Mario or Marius de Maria (9 September 1852 – 1924) was an Italian painter, known for depicting nocturnal landscapes, and gaining the label by the contemporary poet Gabriele D’Annunzio, as the ''painter of moons''.

Biography

He was born in

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

into a family with an artistic pedigree: his great-grandfather had been the orchestra director at St Petersburg, while his paternal grandfather,

Giacomo de Maria Giacomo De Maria (1762–1838) was an Italian sculptor, active in Bologna. Biography He was a pupil of Domenico Piò. Among his works are:Neoclassical sculptor, a pupil of

Canova Antonio Canova (; 1 November 1757 – 13 October 1822) was an Italian Neoclassical sculptor, famous for his marble sculptures. Often regarded as the greatest of the Neoclassical artists,. his sculpture was inspired by the Baroque and the cl ...

, and instructor at the

Academy of Fine Arts of Bologna The Accademia di Belle Arti di Bologna ("academy of fine arts of Bologna") is a public tertiary academy of fine art in Bologna, in Emilia-Romagna in northern Italy. It has a campus in Cesena. Giorgio Morandi taught engraving at the Accademia ...

. His father, however, was a physician, and intended his son to follow his career. However, Mario enrolled in the Bolognese Academy of Fine Arts in 1872, and studied there irregularly until 1878. He studied under Antonio Puccinelli, but soon rebelled against the ''classicism'' of the school. He took some mentorship from

Luigi Serra Luigi Serra (June 8, 1846 – July 11, 1888) was an Italian painter, known for his watercolors. Biography In 1858 Serra began studies at the Collegio Artistico Venturoli, working first under Gaetano Serrazanetti and then under Luigi Busi. In 18 ...

. He was also friends and contemporary with contemporary Bolognese painters Raffaele Faccioli and Luigi Busi, and from painters outside Bologna, including

Vincenzo Cabianca Vincenzo Cabianca (June 21, 1827, Verona – March 21, 1902, Rome) was an Italian painter of the Macchiaioli group. Biography He was born in Verona in modest circumstances. He began his artistic training at the Verona Academy under Giovanni Cali ...

, Nino Costa,

Vittore Grubicy Vittore Grubicy de Dragon (15 October 1851 – 4 August 1920) was an Italian painter, art critic and art gallery owner who was largely responsible for introducing into Italian painting the optical theories of Divisionism. His writings and pa ...

, and

Giulio Aristide Sartorio ] Giulio Aristide Sartorio (11 February 1860 – 3 October 1932) was an List of Italian painters, Italian painter and film director from Rome. Biography Having attended the Rome Institute of Fine Arts, Sartorio presented a Symbolist work at the ...

. De Maria moved to Venice after 1894, painting mainly nocturnal

vedute A ''veduta'' (Italian for "view"; plural ''vedute'') is a highly detailed, usually large-scale painting or, more often, print of a cityscape or some other vista. The painters of ''vedute'' are referred to as ''vedutisti''. Origins This genre ...

of the city. In 1912–1913, he designed the Casa dei Tre Oci, as his own residence located on the island of

Giudecca Giudecca (; vec, Zueca) is an island in the Venetian Lagoon, in northern Italy. It is part of the ''sestiere'' of Dorsoduro and is a locality of the ''comune'' of Venice. Geography Giudecca lies immediately south of the central islands of Ven ...

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

Works

In 1881, resident of Bologna, he exhibited at Milan, ''The Cloister of the Abbey of S. Gregorio''. In 1883, having moved to Rome, he displayed a ''Vedute of Piazza di San Trovaso at Moonlight''. In 1886, De Maria became a member of the Roman Society of ''In Arte Libertas''. In 1899, in Venice, he exhibited ''Cypresses of the Villa Massimo'' and ''The End of a Summer's Day''. This latter picture was selected by De Maria as his contribution to the

Paris Exposition of 1900 The Exposition Universelle of 1900, better known in English as the 1900 Paris Exposition, was a world's fair held in Paris, France, from 14 April to 12 November 1900, to celebrate the achievements of the past century and to accelerate developmen ...

. Rollins Willard ends his description of the artist with:History of Modern Italian Art
by Ashton Rollins Willard (1902), pp 631–632.

''Whatever opinion might be formed as to its absolute merits, it was certainly of interest from the point of view of the art historian as evidence of a nascent reaction against naturalism, and a return to the older principles of art which the naturalistic movement drove out of favor.''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:De Maria, Mario 19th-century Italian painters Italian male painters 20th-century Italian painters 20th-century Italian male artists Italian landscape painters Painters from Venice Painters from Bologna 1852 births 1924 deaths 19th-century Italian male artists