Edoardo Matania Artwork valuations, appraisals and auction estimates

Edoardo Matania (1847 - 1929) was a famous Italian painter and illustrator, born in Naples. Matania had a naturalist style which led him to work as an illustrator for the Bideri publishing house and to collaborate with Emilio Treves for 'L'illustration italiana'. Read the full biography

Edoardo Matania (1847 - 1929) was a famous Italian painter and illustrator, born in Naples. Matania had a naturalist style which led him to work as an illustrator for the Bideri publishing house and to collaborate with Emilio Treves for 'L'illustration italiana'. He also created the illustrations for the work "Garibaldi and his times" by Jessie White Mario and for the "History of the Italian Risorgimento" by Francesco Bertolini, both at the request of Treves. Furthermore, Matania also created the iconographic apparatus of " "Jerusalem Liberated" by Ludovico Ariosto for Sonzogno.
He married Alberto Della Valle's sister, with whom he had a son, Fortunino Matania, who would become a renowned painter and illustrator. Together they illustrated The Life and Kingdom of Victor Emmanuel II by Giuseppe Massari, whose original sketches were the subject of an exhibition at the National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome.
Matania performed numerous Risorgimento engravings and was one of the Neapolitan impressionists to fresco the vaults of the Caffè Gambrinus in Naples. In the 20th century, Matania moved to London, where he worked as a designer and illustrator for The Sphere and other European periodicals. His favorite subjects were neo-Pompeian environments and costumes, inspired by the work of Lawrence Alma Tadema.
Matania died in Naples on 17 December 1929.