Guglielmo Janni (1892–1958) was an Italian painter belonging to the modern movement of the ''

Scuola romana Scuola romana or Scuola di via Cavour was a 20th-century art movement defined by a group of painters within Expressionism and active in Rome between 1928 and 1945, and with a second phase in the mid-1950s. Birth of the movement In November 192 ...

(Roman School)''.

Biography

Son of a renowned Roman family – his father Giuseppe was a lawyer and his mother Teresa Belli was the niece of famous Italian poet

Giuseppe Gioachino Belli Giuseppe Francesco Antonio Maria Gioachino Raimondo Belli (7 September 1791 – 21 December 1863) was an Italian poet, famous for his sonnets in Romanesco, the dialect of Rome. Biography Giuseppe Francesco Antonio Maria Gioachino Raimondo Bell ...

– Janni was to be strongly influenced by his inherited literary background. He graduated at law in 1914 and, just after

World War I 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 ...

, he attended an Art Nouveau

decorative Beauty is commonly described as a feature of objects that makes these objects pleasurable to perceive. Such objects include landscapes, sunsets, humans and works of art. Beauty, together with art and taste, is the main subject of aesthetics, o ...

course at the

Academy of Fine Arts The following is a list of notable art schools. Accredited non-profit art and design colleges * Adelaide Central School of Art * Alberta College of Art and Design * Art Academy of Cincinnati * Art Center College of Design * The Art Institute ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, while studying philosophy and literature on his own. In 1921, he exhibited at the 1st Biennale of Rome and around 1924 he was called to decorate the Headquarters of the Banca d'Italia, where he painted a

mural A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spani ...

on the history of Italian coinage. Between 1926 and 1927 he collaborated successively with the

Ministry of the Interior An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministr ...

and

Ministry of Justice A Ministry of Justice is a common type of government department that serves as a justice ministry. Lists of current ministries of justice Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Justice (Abkhazia) * Ministry of Justice (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Just ...

, with the Istituto Nazionale delle Assicurazioni and with

Montecatini Terme Montecatini Terme is an Italian municipality (''comune'') of c. 20,000 inhabitants in the province of Pistoia, Tuscany, central Italy. It is the most important center in Valdinievole. The town is located at the eastern end of Piana di Lucca ...

. During this period (1923–1928), his main themes involved religious motifs and he exhibited his work at the II Biennale of Rome; at the Franciscan Art Contest of

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 ...

; at the Art Show of the National Artists Association of

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

. Janni also became a lifelong friend of painter

Alberto Ziveri Alberto Ziveri (1908–1990) was an Italian painter belonging to the modern movement of the ''Scuola Romana'' (Roman School). He is known for his urban landscapes and realist narrative scenes. His use of chiaroscuro in paintings such as ''Postri ...

. In 1928, Janni painted a fresco in the votive chapel of St. Bartholomew ("Monument to the Fallen") at

Busseto Busseto ( Bussetano: ; Parmigiano: ) is a ''comune'' in the province of Parma, in Emilia-Romagna in Northern Italy with a population of about 7,100. Its history has very ancient roots which date back to the 10th century, and for almost five hundre ...

(

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, music, art, prosciutto (ham), cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 inhabitants, Parma is the second mos ...

), with influences from

Piero della Francesca Piero della Francesca (, also , ; – 12 October 1492), originally named Piero di Benedetto, was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. To contemporaries he was also known as a mathematician and geometer. Nowadays Piero della Francesca i ...

. He was congratulated by art critic

Roberto Longhi Roberto Longhi (28 December 1890 – 3 June 1970) was an Italian academic, art historian, and curator. The main subjects of his studies were the painters Caravaggio and Piero della Francesca. Early life and career Longhi was born in December 18 ...

, who praised Janni's ''literary'' style of painting – an appropriate evaluation, as the artist's figurative work had acquired a "vocation to myth" that will be reflected in all his subsequent work: he will convey it through a tormented and sensual contemplation of the virile form, often concealed by an ambiguous and mundane veil: his " Endymion" of 1931 confirms this fully.

Giuseppe Ungaretti Giuseppe Ungaretti (; 8 February 1888 – 2 June 1970) was an Italian modernist poet, journalist, essayist, critic, academic, and recipient of the inaugural 1970 Neustadt International Prize for Literature. A leading representative of the experi ...

presented in a relevant catalogue, Janni's first personal exhibition at the Galleria della Cometa, in Rome in 1936, where many important paintings were displayed, among which: ''Figura d'aprile, Giovani atleti, Lo specchio, Figura di Balletto''. Highly acclaimed by public and art critics, he organised again at the same Gallery a second personal exhibition and, in 1936, he attended the

Biennale di Venezia The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

and displayed three paintings at the Modern Italian Art Expo of

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

. After a visit to the

Universal Exposition A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition or an expo, is a large international exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specif ...

of Paris with

in 1937, Janni suffered an existential crisis and abandoned painting completely. He then decided to dedicate the rest of his life to studying, editing and cataloguing his grandfather Belli's unpublished writings, stored in the family library. Janni died while doing this labouring work, which included a monumental biographical opus on Belli's life and poetry, in ten volumes.In the Proustian style, Janni kept revising and rewriting whole chapters of his Belli biography, never satisfied with the final result. This work was published posthumously in 1967, condensed into 3 volumes, and edited by R. Lucchese (

). See also ''sub voce'',

Enciclopedia 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 ...

, ''Biographical Dictionary

/ref>

Notes

Bibliography

*R. Lucchese, ''Guglielmo Janni'',

1972, with essays by G. Ungaretti, L. de Libero & A. Ziveri *M. Fagiolo Dell'Arco, ''Janni'', catalogue by Accademia Nazionale di San Luca,

1986, with bibliography *M. Fagiolo Dell'Arco, ''

: pittura e scultura a Roma dal 1919 al 1943'',

, 1986 *M. Fagiolo Dell'Arco, Valerio Rivosecchi, Emily Braun, ''

. Artisti tra le due guerre'',

, 1988 *''

'', catalogue by M.Fagiolo & V.Rivosecchi, with intro by F.R. Morelli,

1988 *V.Rivosecchi, in ''Piero della Francesca e la pittura del Novecento'', catalogue by di M.Fagiolo & M.Lamberti,

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

1991 *F. Morelli, "Guglielmo Janni", in ''La pittura Italiana, il Novecento'', Ed. Electa. *G. Castelfranco, D. Durbe, ''La

dal 1930 al 1945'',

, 1960 *''Roma sotto le stelle ("Rome under the stars")'', catalogue by N. Vespignani, M. Fagiolo, V. Rivosecchi, eds.,

1994 *General Catalogue of Galleria comunale d'arte moderna e contemporanea, ed. by G. Bonasegale,

1995

External links

Biography
on ''Scuolaromana.it''. Accessed 26 May 2011
Bio Note
on ''Treccani.it''. Accessed 30 May 2011
Museum of Scuola Romana

Official site of ''Scuola Romana''

Glossary entry

, article on ''RomaNotizie.it''. Accessed 26 May 2011 {{DEFAULTSORT:Janni, Guglielmo 1892 births 1958 deaths 20th-century Italian painters Italian male painters Avant-garde art Painters from Rome 20th-century Italian male artists