Federico
Zandomeneghi
1841
born in June in Venice. His father, Pietro, and grandfather, Luigi, were
both renown sculptors of classic-Canovian inspiration.
1856
at the age of 15 he enrolled in the Accademia di Belle Arti, Venice.
1859
an opponent of Austro-Hungarian domination, he fled Venice and was declared
a deserter.
1860
Joined Garibaldi's military campaign in Sicily.
1862
seeking to reunite with his family in Venice, he traveled northward past
Florence, but was captured after crossing the Po river and imprisoned
at Rovigo. Thanks to the intervention of a brother-in-law working as a
secretary at the Prefecture of Finances of Venice, his father obtained
his conditional release and brought him back to Venice. A few days later,
Zandomeneghi fled his home and reached Florence, where he established
ties with the painters of the Macchiaioli movement: Signorini, Fattori,
Lega, Borrani, Banti, Sernesi, the elder Cabianca and other members of
the Caffè Michelangelo circle.
1866
re-enlisted with Garibaldi's forces.
1866
- 1874
traveled between Florence and Venice, sometimes venturing to Rome. His
works from this period reflect Tuscan realism in the handling of color,
softened by the delicate tonality characteristic of classic-romantic Venetian
painting. He started to exhibit in major Italian cities.
1874
left Italy to settle in Paris. The year 1874 saw the birth of Impressionism,
with the exhibition of independent artists at the studio of the photographer
Nadar. They were the anti-academics who had been refused at the Salon
and included Renoir, Monet, Pissaro, De Nittis, Sisley, Berthe Morisot,
and Boudin. Zandomeneghi took rooms at the Hotel de Bruxelles, rue de
Clichy, before moving to 45, rue de la Victoire. He immediately joined
the group of young dissident artists who met in various Montmartre cafes.
1878
moved to 25, Passage de l'Elysée des Beaux Arts on Montmartre.
From here he moved to 7, rue Tourlaque in the heart of Montmartre, where
the painter Gauzi, an intimate friend of Toulouse-Lautrec, and Maria,
the future Suzanne Valadon, also lived. In these years he carried on an
intense correspondence with his dear friend, Diego Martelli, a famous
critic of the Macchiaioli movement.
1878
- 1879
met the prominent gallery owner, Paul Durand-Ruel; he took part in the
fourth exposition of the Impressionists, who greatly influenced his style.
But his paintings are distinctive in his unique use of composition and
handling of color, which reflects his Venetian origins and traditions
of Venetian painting. He became a close friend of Degas.
1880
exhibited at the fifth exhibition of the Impressionists .
1881
sixth exhibition of the Impressionists.
1886
seventh exhibition of the Impressionists. By now he was a noted painter
and favored by Durand-Ruel. He called for his mother and Tonina, one of
his sisters, to come and live with him.
1888
came under the influence of Seurat and Signac, theoreticians in the rigorous
separation of color. This division of color is clearly apparent in his
pastel "La Roussotte", in which the color, rather than being separated,
appears to be orderly arranged on the canvas, drawn and woven, as it gradually
softens into a fine powdery, atmospheric veil.
1893
his highly successful one-man show was held at the Durand-Ruel Gallery.
Overworked and exhausted, he retreated to the Chevreuse Valley with his
sister Tonina.
1898
in March he exhibited at another one-man show at the Durand-Ruel Gallery.
1906
submitted two works to the Milan International Exposition, but both were
met with cool reception.
1908
in October he exhibited at the G. Rosenberg Gallery. In December he took
part in the show "La Comédie Humaine", held at the Georges Petit
Gallery, together with Forain, Van Dongen and Raffaelli.
1914
Vittorio Pica and Angelo Sommaruga dedicated a salon to his works at the
Biennale. However, critics disapproved of them, calling them "too modern".
1917
death of Degas on 30 September; three months later, on 31 December, Zandomeneghi
was found dead at the foot of his bed.
1918
his funeral on 2 January was attended by a small circle of friends and
models at the St. Ouen cemetery. His studio was dismantled and his works
auctioned off for practically nothing.