Onorato Carlandi Biography
Onorato Carlandi was born in 1952 in Ponzanello. He attended the Roman College and, thanks to his mother's support, he was able to pursue his artistic vocation by enrolling in the Accademia di S. Luca. There he studied with A. Capalti, F. Coghetti and G. De Sanctis. After his father's premature death, Carlandi had to support his family by painting commissioned works which he sold to art dealers. In 1866, at the age of 18, he joined Garibaldi in the Trentino campaign. Upon his return to Rome, his mother, fearing his patriotic enthusiasm (his brother had been arrested and sentenced to a harsh sentence), sent him to continue his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Naples, under the tutelage of D. Morelli . He remained in Naples from 1867 to 1870, when he abandoned his studies and returned to Rome with the Italian troops, like Nino Costa. During his stay at the Academy of Naples in 1869, Carlandi began to paint the work "The boat of the Cairoli brothers", inspired by the historical events of 1867. The painting was exhibited in Rome at the international art exhibition of 1871 and it was purchased by Prince Ruspoli, then mayor of Rome. The success of these first two works brought Carlandi into the limelight and he was commissioned by the impresario Filipperi to paint the backdrops and curtain of the Politeama theater in Trastevere in Rome. The chosen theme, dear to the people of Trastevere, was "Horace alone against all of Tuscany", but the artist lacked inspiration for the detached historical painting, and the result disappointed both him and the impresario. After completing this commission, he began going to the countryside to paint landscapes and life studies. In the meantime he shares the studio with the sculptor A. Cencetti in Prati. Around 1874, an unexpected opportunity to teach drawing, offered by a young Englishwoman, Lady Grey, freed him from the need to work on commission. In 1880 Carlandi went to London and was fascinated by English landscape painting. He also had the opportunity to meet Peter de Wint's granddaughter, Miss Tatlock, who showed him her grandfather's studio, which housed a large collection of watercolours. From 1880 Carlandi spent almost every year in London and exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy from 1882 to 1889. In 1881, at the Exhibition of Watercolorists in Rome, he presented twenty-one watercolors entitled "Memories of England". After having exhibited eighty-four watercolors of the Tiber Valley from source to sea at the Milanese exhibition in 1906, the following year he participated in the Venice Biennale. In 1910, at the IX Biennale, he presented over fifty watercolors depicting impressions of the English and Roman countryside (see also "Le Nord du pays de Galles" by Carlandi in the special issue of The Studio "Sketching Grounds" [1909], pp. 49-51 ). In 1922 he participated in the "XXV della Campagna Romana" exhibition (catalogue by C. Galassi Paluzzi) and at the same time exhibited over one hundred works at the Galleria Pesaro in Milan (catalogue by F. Sapori). In February 1933, a major retrospective of Carlandi's paintings, drawings and watercolors was held at the Galleria Antonina in Rome. Carlandi died in Rome on 11 April 1939.
