Salvator Mazza Biography
Salvatore Mazza (Milan, 19 April 1819 – Milan, 24 October 1886) was an Italian painter, writer, engraver and illustrator. The Milanese Mazza family produced three artists: Salvatore Mazza - who as a cartoonist signed himself Salvatore - his brother Giuseppe (Milan, 1817 - Milan, 1884), painter of historical and genre subjects and Aldo (Milan, 1880 - Gavirate, 1964) - son of Giuseppe - who was a painter, advertiser, designer and caricaturist. Following in the footsteps of Domenico Induno, Salvatore Mazza later chose to concentrate on realistic painting, in contrast with the dominant romantic current which preferred courtly and historical painting. In 1844 he presented two canvases at Brera with episodes of the Greek War of Independence and genre paintings with a popular setting. He undertook long study trips to the Papal States and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, gathering new insights from life in the cities and villages and filling his albums with sketches of landscapes and figures. Returning to Milan he painted Funeral in the Roman Campagna, Calabrian Brigands, The Sorceress (1845) and Sermon at the Sanctuary near Sora (1847).
