter identified with the Venetian school. His contemporaries both admired and criticized the speed wit ...

and

Titian Tiziano Vecelli or Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italian (Venetian) painter of the Renaissance, considered the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, n ...

, he returned to Trieste. In 1889, thanks to contributions from some private individuals who were impressed by his talent, he was able to study in Rome. After winning an art prize established by the Baroness Cecilia de Rittmeyer, he had sufficient means to stay there for two more years. Shortly after, the

Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna The ("national gallery of modern and contemporary art"), also known as La Galleria Nazionale, is an art gallery in Rome, Italy. It was founded in 1883 on the initiative of the then Minister Guido Baccelli and is dedicated to modern and contempo ...

purchased his painting "Sii onesta" (Be Honest). The next period of his life involved extensive travelling; to Berlin, Munich, Budapest, Vienna (where his works were especially successful), then back to Paris in 1897. He finally paid a visit to London, to study English art from the 18th and early 19th centuries. In 1903, he was invited to

Blenheim Palace Blenheim Palace (pronounced ) is a country house in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England. It is the seat of the Dukes of Marlborough and the only non-royal, non-episcopal country house in England to hold the title of palace. The palace, one ...

, where he painted portraits of several members of the

Spencer family The Spencer family is an aristocratic family in the United Kingdom. From the 16th century, its members have held numerous titles including the dukedom of Marlborough, the earldoms of Sunderland and Spencer, and the Churchill barony. Two prom ...

. In the spring of 1904, his mother died tragically. His close friend, the author

Italo Svevo Aron Hector Schmitz (19 December 186113 September 1928), better known by the pseudonym Italo Svevo (), was an Italian writer, businessman, novelist, playwright, and short story writer. A close friend of Irish novelist and poet James Joyce, Svevo ...

, offered him the hospitality of his home in

Burano Burano is an island in the Venetian Lagoon, northern Italy, near Torcello at the northern end of the lagoon, known for its lace work and brightly coloured homes. The primary economy is tourism. Geography Burano is from Venice, a 45-minute ...

, where he met with the painters and Pieretto Bianco (1875-1937); old acquaintances from Paris. In the middle of summer, he left Burano. He died shortly after, aged only thirty-six, but the cause of his death is unknown. A retrospective of his works was held in his honor, and a small monument was erected on his grave at the Cimitero di Sant'Anna. A street in Trieste has been named after him. In 1932, the Circolo Artistico di Trieste placed a bust of Veruda in the Giardino Pubblico. It was created by the sculptor, Giovanni Mayer (1863-1946), a friend of Veruda's whose portrait he had painted. Veruda also appears as a character (the sculptor Stefano Balli) in Svevo's novel, ''

Senilità ''Senilità'', translated into English as ''As a Man Grows Older'' or ''Emilio's Carnival'', is Italo Svevo's second novel, first published in 1898. The novel's protagonist is Emilio Brentani, a failed writer torn between his longing for love and ...

''; translated into English under the title ''As a Man Grows Older''.

Selected paintings

Veruda-Svevo.jpg,

,
and his sister Hortensia Veruda-News.jpg, The News Veruda-Honest.jpg, Be Honest! Veruda-Mayer.jpg, The sculptor,
Giovanni Mayer

Sources

Biography
from the ''- Enciclopedia Italiana'' @

Treccani The ''Enciclopedia Italiana di Scienze, Lettere e Arti'' ( Italian for "Italian Encyclopedia of Science, Letters, and Arts"), best known as ''Treccani'' for its developer Giovanni Treccani or ''Enciclopedia Italiana'', is an Italian-language ...

Biography
in the ''Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon'' * Maria Chiara Provenzano, "Garofani al cioccolatte": corrispondenze cromatiche tra Italo Svevo e Umberto Veruda", in
Letteratura & Arte
', n. 15, 2017

External links

"Italo Svevo's Close Friend: Umberto Veruda"
by Charles C. Russell @ Sage Journals {{DEFAULTSORT:Veruda, Umberto 1868 births 1904 deaths Painters from Austria-Hungary Academy of Fine Arts, Munich alumni Artists from Trieste