Carlo Manziana Biography
(Brescia, 5 November 1849 - 3 December 1925) Di Giuseppe and Angela Rovetta, since his youth, although taken by the family business, which he will inherit and manage throughout his life, applies himself with passion to painting. At twenty-two he married Miss Annunciata Benedetti who, in 1872 made him the father of Angela and in 1876 of Giuseppe, future lawyer and father of the well-known brother of the company of the Philippine Fathers of Peace and therefore Monsignor, bishop of Crema. Manziana's first public pictorial tests date back to 1875: Cloister of S. Giuseppe denotes good color and harmony of composition. These are the times in which the painter exhibited in Palazzo Bargnani with Luigi Campini, Schermini, Faustini, Joli and other well-known Brescian artists. And shortly afterwards was the foundation of Arte in Famiglia (see), a society which would have a long life, animating the local artistic and cultural world until around 1930. Among Manziana's works, remembered because they were exhibited on various occasions at Arte in family, the following are mentioned: Country road, View of Pegli (1886), Pegli, Villa Rostand (1 887), Leafy recess, Impressions of Pegli (1 889), Val di Scalve (1 898), Impressions (1 908), Hovels (1 92 1). The authority acquired within the Company of which he is "the soul and life" leads Manziana to hold various positions and to collaborate in various initiatives: member of the commission for the celebrations in Moretto, in the fourth centenary; of the commission for celebrations on the occasion of the inauguration of the monument on Monte Guglielmo (1902), councilor within the Moretto School; animator of various artistic and sacred art exhibitions; initiator of initiatives for the protection of artistic heritage; in the subcommittee responsible for setting up the Brescia pavilion in Rome, on the fiftieth anniversary of the unification of Italy. In 1907, elected member of the civic University, he contributed to restoring the restored work of Palma Giovine to the church of S. Afra, and as an authoritative member, he was among those in the judging commission of the sketches who indicated Claudio Botta as worthy of creating the monument to Cesare Battisti . Friend of Roberto Venturi, Faustini, Filippini and Rovetta, he knew how to make himself well-liked by those who approached him, and his house had become a meeting place for artists from Brescia and abroad, of young people who, in memory of the founder, hoped to revive the Society which from Manziana had life. The exhibition of Brescian painting set up in 1934 aligned some works by Carlo Manziana: The study of the oaks, Impressions, Venice, Olive grove, Spiaggia a Pegli revealing the post-impressionist trait, a world captured with spontaneity and acuteness. Numerous works are still owned today by well-known Brescian families.
