Torquato Castellani Biography
Torquato Castellani was born in Rome in 1846, coming from a prominent family in the field of Roman goldsmithing and antiques. In 1860 he moved with his family to Paris, where he collaborated with his father Alessandro in the family business. In 1862 the family returned to Italy and the father founded a goldsmithing school and a ceramic workshop in Naples. The direction of the latter was entrusted to Carlo De Simone. Torquato thus approached the art of ceramics, creating copies of ancient Italian majolica, some of which were presented at the International Exhibition in London in 1870.
In the same year he settled in Rome, where he opened a small workshop at his home in via Poli 88 and fired his products in the Trastevere kilns of Ignazio Lefevre, Pietro Borzelli and Ferdinando Giovannucci. In the following years, he opened other studios respectively in via Margutta 42, via del Tritone 102 and again in Lungotevere dei Mellini 39.
After several study trips to the ceramic centers of Pesaro, Faenza, Urbino and Venice, in 1873 he participated in the Universal Exhibition in Vienna, where he received a bronze medal for his Renaissance-style majolica. In 1878 he exhibited some works at the Universal Exhibition in Paris, inspired by the Byzantine, Iznik and Hispano-Moorish styles, which were awarded a silver medal.
In 1881 some of his pieces were present at the Italian Industrial Exhibition in Milan and at the Exhibition of Ancient and Modern Ceramics in Rome. In 1883 he participated in the International Exhibition of Fine Arts in Rome and the following year in the International Exhibition of Turin. In 1889 he presented new works at the Turin Exhibition and in 1900 at the Paris Exhibition, where he was awarded a silver medal.
In 1902, together with his daughter Olga, his collaborator, he participated in the First Exhibition of Decorative and Modern Art in Turin. In 1908 some of his ceramics, created in collaboration with his daughter, were exhibited at the 1st Exhibition Biennial Romagnola d'Arte in Faenza, attracting praise from Giuseppe Mazzotti.
The last ceramics created by Torquato Castellani date back to the years preceding the First World War. After a period of inactivity, Torquato Castellani, whose ceramic production is marked by the monogram of his initials and only rarely with his full name, died in Rome in 1931.
