Ettore Cosomati (1871 - 1960) Still life of Calendule with lemon and pipe

Ettore Cosomati (Naples 1871 - Milan 1960)
Still life of Calendule with lemons and pipe

Oil on canvas in golden frame
Measures: 53 x 45 cm (73 x 64 cm including the frame)

Epoch: the painting has a customs mark of 1928, which circumscribes the three epoch 1912 (period in which it is approached to the oil painting) and 1928

Ettore Cosomati was born in Naples where he lived until ten years in a small village and then moved to his uncle Filippo Cosomati. In 1894 he began his wanderings around Europe. In Paris, where he later returned several times, he frequented mainly the musicians' milieu. In 1895 he moved to Germany where he began his artistic career, first devoting himself only to drawing. However, his travels through Germany, Paris and Italy were very frequent. Between 1897 and 1898 he studied at the school of Bernhard Mannfeld where he learned the technique of etching. It was while working at Mannfeld’s studio that Cosomati made the acquaintance of William Ritter, an art critic, who became interested in his work and advised him to continue working independently. The first tempera paintings date back to 1909 and around 1912 he began to devote himself to oil painting, first using the brush and then the spatula. Between 1896 and 1914 he was present at the Munich International Exhibition at the Glass Palace, and exhibited his works in several group exhibitions in Frankfurt and other German cities. In 1904 he participated in the Universal Exhibition of Saint Louis. In 1923 he had his first solo exhibition in Milan at the Bottega di poesia. In the same year he participated in the Second Roman Biennale, presenting twenty paintings, still lifes and landscapes. He remained in London until 1939, where he made numerous city views.

During the London period he organized with his son Aldo the English section at the second Monza Biennale (the future Triennale) in 1925; in 1934, he was also invited to participate in the XIX Venice Biennale.

In 1940 he was in Italy: since the previous year he had not been able to return to London because of the outbreak of World War II. Cosomati remained in Milan until his death in 1960, on the eve of the inauguration of his last exhibition at Palazzo Reale. Cosomati’s works, whose favorite subjects were mainly landscapes, still lifes and portraits, are present in numerous Italian and foreign private collections and in some European museums, including the Kunsthaus in Zurich, the Modern Art Gallery in Milan, the National Cabinet of Prints of Rome.