Lazzaro Donati, Italian Modernist Surrealist Bowl Of Fruit Still Life Oil Painting La Fruttiera, 1961

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Lazzaro Donati (Italian, 1926-1977), "Signora dal Cappello," oil on panel, signed lower left, signed, titled and dated verso, overall (with … Read more Lazzaro Donati (Italian, 1926-1977), "Signora dal Cappello," oil on panel, signed lower left, signed, titled and dated verso, overall (with frame): 22.75 X 24.75. sight 13.5 X 15.5

Lazzaro Donati was born in Florence and attended the Academy of Fine Arts. He began to paint in 1953, and in 1955 held his first exhibition at the Indiano Gallery in Florence. Within three years eleven exhibitions followed in Italy, and as his reputation grew he was invited to give major exhibitions in London, Paris, New York, Chicago, Rio de Janeiro and Montevideo. He is considered one of the foremost contemporary Italian painters and his paintings hang in museums and private collections throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. His work i faucist recalling the works of the french Raoul Dufy, Dunoyer de Segonzac, Francois Gall and jean Jansem.
Donati lived and worked at 24 Piazza Donatello in Florence, the square where generations of artists have created works worthy of the great Florentine tradition. As you entered the narrow hallway to his studio, a gilded life-size Venetian angel beckoned you to his door. Once inside, the present faded away and you found yourself in an atelier where early masters might have worked during the Renaissance. Within, luxurious Persian rugs set off the innumerable objects d’art and antique furnishings. Light poured in through the sloping glass wall on the north side. A dramatic stairway led to an overhanging balcony which served as a private gallery where the artist hung some of his favorite early works. To the left of the entrance was a smaller studio where Donati sculpted, with a window overlooking the famous old English cemetery where tourists laid flowers on the grave of Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

In the main studio itself, where Donati received his clients in an atmosphere as polished as an office of a top executive, one hardly realized that it was here that the artist actually painted. His easel was covered with Persian blue velvet, the painting on the easel was already framed, his chair was upholstered in red velvet and on his palette the colors were arranged with the precision of a Byzantine mosaic. In a corner stand were his latest works, framed and ready to be sent off to his next exhibition in Europe or America. He spoke fluent French and English as well as some Spanish and German. “After all”, he said, “you've got to know how to sell a painting to everyone.”

His early works indicated a momentary interest in surrealism and abstract art; they were predominantly two dimensional, depending on line and strong color. Donati's painting cannot be classified as belonging to a particular school of painting. Speaking of his artistic inspiration, he said, “I am not conscious of having imitated or been influenced by any one particular painter, but every painting contains the experiences of many previous painters. No artist can paint without being influenced by masters like Raphael, Michelangelo, Titian, and outside Italy by artists like Rembrandt and Renoir.” In fact, in certain of his larger paintings with their Madonna-like figures and extensive landscape backgrounds, you can see the influence of Italian Renaissance painting, both in particular motifs and in the monumentality of conception. But in each case the original inspiration served only as the starting point for a wholly new and creative work of art.

Over the years he had worked on the same themes, transforming them with his own poetic vision. His most frequently recurring subjects, the nude, the still-life and the cityscape in part reflect his stylistic preference for rounded forms. “I paint the female form” he said, “not only because it is beautiful, but because it is basically round.” Another favorite subject is the cityscape, and again his taste for curved forms appeared in his choice of two domed churches, the Salute in Venice and Santo Spirito in Florence, both which he painted in innumerable versions in brilliant, vibrating colors.

The still-life was his third major theme. Time and again he drew his inspiration from a bowl of fruit, recreating it anew as his own style constantly developed and changed. With Donati, these few themes, which have recurred in the works of great masters in the history of painting, became in each case a new source of pleasure, a fresh way of seeing, and an insight into the creative vision of the artist.

His talents were not limited to painting. He was also a sculptor and an excellent photographer who published two books of his photographs in the Famous Cities of the World Series on Venice and Florence. He also held a doctor's degree in economics from the University of Florence. See less