Serafino Macchiati (camerino, 1861 - Paris, 1916). “illustration Project ”. 19th Century.

Dimensions: 38 x 55 cm. No frame. Monogrammed and titled.
Coming from the archives of the publisher Arthème Fayard. “Nimba”, work by Marcel Prévost.
Serafino MACCHIATI (Camerino, 1861 - Paris, 1916).
Italian painter and illustrator, Serafino Macchiati trained in Rome among the divisionist painters and frequented the artistic and literary circles of the capital. The young artist quickly devoted part of his talent to illustrating works for Roman and then French publishers before settling in Paris in 1898. In the bustling capital, he found his compatriot, the painter Giacomo Balla with who he shares accommodation and workshop. The two very politically engaged men became closer to the French revolutionary socialist, Henri Barbusse. While regularly collaborating with Le Figaro Illustrated, Macchiati diversified his activities and produced several advertising posters in the Art Nouveau style then in vogue. As an illustrator, his style, close to that of Steinlen and Forain, is used in the novels of Balzac, Tolstoy and Conan Doyle. At the end of his life, the painter bequeathed to France a certain number of his works which entered the Luxembourg Museum upon his death in 1916. In 1922, the 13th Venice Biennale dedicated an exhibition to Serafino Macchiati where thirty-two of his works were presented, including Garden under the snow, Cherry blossom, The Seine in Vitry, The Marne, Bateaux sur la Seine, Le Lavoir d'Anduze, or The Oak and the Olive Tree. His descendant, Silvana Frezza Macchiati, in collaboration with Raffaele De Grada, published in 2003 a catalog raisonné of his work in two volumes.