Duilio Cambellotti (10 May 1876 – 31 January 1960) was an Italian applied artist, illustrator, painter, sculptor and designer who played a role in the Arts & Crafts and

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

movements, and whose influence was social and political as well as aesthetic and artistic. He is recognized for his versatility across a spectrum of visual and design disciplines, and for his fidelity to agrarian themes. Cambelotti was born in Rome. He received a diploma in accounting, but soon after receiving it he enrolled at an applied arts education program at the Industrial Artistic Museum in Rome,Entry on Cambellotti from ''Treccani, the Italian Encyclopedia'' online
/ref> where he learned

metal engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an in ...

. He also travelled to

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

and

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

to learn more.Cambellotti biography at ''Galleria d'Arte Russo''
Retrieved 29 December 2013. He was a proponent of the ideas of

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He ...

, and like Morris believed in the need to restore craftsmanship and quality to visual art, ornamentation and design. Cambellotti was also drawn to the visual vocabulary of

. He produced illustrations in that style for magazines, books and newspapers, and his

furniture design Furniture refers to movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., stools, chairs, and sofas), eating (tables), storing items, eating and/or working with an item, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Fur ...

(he was known for "Cambellotti lamps" and tables) is considered emblematic of Art Nouveau concepts. His gifts were recognized and his illustrations of

Dante Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: '' ...

Divine Comedy The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and ...

won the Alinari Prize in 1901Article on Cambellotti from ''Musei de Villa Torloni''
- Retrieved 27 December 2013 while he was still in his twenties. He discovered theater production and set design a few years later and quickly established a name for himself in that area as well. Yet another medium he that suited his sensibility and talents was stained glass, and from 1910 into the 1920s he exhibited notable

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

works, in addition to being one of the organizers for the shows themselves. Throughout his career he was aware of the social significance of decoration and, influenced by William Morris, he became a leading figure among artists who were intellectually and aesthetically trying maintain a connection with the organic immediacy of style found in traditional handmade objects and in traditional pictorial coherence, as opposed to the slick surfaces and machine-like images inspired by the

Industrial Era The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

. Cambellotti found much to admire in the theories of "rational beauty" advocated by

Henry van de Velde Henry Clemens van de Velde (; 3 April 1863 – 15 October 1957) was a Belgian painter, architect, interior designer, and art theorist. Together with Victor Horta and Paul Hankar, he is considered one of the founders of Art Nouveau in Belgium.'' ...

, one of the founders of Art Nouveau in Belgium, but at the same time the Italian artist remained loyal to agrarian motifs, and to a non- anthropotechnic, undisrupted relationship with natural forms. The most frequent motif in his works is an ear of corn. He is classed along with Vittorio Grassi (1878–1958) as a leading proponent of the ''Scuola Romana'' (as a branch of Art Nouveau), and he steadfastly celebrated the "heroic atmosphere" of the peasant culture over the decadence of cities. Duilio Cambellotti died in Rome on 31 January 1960. The life of Duilio Cambellotti spanned revolutions introduced by the Industrial Era and automation, which were accompanied by the emergence of modern

aesthetics Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed thr ...

, the rise and fall of

fascism Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...

in Italy, and more; all these changes are reflected in his entire ''oeuvre'' in some way. Cambellotti was interested in his home city of Rome not only via the agricultural world which supported it from its beginnings, but also in its spiritual and mythographic history. He had mastered the traditional medium of

tempera Tempera (), also known as egg tempera, is a permanent, fast-drying painting medium consisting of colored pigments mixed with a water-soluble binder medium, usually glutinous material such as egg yolk. Tempera also refers to the paintings done ...

and he created memorable historical and mythological paintings using it—the Roman Legends series, as well as the original tempera works from which the posters of the Greek Theater in

Syracuse Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy *Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' *Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York **North Syracuse, New York *Syracuse, Indiana * Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, Miss ...

were printed—and such landmark achievements are still exhibited in prominent galleries (for example the Galleria Sperone Westwater in

Lugano Lugano (, , ; lmo, label=Ticinese dialect, Ticinese, Lugan ) is a city and municipality in Switzerland, part of the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino. It is the largest city of both Ticino and the Italian-speaking southern Switzerland. Luga ...

, Dec 2-13 - Jan 2014).''Galleria Sperone Westwater'' (Lugano, Switzerland) description of Duilio Cambellotti exhibition
/ref> The most complete expression of Cambellotti's mature architectural and interior design style is to be found in the Palazzo dell'Acquedotto ("The Water Museum")''The Water Palace'' in Bari, Apulia
- decorated by Cambellotti in the city of

Bari Bari ( , ; nap, label= Barese, Bare ; lat, Barium) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, southern Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy a ...

, capital of the

Apulia it, Pugliese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographic ...

region of Italy. There is also a Duilio Cambellotti MuseumPDF referencing the Cambellotti Museum in the city of Latina, see p. 30
/ref> in the city of

Latina Latina or Latinas most often refers to: * Latinas, a demographic group in the United States * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America. *Latin Americans Latina and Latinas may also refer ...

, located about 40 mi. south of Rome.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cambellotti, Duilio 1876 births 1960 deaths Italian designers Italian furniture designers 19th-century Italian painters Italian male painters 20th-century Italian painters 19th-century Italian sculptors Italian male sculptors 20th-century Italian sculptors 20th-century Italian male artists Italian genre painters Italian socialists Art Nouveau illustrators Art Nouveau sculptors Art Nouveau painters Art Nouveau designers Painters from Rome Italian stamp designers 19th-century Italian male artists