International studio (34.1908)

Carlo Fornara, Italian “ Luminist


“d'apres une legende des alpes”

BY CARLO FORNARA

Emmanuel, which for years past was to be erected
in Rome, is the unhappy index of the architectural
condition of the Peninsula. Painters and sculptors
have the upper hand in Italy to-day; thus, there is
no extreme difficulty in finding a painter capable of
interesting the man of taste.
Here, for example, is Carlo Fornara, a “lu-
minist ” of the extremest kind, who, while reviving
memories of Giovanni Segantini, is a thinking
artist, capable perhaps, even without the aid of
Segantini, of fighting his way in such a manner as
to suggest a resemblance to the greatest master of
Italian landscape.
Before writing these notes I asked and obtained
an interview with M. Fornara, and I convinced
myself of that which I now state.
This young painter, far from being a mere votary
of beauty, is a creator thereof, regarding it with his
own eyes, mentally alert and “ live.”
Himself a mountain dweller, Fornara paints the
mountain and the countryside; and, although quite
a young man, is qualified to analyse his own soul
and his own art.
From 1884 to 1889 he studied at the School of
Fine Arts at S. Maria Maggiore, chief town of the
Valley of Ossola. At that time the school was con-

ducted by Enrico Cavalli, an artist, unrecognised
but full of talent, who had lived in France, and
studied at Lyons under Guichard, the great colourist
and pupil of Eugene Delacroix, likewise the friend of
the most eminent masters of the 1830 school. At
that date Lyons boasted a most remarkable artistic
circle, in constant touch with any revival started in
the great art centre, Paris. Two masters of landscape,
less famous than they had every right to be, were
Vernay and Carrand, whose works, in brilliant
colours, made a deep impression on Fornara when
he visited Lyons in 1894. Vernay was then dead
—he died in poverty and obscurity—while Carrand
lived on, thanks to the help of his daughter, a
laundress !
Cavalli’s art was shaped in these surroundings, in
the midst of a movement which was bound to have
a real influence on his mind; and if the Franco-
German war of 1870 had not intervened to upset
the country it is possible that Cavalli would not
have found himself at S. Maria as the teacher of
Fornara. It should be added that before returning
to Italy Cavalli went to Marseilles, where he made
the acquaintance of the remarkable colour-sympho-
nist, Monticelli, who also was endeavouring to get
out of the way of the war. Cavalli became closely

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