FORTUNINO MATANIA: AN ORIGINAL MONOCHROME WATERCOLOUR

FORTUNINO MATANIA**: a typically finely detailed monochrome  (sometimes known as “en grisaille”) WATERCOLOUR PAINTING which depicts various schoolboys scrapping in their classroom. This amusing picture captures the moment when three smaller boys set upon a larger one, (perhaps a bully?) beside a brickwork fireplace, whilst to one side a fourth boy enjoys a brief “rest”.  Signed, lower left-hand corner. 19 x 24ins (48 x 61cms) including the original ebonised and gilded frame.

** FORTUNINO MATANIA (1881-1963) was a talented Italian artist, born in Naples, who designed his first work (an advertisement for soap) at just 9 years of age and exhibited at the Naples Academy two years later. At the outbreak of the First World War he became famous for his graphic depictions of life in the trenches, but it was when that war was over that he cemented his career as a most heralded, and now highly-collected artist. 

He filled his London studio with reproductions of Roman furniture and studied the history books for suitably lively subjects, which together with the help of models and statues, enabled him to produce wonderful watercolours to great acclaim. He exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy and even worked with Cecil B DeMille to provide sets and promotional material for the film “The Ten Commandments”.  He was awarded many honours, the most notable being made a Chevalier (Knight) of the Order of the Crown of Italy in 1918. Today his work is highly and avidly collected.