Francesco Longo Mancini Biography
Francesco Longo Mancini was born in Catania in 1880. His artistic life, characterized by a varied and highly successful production, still requires a thorough and accurate reconstruction. Longo Mancini dedicated himself mainly to female portraiture, but also produced landscapes, orientalist subjects, eighteenth-century and symbolist costumes.
After studying at the Technical Institute of Catania, Longo Mancini moved to Rome at the age of sixteen and frequented the studio of Jacovacci and Prosperi. He later enrolled in the free school of the Nude, where he had Cantalamessa, Jacovacci and Prosperi as teachers.
In 1898 he came to the attention of the Promoter of Rome with the painting "Bocce Game".
In 1907 he exhibited “Mohammed's Lunch” in Catania, purchased by the King. From this moment his career took a positive turn. In 1912 he exhibited the painting "The Survivors" in Rome, which was highly appreciated by the public and critics. In 1921 he held a solo show in Rome and later exhibited at the "Amateurs and Cultori" exhibition, obtaining good response from the public and critics. In 1925 he exhibited another solo exhibition in Genoa, with thirty-eight oil paintings and fourteen drawings.
Longo Mancini did not allow himself to be influenced by avant-garde currents, but was a fine interpreter of female beauty and a skilled portraitist, without however neglecting the landscape. He died in Rome in 1954
