Quinto Cenni (20 March 1845 – 13 August 1917) was an Italian

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

, engraver,

lithographer Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...

and

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...

who specialized in depicting military personnel and their uniforms.

Biography

He was born in

Imola Imola (; rgn, Jômla or ) is a city and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Bologna, located on the river Santerno, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. The city is traditionally considered the western entrance to the historical re ...

in the

Papal States The Papal States ( ; it, Stato Pontificio, ), officially the State of the Church ( it, Stato della Chiesa, ; la, Status Ecclesiasticus;), were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope fro ...

to a family with liberal sympathies, some of whose members later fought with

Giuseppe Garibaldi Giuseppe Maria Garibaldi ( , ;In his native Ligurian language, he is known as ''Gioxeppe Gaibado''. In his particular Niçard dialect of Ligurian, he was known as ''Jousé'' or ''Josep''. 4 July 1807 – 2 June 1882) was an Italian general, patr ...

.Brief biography and appreciation
@

Treccani The ''Enciclopedia Italiana di Scienze, Lettere e Arti'' (Italian for "Italian Encyclopedia of Science, Letters, and Arts"), best known as ''Treccani'' for its developer Giovanni Treccani or ''Enciclopedia Italiana'', is an Italian-language en ...

(includes a biography of his son, Italo). His father died in 1856 and his children became scattered. Quinto was sent to

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 ...

, where a government grant from the city of Imola enabled him to enroll at the Accademia di Belle Arti,Brief biography
@ Libero. where he studied with Napoleone Angiolini. He soon became interested in new technologies and, from 1862 to 1867, studied xylography with Francesco Ratti. In 1867, three years after the death of his mother, 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 h ...

where he continued his studies at the

Accademia di Brera The Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera ("academy of fine arts of Brera"), also known as the or Brera Academy, is a state-run tertiary public academy of fine arts in Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, ca ...

. At that time, photography was still a cumbersome process, so Cenni had an opportunity to develop his skills as an engraver and lithographer by providing images for the numerous illustrated magazines that were coming into existence after the

Risorgimento The unification of Italy ( it, Unità d'Italia ), also known as the ''Risorgimento'' (, ; ), was the 19th-century political and social movement that resulted in the consolidation of different states of the Italian Peninsula into a single ...

. After 1870, he worked for numerous periodicals, notably ''Emporio pittoresco'' (published by Casa Sonzogno) and ' (published by

Fratelli Treves Fratelli Treves was an Italian publishing house based in Milan. Founded in 1861 by Emilio Treves from Trieste, it was active under its own name until 1939. History The publishing house was born on 1 January 1861 with the name of the founder: Emi ...

). From 1887 to 1897, he was Editor of ''L'Illustrazione Militare Italiana''. By then, he had already chosen to specialize in military subjects, spending many hours on research to assure that the details of the uniforms and equipment were perfectly accurate. Sometimes, he consulted with foreign experts on weaponry specifications. He strove to make daily life in the barracks as interesting as the more dramatic maneuvers, carried out during summer in the picturesque Italian countryside.Quinto Cenni, plates 307-419 "Esercito Italiano Dell' Ottocento", Rivista Militare 1986. Peacetime soldiering was portrayed in his works as a generally attractive and challenging fulfillment of one's patriotic duty toward the newly unified Italian state. Even after the beginning of World War I, he attempted to stay fully informed, but this became increasingly difficult as the situation deteriorated, and he died in Carate Brianza before the war was over. Quinto Cenni - Uniformi della Marina

From 1878 to 1916, he published over a dozen albums featuring various aspects of the Italian military, including volumes on the Bersaglieri (1886), Granatieri (1887), and Carabinieri (1894). He also provided illustrations for '' I Promessi Sposi'' by Alessandro Manzoni; ''Ettore Fieramosca'' and ''Niccolò de' Lapi'', both by Massimo D'Azeglio; and ''L'assedio di Firenze'' by Francesco Domenico Guerrazzi. Hundreds of his watercolors are currently held in the National Museum at the

Castel Sant'Angelo The Mausoleum of Hadrian, usually known as Castel Sant'Angelo (; English: ''Castle of the Holy Angel''), is a towering cylindrical building in Parco Adriano, Rome, Italy. It was initially commissioned by the Roman Emperor Hadrian as a mausol ...

and the Museum of the Risorgimento in

. In 2000, fifty previously unpublished works were presented at an exhibition in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

References

External links

"Quinto Cenni Artista Militare nel 150° Anniversario della Nascita"
by Pier Giorgio Franzosi @ Collezioni
Portrait of Quinto Cenni
by Italo Cenni (1874-1956), with brief biography. {{DEFAULTSORT:Cenni, Quinto 1845 births 1917 deaths 19th-century Italian painters Italian male painters 20th-century Italian painters Italian engravers Italian lithographers Italian illustrators Accademia di Belle Arti di Bologna alumni Military art Military uniforms People from Imola Italian unification 19th-century Italian male artists 20th-century Italian male artists 20th-century lithographers 20th-century engravers

Biography

References

Further reading

External links