Chini Galileo Andrea Maria Biography
Galileo Andrea Maria Chini was born in Florence on 2 December 1873. In 1884, at the age of eleven, he lost his father. His paternal uncle Dario, a successful decorator and restorer of frescoes, owner of an esteemed restoration shop, oriented him towards the study of decoration, enrolling him in the Santa Croce Art School in Florence, also attended by the three Coppedé brothers and Ugo Giusti, with whom he will collaborate later. The following year, Chini already supported his uncle in the decoration work of the Torlonia castle in Serra Brunamonti in Umbria, where he created paintings of neo-medieval inspiration. In 1889 he also began working in the workshop of Amedeo Buontempo, a painter of Friulian origins, and participated with his uncle in the restoration work in the church of Santa Trinita in Florence. Subsequently he collaborated with the architect Corinto Corinti in the documentation and surveys of the buildings in the medieval area of the Mercato Vecchio, as demonstrated by some color tempera drawings of architectural parts, ceramic finds and above all frescoes from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. In 1894 he received his first demanding decorative commission: Augusto Burchi, a painter, fresco artist and restorer influenced by French taste, entrusted him with the decoration of the ceiling of the reception hall of Palazzo Budini-Gattai in Florence, where he created a fake tapestry and collaborated with Giulio Bargellini for the frieze. In 1895, in Volterra, he carried out restoration work in the chapel of the Guidi Counts in San Francesco and created the noble coats of arms of the local families in the Maggior Consiglio room of the Palazzo dei Priori. In that period he met Elvira Pescetti, who would become his wife. He enrolled in the Free School of the Nude of the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence, attending it until 1897, and in the same period he became a member of the Circolo degli Artisti, where he met Telemaco Signorini, Plinio Nomellini, Lodovico Tommasi, Libero Andreotti, Sem Benelli, Giovani Papini, Salvino Tofanari. In 1896, Chini, driven by bitterness over the sale of the Società Ceramica Ginori di Doccia to the industrialist Augusto Richard of Milan, founded the Manifattura Arte della Ceramica with Giovanni Vannuzzi, Vittorio Giunti and Giovanni Montelatici, a project close to the ideals of the English movement Arts and Crafts for the renewal of artistic craftsmanship. A pomegranate and two intertwined hands, symbols of fertility and brotherhood, are the first brands chosen that define the identity of the Manufacture. The first ceramic creations are characterized by Pre-Raphaelite influences. In 1897 he participated in the selection for the International Art and Flower Festival in Florence, but was not admitted and presented his works at the Mostra dei Rifiutati. In 1903, in Montecatini Terme, he decorated the façade and the internal room of the Pavilion for the sale of Tamarisk Salts. The three stoneware panels that cover the façade were created by Domenico Trentacoste for the Turin Exhibition of 1902 and reused here: one of the three depicts Galileo Chini in high relief inspired by the Muses. In the same year, Chini took care of the layout and decoration of the Tuscany Room at the V Venice Biennale: he placed a glazed ceramic frieze on the upper part of the walls and exhibited the paintings "The Sphinx" and "Countryside with snow". In 1904 he returned to Montecatini, called to decorate the vault of the party hall of the Grand Hotel La Pace. Together with Lodovico Tommasi he promoted the Secession of the Promotrice Fiorentina at Palazzo Corsini, where he exhibited five works of strong symbolist impact which earned him the task of decorating the Cassa di Risparmio di Pistoia e Pescia, created by abandoning the neutral tones of tradition for a new painting in harmony with the floral and secessionist style, and which will be inaugurated on 25 July 1905. In 1908 it participates in the 1st Faenza Art Biennial, from which the current International Ceramics Museum was born. In the same year, his first work for the theater was staged at the Teatro Lirico in Milan: "The Mask of Brutus" by Sem Benelli, for which he designed fifteenth-century sets, supported by the costume designer Caramba. In December he received the assignment of teaching at the Free Superior Course in Decoration of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, where he taught until his departure for Siam in 1911. The decorations of the Villa Scalini in Carbonate, on Lake Como, with synthetic geometries in secessionist style, are dated between 1919 and 1921. In 1920 Chini expanded his holiday home in Lido di Camaiore, decorating the interiors. In 1938 he was appointed Commander of the Crown of Italy and Knight of the Order of Saint Maurice and Lazarus. He still exhibits at the Galleria d'Arte Firenze in Florence and at the Galleria Pesaro in Milan. In the same year, he was charged with contempt and defamation for having sent a letter of protest to the Podestà of Florence regarding the decorations of the Loggia della Signoria, created on the occasion of Hitler's visit. He was later acquitted due to lack of crime. In 1956 he donated a painting for the International Exhibition of Contemporary Art Pro Infanzia in Bogota, Colombia. He died in Florence on 23 August, in his studio in via del Ghirlandaio, and was buried in the Antella Cemetery in the Chapel of San Silvestro.
