Carlo Wostry (18 February 1865,

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 prov ...

- 10 March 1943, Trieste) was an Italian painter and illustrator.

Youth and early career

Carlo Wostry was the son of Ferdinando Wostry, and a Virginia Artelli. From 1882 to 1885 he studied art at the

Academy of Fine Arts Vienna The Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (german: link=no, Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien) is a public art school in Vienna, Austria. History The Academy of Fine Arts Vienna was founded in 1692 as a private academy modelled on the Accademia di Sa ...

. He then went on to study at the

Academy of Fine Arts, Munich The Academy of Fine Arts, Munich (german: Akademie der Bildenden Künste München, also known as Munich Academy) is one of the oldest and most significant art academies in Germany. It is located in the Maxvorstadt district of Munich, in Bavaria, ...

and befriended the painter :it:Umberto Veruda. After his return to Trieste in 1887, the 22-year-old Wostry created his first major work, ''Via Crucis'' ( Stations of the Cross), that was later acquired by the Jesuit church of :it:Chiesa di Santa Maria Maggiore (Trieste). In 1887 he received a scholarship for a two-year stay in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, but poor health prevented him from taking it up. He later travelled to

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

, where his interest in orientalism was awakened. In 1896 he moved to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. for seven years he remained there, illustrating numerous publications and writing some articles, including some for

Le Figaro ''Le Figaro'' () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It is headquartered on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The oldest national newspaper in France, ''Le Figaro'' is one of three French newspapers of r ...

. In 1897 he painted ''Christ and Mary Magdalene'' for

Saint-Roch, Paris The Church of Saint-Roch (french: Église Saint-Roch) is a 17th-18th-century French Baroque and classical style church in Paris, dedicated to Saint Roch. It is located at 284 rue Saint-Honoré, in the 1st arrondissement. The current church wa ...

; he followed this in 1900 with the ''Martyrdom of St. Justus '' for Trieste Cathedral. During a brief stay in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

in 1902 his painting drew inspiration from the English masters of the 18th century. His most important work of this period is ''Scena Boschereccia'', that hangs today in the

Revoltella Museum The Revoltella Museum ( it, Museo Revoltella) is a modern art gallery founded in Trieste in 1872 by Baron Pasquale Revoltella. The baron, after he left his house to the city (located in Piazza Venezia) and all the works, furniture and books it co ...

in Trieste. Returning to France, he spent time in

Trouville-sur-Mer Trouville-sur-Mer (, literally ''Trouville on Sea''), commonly referred to as Trouville, is a city of 4,603 inhabitants in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. Trouville-sur-Mer borders Deauville across the R ...

and

Deauville Deauville () is a commune in the Calvados department, Normandy, northwestern France. Major attractions include its harbour, race course, marinas, conference centre, villas, Grand Casino, and sumptuous hotels. The first Deauville Asian Film F ...

as well as Paris. After Wostry returned to Trieste, he created on various works which were shown at international exhibitions such as the

Biennale di Venezia The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

(1907, 1910, 1920, 1922, 1924 and 1925). From 1916 he taught art at the ''Istituto Industriale'' in Trieste. He was an enthusiastic

irredentist Irredentism is usually understood as a desire that one state annexes a territory of a neighboring state. This desire is motivated by ethnic reasons (because the population of the territory is ethnically similar to the population of the parent st ...

. In 1916, shortly after Italy entered the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

he designed a medallion to commemorate the hoped-for future integration of Trieste with Italy. This was then hidden inside a sculpture of

Penthesilea Penthesilea ( el, Πενθεσίλεια, Penthesíleia) was an Amazonian queen in Greek mythology, the daughter of Ares and Otrera and the sister of Hippolyta, Antiope and Melanippe. She assisted Troy in the Trojan War, during which she w ...

he was working on so that when the Austrian authorities searched his studio, they found nothing. When

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

collapsed on 30 October 1918 he and his friend Sofianopulo ran up the hill to Trieste Cathedral, gained entry to the bell tower and rang the bells in celebration. He also published a series of satirical prints entitled ''The Martyrs of the Redemption: Austrian Trieste Under Italy''.

Later career

After the First World War he became more preoccupied with religious themes in his work, and created pieces for Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, Paris, Trieste Cathedral, Sant'Antonio Nuovo in Trieste as well as the Basilica of San Francesco, Ravenna. In 1926 he travelled to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

where he worked in New York,

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

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and

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

. In 1930 Wostry was commissioned to work on St. Andrew's Church in

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. ...

, and this was to become one of his most important projects. Originally commissioned only to make a mural for the apse, his clients were however so enthusiastic about his work that they entrusted to him the decoration of a side chapel and in 1932 with the representation of the stations of the cross. At the same time as he was working in the church, he was also commissioned to create murals for the home of Coralie Fitzharris-Milburn, also in Pasadena. Wostry returned to Trieste, where he prepared the 24 panels for the project, which were shipped to Pasadena in 1935. In 1937 Wostry suddenly returned to Trieste, where he died on 10 March 1943.

Selected works

Painting

* ''Stations of the Cross'', :it:Chiesa di Santa Maria Maggiore (Trieste), 1887 * ''Portrait of Pietro Sartorio'', Museo Sartorio, Trieste, 1888 * ''Parco di villa Sartorio di Monebello'', Museo Sartorio, Trieste * ''Il sonno'', Civici Musei di Storia ed Arte, Trieste * ''Christ and Mary Magdalene'',

, 1897 * ''Martyrdom of St. Justus'', Trieste Cathedral, 1900 * ''Portrait of Erma Bossi'' Sergio Vatta, Triester Künstler in München. Die Ausbildung einer Malerin, in Ausst. Kat.: Erma Bossi, Eine Spurensuche, Schloßmuseum Murnau 2013, p.34, p.115 * ''Scena Boschereccia'', Museo Revoltella, Trieste, 1902 * ''The Stations of the Cross'', St. Andrew's Catholic Church, Pasadena, 1935

Books

* Carlo Wostry (1934): ''Storia del circolo artistico di Trieste'', Udine.

References

External links

More works by Wostry
@ ArtNet {{DEFAULTSORT:Wostry, Carlo 1865 births 1943 deaths Italian painters Artists from Trieste People from Austrian Littoral Italian Austro-Hungarians