Studio: international art (27.1903)

Gaetano Previati

our great Italian master, whose originality is, alas ! Previati, on whom the painter of The Wave was
not yet fully recognised, exercised a very salutary really quite unable to exercise any influence, either
influence over Previati, and has also saved many a from the point of view of technique or com-
young painter from premature failure. Cremona position. Previati worked quietly on at Milan
could not, of course, give equal attention to all the forming his own individual style, at first ap-
painters who turned to him for help and encourage- proaching, to some extent, to that of Cremona,
ment, and as a result the personality of this but gradually achieving complete independence,
painter, or rather of this artist, who is little known although he always gratefully acknowleged the
out of his own country, though he is one of the debt he owed to the man who aided him in
greatest of modern Italian masters, has had a disas- realising his art ambitions. It was, indeed, when
trous influence on some, and a salutary one on the earnest, thoughtful young Ferrarese first came
others. In fact, just as the virile force of Michael into touch with Cremona that his art development
Angelo was responsible for the evolution of truly began.

Bernini, who emerged from a phalanx of mediocre Quiet, self-possessed, eagerly enjoying all things
sculptors, so did that of the Milanese painter pro- beautiful, his character is reflected in his painting;
' duce great results when it was brought to bear on he has the two qualities the combination of which
such men as Previati, men
whom the example of great
spirits inspire to follow in
their steps, yet at the same
time never lead them to
merge their own individu-
ality in that of another,
however great.

In a word, Previati was
not content merely to
emulate Cremona; but,
having reached the same
point as that master, he
went on, following the
leading of his own muse
along the sunlit path of art
in Italy ; a path which is
ever widening, thanks to
the happy fact that we have
at Milan a whole group
of such artists as Cre-
mona; glorious rebels, each
one working out his own
art-salvation according to
the dictates of his own
genius. In this group we
watched Giovanni Segan-
tini, whom all the world
agrees to honour, rise
up like a Hercules; we
looked on at the develop-
ment of Filippo Carcano,
the master par excellence
of landscape painting in
Lombardy ; and, lastly,
we noted the rapid pro-
gress of the man now
under review, Gaetano "madonna" by g. previati

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