Chevalier Fortunino Matania (16 April 1881 – 8 February 1963) was an Italian artist noted for his realistic portrayal of World War I trench warfare and of a wide range of historical subjects.

Life

Born in

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 ...

, the son of artist Eduardo Matania, Fortunino Matania studied at his father's studio, designing a soap advertisement at the age of 9 and exhibiting his first work at Naples Academy at 11. By the age of 14 he was helping his father produce illustrations for books and magazines. His talent was recognised by the editor of the Italian periodical ''L'Illustrazione Italiania'' and Matania produced weekly illustrations for the magazine between 1895 and 1902. At the age of 20, Matania began working in Paris for ''Illustration Francaise'' and, in 1902, was invited to London to cover the Coronation of

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria and ...

for ''

The Graphic ''The Graphic'' was a British weekly illustrated newspaper, first published on 4 December 1869 by William Luson Thomas's company Illustrated Newspapers Ltd. Thomas's brother Lewis Samuel Thomas was a co-founder. The premature death of the latt ...

''. Matania subsequently covered every major event – marriage, christening, funeral and Coronation – of British royalty up to the coronation of Queen Elizabeth in 1953. In 1904, Matania joined the staff of '' The Sphere'' where some of his most famous work was to appear, including his illustrations of the sinking of the ''

RMS Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United ...

'' in 1912. Around 1906 to 1910 he painted the life in the lobby of the

Hotel Excelsior Hotel Excelsior was a hotel in Berlin, Germany. It occupied number 112/113, Königgrätzer Straße (today's Stresemannstrasse) on Askanischer Platz in the Berlin district of Kreuzberg. It was once one of the largest and most luxurious hotels in ...

in Rome. At the outbreak of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Matania became a war artist and was acclaimed for his graphic and realistic images of trench warfare. His painting for the Blue Cross entitled ''Goodbye, Old Man'', showing a British soldier saying farewell to his dying horse, is a fine example of his emotive work. His painting of the

Green Howards The Green Howards (Alexandra, Princess of Wales's Own Yorkshire Regiment), frequently known as the Yorkshire Regiment until the 1920s, was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, in the King's Division. Raised in 1688, it served under vario ...

including

Henry Tandey Private Henry James Tandey VC, DCM, MM (born Tandy, 30 August 1891 – 20 December 1977) was a British recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth ...

is a central part of a famous story. But it was after the war, when he switched to scenes of ancient high life for the British woman's magazine, Britannia and Eve, that Matania found his real career. He filled his London studio with reproductions of Roman furniture, pored over history books for suitably lively subjects. Then, with the help of models and statues, he began to paint such subjects as Samson and Delilah, the bacchanalian roisters of ancient Rome, and even early American Indian maidens—all with the same careful respect for accuracy and detail he had used in his news assignments. Generally he managed to include one or two voluptuous nudes in each picture. "The public demanded it," says Matania. "If there was no nude, then the editor or I would get a shower of letters from readers asking politely why not." He was a standard in Britannia and Eve for 19 years. Matania exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy, and also at the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, where in 1917 he was elected a member. From 1908 his work appeared in most of the principal magazines in Britain and America, including ''

Illustrated London News ''The Illustrated London News'' appeared first on Saturday 14 May 1842, as the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine. Founded by Herbert Ingram, it appeared weekly until 1971, then less frequently thereafter, and ceased publication i ...

'', ''London Magazine'', ''Nash's'', ''Printer's Pie'' and others. When ''Britannia and Eve'' was launched in 1929, Matania became one of its first contributors. For 19 years, he wrote and illustrated historical stories for the magazine. His talents made him a popular illustrator for advertising, posters and catalogues, working for the LMS railway designing posters for Southport and Blackpool, Ovaltine, Burberry's (the sporting outfitters) and many others. Bénézit lists some auction records for Matania: *Tenterdem. 16 Oct 2002, ''Musical Soiree with Beethoven Playing the Piano'' (oil on canvas, 52x44 cm) 9,000 GBP *Tenterdem. 16 Oct 2002, ''Elegant Edwardian Scene with Men and Women at a Polo Match'' (watercolour, 46x67 cm) 18,250 GBP Matania was also recommended to Hollywood director

Cecil B. DeMille Cecil Blount DeMille (; August 12, 1881January 21, 1959) was an American film director, producer and actor. Between 1914 and 1958, he made 70 features, both silent and sound films. He is acknowledged as a founding father of the American cine ...

and produced a number of paintings of Rome and Egypt from which authentic designs could be made for the movie

The Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments ( Biblical Hebrew עשרת הדברים \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים, ''aséret ha-dvarím'', lit. The Decalogue, The Ten Words, cf. Mishnaic Hebrew עשרת הדיברות \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְ ...

. In 1933, Matania applied his very realistic style to illustrations for Edgar Rice Burroughs' "

Pirates of Venus ''Pirates of Venus'' is a science fantasy novel by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, the first book in the Venus series (also called the "Carson Napier of Venus series"), the last major series in Burroughs's career (the other major series w ...

" and in 1933–24 to Burrough's "

Lost on Venus ''Lost On Venus'' is a science fantasy novel by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, the second book in the Venus series (sometimes called the "Carson Napier of Venus series" or the "Amtor series"). It was first serialized in the magazine '' Ar ...

." Matani was one of the leading illustrators selected by

Percy Bradshaw Percy Venner Bradshaw (27 November 1877 – 13 October 1965), who often signed PVB, was a British illustrator who also created the Press Art School, a correspondence course for drawing. Biography Percy Bradshaw was born in Hackney, part of Lo ...

for inclusion in his '' The Art of the Illustrator'' which presented a separate portfolio for each of twenty illustrators. In later years, Matania provided illustrations to big Italian magazines—from "Il Mattino Illustrato" (1924–1947) and "Scena Illustrata" to "Illustrazione del Popolo" (1941–1947), "Corriere dei Piccoli" (1948–1954), and " Domenica del Corriere" (1948–1951)."Fortunino Matania"
Anglo-Italian Family History Society Towards the end of his life, Matania illustrated features for the educational weekly ''

Look and Learn ''Look and Learn'' was a British weekly educational magazine for children published by Fleetway Publications Ltd from 1962 until 1982. It contained educational text articles that covered a wide variety of topics from volcanoes to the Loch Ness ...

'', and was working on the series ''A Pageant of Kings'' at the time of his death.

Books illustrated by Fortunino Matania

*''Six Stories from Shakespeare'', retold by John Buchan (1934) *''Raphael and Stella: A Baker's Delight Immortalised in Paint'', by Matania (1944) *''Great Stories from History'', ed. Edward Horton and Peter Shellard (1970) *''The Eagle Book of Amazing Stories'' 1974 (1973) *''With the British Army on the Western Front: Twelve Signed Artist's Proofs''. London: The Sphere & Tatler ; 916

Gallery

Transport of wounded from bombed town. Wellcome L0008828.jpg, Transport of Wounded World War I; an advanced dressing station in World War I. Oi Wellcome V0018186.jpg, Dressing Station World War One, Private Flynn by Matania, 1916 Wellcome L0008921.jpg, How Private Flynn of

South Wales Borderers The South Wales Borderers was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence for 280 years. It came into existence in England in 1689, as Sir Edward Dering's Regiment of Foot, and afterwards had a variety of names and headquarters. I ...

won the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

Medal World War One; removal of wounded on horse drawn sledges Wellcome L0008834.jpg, Horse-drawn transport of Wounded

Notes

References

External links