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Giovanni Sottocornola (1 August 1855, Milan – 12 February 1917, Milan) was an Italian painter and art restorer.

Biography

He was born to a working-class family. His father died when he was still a boy, and he became largely responsible for supporting his siblings. In 1875, he was able to enroll at the Brera Academy, where he studied with Raffaele Casnedi and Giuseppe Bertini. He graduated in 1880. Two years later he had his first exhibition, at the Academy. His early works were mostly portraits and still-lifes, in the Naturalist style.

In 1883, he married Luigia Carati and they would have four children, two of whom died as infants. The others, Anita and Maria, often served as his models. Their portraits were among the numerous paintings he exhibited throughout Northern Italy in the 1880s. He also participated in an exhibition of Italian paintings held in Montevideo in 1889.

After 1891, he began to address social themes and experimented with Divisionism. In 1898, he participated in another exhibition in Latin America; this time in Buenos Aires.

By 1900, he was once again devoting himself to portraits and domestic scenes, mostly with female subjects, and used pastels in addition to oils. He also created some landscapes in the mountains around Valassina. Shortly after, he opened his own private, co-educational art school.

During this time, he also worked to restore paintings by Bernardino Luini at the Church of St. Maurice in the Monastero Maggiore, and at the Church of San Antonio [it].

He died suddenly and was buried in the Monumental Cemetery of Milan.

References

1. Esposizione 1882. Catalogo ufficiale, A. Lombardi, Milano, 1882, p. 11-28-33
2. ‘‘Dizionario degli Artisti Italiani Viventi: pittori, scultori, e Architetti.’’, by Angelo de Gubernatis. Tipe dei Successori Le Monnier, 1889
3. Aurora Scotti, Dal salotto agli ateliers: produzione artistica femminile a Milano 1880-1920, Sapi, Milano, 1989, p. 97 ISBN 978-88-7142-000-4

Further reading

• Giovanna Ginex, Giovanni Sottocornola. Dal realismo sociale al quotidiano familiare, Artes, 1985
• Erwin Silbernagi, Giovanni Sottocornola. Immagini da una collezione, catalogo della mostra, Antea, 1991

External links

• Biography and appreciation of Scottornola by Beatrice Buscaroli, from the Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani @ Treccani
• More works by Sottocornola @ ArtNet

• 1855 births
• 1917 deaths
• 19th-century Italian painters
• Italian male painters
• 20th-century Italian painters
• Italian genre painters
• Painters from Milan
• Divisionist painters
• Brera Academy alumni
• 19th-century Italian male artists
• 20th-century Italian male artists