Francesco Carnevali Biography
Francesco Carnevali (Pesaro, 8 October 1892 – Urbino, 30 September 1987) was an Italian artist and writer. In particular, he was a painter, who dedicated much of his artistic career to the illustration of literary works, and a writer. In his works, both artistic and literary, he stood out for a very witty and imaginative style. He is considered one of the great masters of the Urbino Book School. He grew up in a cultured and refined family environment; he had his first contacts with the figurative arts thanks to his attendance at the Oliveriano Museum in Pesaro, of which his maternal uncle was superintendent. During his high school years he also attended an evening course in Arts and Crafts, where he began to do his first drawing tests and where he met the painter Fernando Mariotti, to whom he will be linked by a significant friendship. At the same time he frequented the library of his friends Vittorio and Gino Picciola; experience that will enrich his literary culture, taking an interest in the poems of Pascoli, Govoni and Palazzeschi; through the magazine Emporium he admired the drawings of Rackman and Doudelet. At the end of high school, he enrolled at the Institute for the Decoration and Illustration of the Book of Urbino, which he attended from 1912 to 1915. In this period Carnevali was profoundly marked by Lionello Venturi's art history lessons, which increased further developed his interest in the transitional artistic periods, in particular the period between the 14th and 15th centuries. In 1916, a few months after the outbreak of the First World War, he was discharged due to illness. Having moved to Rome, in 1918 he participated, on the proposal of Francesco Sapori, in the editorial staff of "la Giberna" (a newspaper for soldiers); always in the same year he exhibited in Rome, at the 87th Exhibition of Art Amateurs and Connoisseurs. From 1925 he began a fruitful collaborative relationship with Francesco Sapori, starting from the illustration of a short story up to the most significant drawings for the "Poetic Calendar". From this relationship with Sapori, a profitable relationship will also develop (from 1920 to 1926) with Luigi Bertelli, director of "il Giornalino della Domenica", for whom he will create his illustrations, for the stories of Luciano De Nardis, D'Alba Dandolo , Vamba and Fanciulli, as well as his own stories. This collaboration will lead Carnevali to exhibit in numerous exhibitions, such as at the Primaverile exhibition at Palazzo Pitti (1922). From 1924 to 1926, he illustrated various poems of the Crepuscular current, in particular those of: Guido Gozzano, Avelardi, Ghiron and Fantini. He will successfully participate in the various editions of the Pure and Decorative Art exhibition, organized by Luigi Serra in Urbino. From 1920 to 1930, he established himself not only in regional exhibitions but also in many international exhibitions. The masterpiece of this period seems to be the series of watercolors for "Twelfth Night" by William Shakespeare, published in 1939 by the American publisher Macy, but already created by Carnevali between 1932 and 1935.
