Serafino Macchiati trained in Rome with the Divisionist painters and frequented the artistic and literary circles of the capital. Here Macchiati came into contact with U. Boccioni, D. Cambellotti, Sibilla Aleramo, G. Balla and other intellectuals strongly captivated by the myth of progress. we know some of his domestic scenes and some portraits of the Roman period (1880-1890); however, unable to give in to the flattery of an easy taste or to the prevailing symbolism of D’Annunzio’s influence, then rampant, comforted by a temperament prone to pictorial realism, Macchiati chose to devote himself fundamentally to something else right at the end of the century. First to advertising posters along with Balla – with whom he would forge a lasting friendship – then above all to the illustration of Italian books and magazines.

The opportunity which brought him fame was his activity as a draughtsman for the pages of the Tribuna Illustrata (1892-96). For the Tribuna he produced numerous scenes, mostly illustrations of literary passages taken from the stories that the newspaper published in instalments (among the authors L. Capuana, E. Scarfoglio, S. Di Giacomo, A. Fogazzaro and L. Pirandello). Effortlessly mastering the technique of watercolour and pen, he immediately qualified as a first-class witness of the modernity of the times, devising elegant, graceful and delicate figures without ever falling into affectation or affectedness.

In 1898, he was called to Paris by the publisher Lemerre who entrusted him with the illustration of four novels by P. Bourget. This gave him the opportunity to refine his ability to accurately represent the moods of the characters through the exaltation of facial expressions and the meticulousness of the settings. His scenes are characterized by a soft, elegant mark, up-to-the-minute graphics, and great mastery in the layout.

 

His greatest credit remains that of having contributed to the enhancement of illustration as a means of spreading art and customs. At the beginning of the 20^th century, new collaborations opened up for him: with the publisher Lafitte, which brought him greater editorial popularity, with the German Illustrirte Zeitung of Leipzig and with the French magazines Figaro Illustré (1902-04) and Je Sais Tout (1905-16).

Of this period, around the same years in which the work here presented was realized, his works with dark themes are known which we could define “of terror”: Le Visionnaire – The Visionary (Fig. 1) a work from 1904 now at the Musée d’Orsay, La Seduta Spiritica – The Seance (Fig. 2) from 1905, L’Oiseau Noir (The Black Bird) (Fig. 3) dated 1904, evidently inspired by The Raven, the famous poem by Edgar Allan Poe published in 1845 and translated by Baudelaire into French in 1853.

Evanescent, gloomy, with impalpable moods suspended between what could seem a memory or a dream, perhaps a nightmare, his works tell of a 19^th century in which the fear of running into a ghost reigned and fascinated.

 

Fig. 1

 

Fig. 2

 

Fig. 3

 

A Christmas Carol. Being a Ghost-Story of Christmas. (Canto natalizio. Una storia di fantasmi del Natale) is a ghost story published in London in 1843 by Charles Dickens (1812-1870) for Champman & Hall and illustrated by John Leech. One of Dickens’ most famous, moving and popular works, it tells the famous story of Ebenezer Scrooge, a miserly old London banker who hates Christmas and who, on Christmas Eve, will receive the visit of the ghost of Jacob Marley, his friend and business partner from whom he inherited the house in which he lives, and which will precede the visit of three spirits, that of Christmas Past, that of Christmas Present, and that of Christmas Yet to Come, to try to save his soul from eternal work, to which he will be condemned for not loving. After their appearances, Scrooge will emerge definitively changed, into a kinder and more generous man. In 1849, Dickens began public readings of his story, a success so unsettling that until his death he counted 127 acclaimed appearances. It was immediately translated into many languages.

The story of Dickens’ fictional tale would seem to fit perfectly with Macchiati’s work, treated ‘en grisaille’, presented here – L’Aimant. A mysterious work of an extraordinary suspense, with a magnetic capacity of attraction and suggestiveness.

 

Considered among the most important Italian artists in France after G. De Nittis and F. Zandomeneghi, and among the principal Italian illustrators in Paris together with O. Tofani and L. Rossi, on 28 April 1910, he was awarded a Knighthood of the Crown of Italy by King Vittorio Emanuele III.

In 1922, the 13^th Venice Biennale dedicated an exhibition to Serafino Macchiati where thirty-two of his works were presented, including Giardino sotto la neve, Fiore di ciliegio, La Seine à Vitry, La Marne, Bateaux sur la Seine, Le Lavoir d’Anduze , or La quercia e l’olivo. In 2003, his descendant, Silvana Frezza Macchiati, in collaboration with Raffaele De Grada, published a catalogue raisonné of his work in two volumes.