Angiolo D'andrea Biography
Angiolo D'Andrea was born on 24 August 1880 in Rauscedo, near Udine. He received his artistic training in Padua, where he began a fruitful collaboration with the magazine "Arte italiana decorativa eindustria" in 1899 at the invitation of Camillo Boito. Until 1905 he created numerous drawings for the prestigious magazine depicting sacred and civil buildings from various regions of Italy.
In 1906 D'Andrea moved to Milan and the following year participated in the Spring Exhibition organized by the Society of Fine Arts. In this period he began his collaboration with Giulio Ulisse Arata, architect, and together they created the frescoes in the Sala dei Marmi of the Visconti di Modrone-Erba villa in Cernobbio.
In 1912 D'Andrea won the prestigious Fumagalli Prize for his landscape painting "Nemi" at the National Exhibition in Milan. In 1914 he presented his painting "Terra al sole" at the Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderna in Milan. In the same year he designed the Art Nouveau mosaics for the Camparino-Zucca-Miani café, now Zucca, in the famous Galleria Vittorio Emanuele.
From 1913 to 1916 D'Andrea traveled extensively in Sicily and his paintings from this period, such as "The Port of Palermo", are today valuable artistic works preserved in the Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderna in Milan. During the First World War he was stationed in Trentino from 1915 to 1916 and his drawings and watercolors from this period are preserved in the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto.
In 1920 he presented "Orbe" at the National Exhibition in Milan, a painting that stands out for its lively chromatic modulations. He participated in the 13th Venice Biennale in 1922 with his work "Gratia plena", notable for its delicate mysticism. Despite his busy exhibition schedule, D'Andrea was commissioned to create works of art, most notably the "Life of Mary" fresco cycle in the Chierichetti house in Milan. His works from this period were characterized by a mystical sensibility, composed elegantly and chromatically. In this period D'Andrea formed a deep friendship with Carlo Rizzarda, the famous master of wrought iron. The four paintings by D'Andrea, which he donated to Rizzarda, were eventually donated to the Galleria d'Arte Moderna di Feltre, testifying to their close relationship.
In the 1930s artistic tastes shifted towards the so-called "plastic values" and the rhetoric of the regime. However, D'Andrea received recognition for his work in 1935 when he designed cartoons for some stained glass windows intended to embellish the chapel and benefactors' hall of the new Ospedale Maggiore in Milan.
D'Andrea returned to Rauscedo in 1941 after becoming seriously ill and died on 10 November 1942.
