Galileo Chini (2 December 1873 - 23 August 1956) was an Italian decorator, designer, painter, and potter. A prominent member of the Italian

Liberty style Liberty style ( it, Stile Liberty) was the Italian variant of Art Nouveau, which flourished between about 1890 and 1914. It was also sometimes known as ''stile floreale'', ''arte nuova'', or ''stile moderno''. It took its name from Arthur Lasenby ...

movement, or Italian

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 ...

, he taught decorative arts at the

Accademia di Belle Arti This is a list of the tertiary-level schools or academies of fine art in Italy that are recognised by the Ministero dell'Istruzione, dell'Università e della Ricerca, the Italian ministry of higher education. Accademie di Belle Arti The offic ...

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

. He was responsible for several of the paintings and decorations in the Brandini Chapel at

Castelfiorentino Castelfiorentino is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, central-northern Italy, halfway between Florence (distance 30 km), Pisa (45 km) and Siena (55 km). The population is approximate ...

, the church of San Francesco de' Ferri in

Pisa Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the cit ...

, and the

Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall The Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall ( th, พระที่นั่งอนันตสมาคม : ''Phra Thinang Anantasamakhom'': translated as 'The place of immense gathering'Noobanjong, page 167) is a royal reception hall in Dusit Palace i ...

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...

. His theatrical work included designing the sets for the European premiere of Puccini's opera ''

Gianni Schicchi () is a comic opera in one act by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Giovacchino Forzano, composed in 1917–18. The libretto is based on an incident mentioned in Dante's ''Divine Comedy''. The work is the third and final part of Puccin ...

'' (Rome, January 1919) and the world premiere of his ''

Turandot ''Turandot'' (; see below) is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, posthumously completed by Franco Alfano in 1926, and set to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni. ''Turandot'' best-known aria is "Nessun dorma", whi ...

'' (Milan, 1926). He also created the sets for the premieres of

Umberto Giordano Umberto Menotti Maria Giordano (28 August 186712 November 1948) was an Italian composer, mainly of operas. He was born in Foggia in Apulia, southern Italy, and studied under Paolo Serrao at the Conservatoire of Naples. His first opera, ''Marina ...

's opera ''

La cena delle beffe ''La cena delle beffe'' (''The Jesters' Supper'') is an opera in four acts composed by Umberto Giordano to an Italian libretto by Sem Benelli adapted from his 1909 play of the same name. The opera premiered on 20 December 1924 at La Scala. Mil ...

'' (Milan, 1924) and

Sem Benelli Sem Benelli (August 10, 1877 – December 18, 1949) was an Italian playwright, essayist and librettist. He provided the texts for several noted Italian operas, including Italo Montemezzi's ''L'amore dei tre re'' and ''L'incantesimo'', and Umber ...

's play of the same name on which the opera was based (Rome, 1909).

Gallery

File:Galileo Chini 03.jpg, Portrait of Galileo Chini File:Grand hotel & la pace, vetrata di galileo chini in stile secessione, 1904 ca. 03.jpg, Ceramic tile façade decoration (1904)

Sources

*Capri, Antonio (1971)
''Storia della musica: Dalle antiche civiltà orientali alla musica elettronica ''
Casa Editrice Dr. Francesco Vallardi. *Pedagotti, Simona (2005)
"Galileo Chini and the Brandini Chapel"
in Francesca Allegri and Massimo Tosi (eds.), ''Castelfiorentino: Terra d'arte: centro viario e spirituale sulla Francigena'', pp. 185–189. Federighi. *Peleggi, Maurizio (2002)
''Lords of Things: The Fashioning of the Siamese Monarchy's Modern Image''
University of Hawaii Press.

References

1873 births 1956 deaths Artists from Florence Art Nouveau designers Art Nouveau painters 19th-century Italian painters Italian male painters 20th-century Italian painters Italian potters Italian set decorators Italian interior designers 19th-century Italian male artists 20th-century Italian male artists {{designer-stub