Giovan Battista Carpi (; November 16, 1927 – March 8, 1999) was a prolific Italian

comics a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicate ...

artist, illustrator, and teacher from

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...

. Carpi worked mainly for

Disney comics Disney comics are comic books and comic strips featuring characters created by the Walt Disney Company, including Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge. The first Disney comics were newspaper strips appearing from 1930 on, starting with th ...

, mostly on books featuring

Donald Duck Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor shirt and cap with a bow tie. Donald is known fo ...

and

Scrooge McDuck Scrooge McDuck is a cartoon character created in 1947 by Carl Barks for The Walt Disney Company. Appearing in Disney comics, Scrooge is a Scottish-American anthropomorphic Pekin duck. Like his nephew Donald Duck, he has a yellow-orange bill, l ...

, although he occasionally drew

Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse is an animated cartoon Character (arts), character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime mascot of The Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red sho ...

as well. He created

Paperinik Donald Duck, a cartoon character created by the Walt Disney Company, is today the star of dozens of comic-book and comic-strip stories published each month (in certain parts of the world, each week) around the world. In many European countries, Don ...

with

Guido Martina Guido Martina (9 February 1906 – 6 May 1991) was an Italian comic writer, documentarist and author. Martina is well known for his Disney comics stories, including the first of the "" story "L'inferno di Topolino", and the creation of Paperini ...

. He also created other well-known comic characters for , such as Geppo, Nonna Abelarda, and .

Early life

Carpi was born in

and from a young age frequented the study of the artist Giacomo Picollo. He became a

fumetti Photo comics are a form of sequential storytelling that uses photographs rather than illustrations for the images, along with the usual comics conventions of narrative text and word balloons containing dialogue. They are sometimes referred to ...

illustrator in 1945, when he published in the weekly ''Faville''. He then began to publish a series "Sparagrosso, Cacciatore in Africa" for the children's magazine ''Lo Scolaro''. Two years later, he moved to

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city ...

, where he got experience in animation at the studio. He continued to illustrate children's comics for studies like De Agostini, Corticelli, Tipys, and Messaggerie Musicali and began, in 1951, to draw

humor comics A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of imag ...

Disney parody artist

Carpi drew a popular series of "" for the Italian Disney comics magazine ''

Topolino ''Topolino'' (from the Italian name for Mickey Mouse) is an Italian digest-sized comic series featuring Disney comics. The series has had a long running history, first appearing in 1932 as a comics magazine. It is currently published by Pani ...

''. As the German-language ''Duckipedia'' notes, "His love for historical fashions and costumes predisposed Carpi for Disney parodies of world literature, such as ''Paperino principe di Dunimarca'', a parody of

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

'', or ''Il mistero dei candelabri'', a parody of

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...

's ''

Les Misérables ''Les Misérables'' ( , ) is a French historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published in 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. In the English-speaking world, the novel is usually referred to by its origin ...

''."''"Seine Vorliebe für alte Moden und Kostüme prädestinierte Carpi geradezu für Persiflagen und Parodien, von 'Donald, Prinz von Duckenmark' bis 'Das Geheimnis der Silberleuchter', in denen Shakespeares Hamlet und Victor Hugos 'Die Elenden' humorvoll aufbereitet wurden."'' ''Duckipedia'' entry o
Giovan Battista Carpi
/ref> Other popular parodies by Carpi include ''Guerra e Pace'' (1986, based upon '' War and peace'' by

Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...

), ''Paperino e il vento del Sud'' (1982, '' Gone with the Wind'' by

Margaret Mitchell Margaret Munnerlyn Mitchell (November 8, 1900 – August 16, 1949) was an American novelist and journalist. Mitchell wrote only one novel, published during her lifetime, the American Civil War-era novel '' Gone with the Wind'', for which she wo ...

), ''Paperino e il giro del mondo in otto giorni'' (1962, ''

Around the World in Eighty Days ''Around the World in Eighty Days'' (french: link=no, Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours) is an adventure novel by the French writer Jules Verne, first published in French in 1872. In the story, Phileas Fogg of London and his newly employe ...

'' by

Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the '' Voyages extra ...

), ''Paperin Caramba y Carmen Olè'' (1979, ''

Carmen ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first performed by the ...

'' by

Georges Bizet Georges Bizet (; 25 October 18383 June 1875) was a French composer of the Romantic music, Romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, ''Carmen'', whi ...

), ''Paolino Pocatesta e la bella Franceschina'' (1980, '' Inferno'' by

Dante Alighieri 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: ...

), ''Topolino corriere dello Zar'' (1966, ''

Michael Strogoff ''Michael Strogoff: The Courier of the Czar'' (french: Michel Strogoff) is a novel written by Jules Verne in 1876. Critic Leonard S. Davidow, considers it one of Verne's best books. Davidow wrote, "Jules Verne has written no better book than t ...

'' by Jules Verne), ''La metamorfosi di un papero'' (1991, '' The Metamorphosis'' by

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It typ ...

Death

Carpi died in Genoa on March 8, 1999.

Awards

*, 1994 , Rome * Honorary laurea in science education, 1997,

University of Bologna The University of Bologna ( it, Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna, UNIBO) is a public research university in Bologna, Italy. Founded in 1088 by an organised guild of students (''studiorum''), it is the oldest university in contin ...

Selected works

Arnoldo Mondadori Editore Arnoldo Mondadori Editore () is the biggest publishing company in Italy. History The company was founded in 1907 in Ostiglia by 18-year-old Arnoldo Mondadori who began his publishing career with the publication of the magazine ''Luce!''. In 1 ...

, 1978 *''Paperinik e il ritorno a Villa Rosa'' *''Zio Paperone e la corona di luce'' *''Paperino e il pianeta Esalion'' *''Zio Paperone e la fattoria orbitale'' *''Paperino e il mistero di Lucca'', 1992

Reprints

In 2019, a volume in the ''

Disney Masters ''Disney Masters'' is a series of books collecting anthologies of critically acclaimed Walt Disney Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse international comic artists. Italian artist Romano Scarpa was the first featured creator in the series, in the volume t ...

'' book series from

Fantagraphics Books Fantagraphics (previously Fantagraphics Books) is an American publisher of alternative comics, classic comic strip anthologies, manga, magazines, graphic novels, and the erotic Eros Comix imprint. History Founding Fantagraphics was found ...

titled ''Uncle Scrooge: King of the Golden River'' (

ISBN The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a numeric commercial book identifier that is intended to be unique. Publishers purchase ISBNs from an affiliate of the International ISBN Agency. An ISBN is assigned to each separate edition a ...

) was dedicated to Battista Carpi.

References

External links

*
Giovan Battista Carpi
at the

Lambiek Comiclopedia Galerie Lambiek is a Dutch comic book store and art gallery in Amsterdam, founded on November 8, 1968 by Kees Kousemaker (, – Bussum, ), though since 2007, his son Boris Kousemaker is the current owner. From 1968 to 2015, it was located ...

1927 births 1999 deaths Artists from Genoa Italian comics artists Disney comics artists {{Disney-comics-stub