{"id":9110,"date":"2020-07-01T18:26:21","date_gmt":"2020-07-01T16:26:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.carlovirgilio.it\/?post_type=opera&p=9110"},"modified":"2022-03-16T18:06:15","modified_gmt":"2022-03-16T16:06:15","slug":"alberto-martini-vanitas-with-self-portrait","status":"publish","type":"opera","link":"https:\/\/www.carlovirgilio.it\/en\/opera\/alberto-martini-vanitas-with-self-portrait\/","title":{"rendered":"Alberto Martini\u00a0– Vanitas with Self-Portrait"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Martini:<\/a><\/p>\n

Alberto Martini\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

(Oderzo<\/span> 1876-Milan 1954)<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Vanitas with Self-Portrait<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

c<\/span> 1920\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Pastel on paper, 54\u00a0<\/span>\u00d7<\/span>\u00a046<\/span>\u00a0cm\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Signed<\/span>\u00a0\u201cAM ALBERTO MARTINI\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Provenance<\/span>: Padua, private\u00a0<\/span>collection<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Alberto Martini, the great imaginative designer and symbolist illustrator, who interpreted with aristocratic dandyism the figure of decadent artist, later recognised as precursor of surrealism, also experimented with more accurate and realistic visions in the nineteen twenties: works that in some sense are part of the Novecento return to order, above all in his portraiture and pictorial production in oil and pastels (<\/span>Alberto Martini\u00a0<\/span><\/i>mostra<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>antologica<\/span><\/i>, ed. by Marco\u00a0<\/span>Lorandi<\/span>, Milan 1985).\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This unpublished\u00a0<\/span>Vanitas with Self-Portrait<\/span><\/i>, classically composed on decorative fabrics with metaphorical motifs, constitutes an example, where the various symbolic elements suggest the personality and vision of the artist. The shell is the emblem of the artist\u2019s esoteric knowledge as initiate and soothsayer. The skull does not allude only to the fleetingness of life but also to a taste for the macabre; it lies on the volume that recalls literary inspiration in the graphic series of the illustrator of Poe,\u00a0<\/span>Dante<\/span>\u00a0and Shakespeare. The peacock feather, symbol of the cosmic deployment of the spirit and the immortality of the work of the artist who craved recognition for his role in history, is inserted in the glass vase, recalling his adored Venice.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Martini\u2019s face is reflected in the vase, not dissimilar to the iconography of the\u00a0<\/span>Self-Portrait<\/span><\/i>\u00a0in pen of 1911 (<\/span>Oderzo<\/span>, Pinacoteca\u00a0<\/span>Civica<\/span>\u00a0\u201cAlberto Martini\u201d), and therefore from around that time.\u00a0<\/span>The\u00a0 likeness<\/span>\u00a0brings to mind Ettore\u00a0<\/span>Cozzani\u2019s<\/span>\u00a0famous description in the monograph number of the review\u00a0<\/span>Eroica\u00a0<\/span><\/i>of 1927: \u201cTall, reedy and pale, with the attire and pace of aristocratic composure. An immobile face looking straight ahead of him,\u201d \u201cin an expression of proud impassivity\u201d that is removed \u201cfrom common life in a refined and cruel dream.\u201d The theme of the reflected apparition refers to the creative motif of the \u201cinner mirror,\u201d the \u201crevealing\u201d mirror, into which the artist looks to draw out his surreal imagination.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alberto Martini\u00a0\u00a0 (Oderzo 1876-Milan 1954)\u00a0 Vanitas with Self-Portrait\u00a0 c 1920\u00a0 Pastel on paper, 54\u00a0\u00d7\u00a046\u00a0cm\u00a0\u00a0 Signed\u00a0\u201cAM ALBERTO MARTINI\u201d\u00a0 Provenance: Padua, private\u00a0collection\u00a0 \u00a0 Alberto Martini, the great imaginative designer and symbolist illustrator, who interpreted with aristocratic dandyism the figure of decadent artist, later recognised as precursor of surrealism, also experimented with more accurate and realistic visions in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":9043,"template":"","autore":[423],"tipologia_opera":[96],"ambito_opera":[82],"data_opera":[261],"disponibilita_opera":[],"titolo_mostra":[362],"tag_mostra":[363],"class_list":["post-9110","opera","type-opera","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","autore-alberto-martini-1876-1954","tipologia_opera-recent-sells","ambito_opera-pittura-en","data_opera-261","titolo_mostra-law-digital-summer-2020","tag_mostra-law-digital-summer-2020","description-off"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carlovirgilio.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/opera\/9110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carlovirgilio.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/opera"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carlovirgilio.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/opera"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carlovirgilio.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carlovirgilio.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"autore","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carlovirgilio.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/autore?post=9110"},{"taxonomy":"tipologia_opera","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carlovirgilio.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tipologia_opera?post=9110"},{"taxonomy":"ambito_opera","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carlovirgilio.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ambito_opera?post=9110"},{"taxonomy":"data_opera","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carlovirgilio.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/data_opera?post=9110"},{"taxonomy":"disponibilita_opera","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carlovirgilio.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/disponibilita_opera?post=9110"},{"taxonomy":"titolo_mostra","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carlovirgilio.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/titolo_mostra?post=9110"},{"taxonomy":"tag_mostra","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carlovirgilio.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tag_mostra?post=9110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}