Umberto Veruda (Trieste, 1868-1904) was an Austro-Hungarian painter, known for his portraits and upper-class society scenes.
He was born to a family of modest means.
He was introduced to the art of painting by a local artist, originally from Bologna, named Raffaele Astolfi (1829-1900); known for portraits in the Academic style.
In 1884, at the age of sixteen, he went to Munich, where he was able to enroll at the Academy of Fine Arts, where his fellow Triestini, Carlo Wostry and Isidoro Grünhut, were also studying.
His primary instructor was Alexander von Wagner.
During this time, he was influenced by the works of Max Liebermann.
In 1887, he visited Paris for the first time and spent six months there drawing, rather than painting oils, with William Adolphe Bouguereau and Joseph Nicolas Robert-Fleury.
After a short stay in Venice, where he studied the works of Favretto, Velàzquez, Tintoretto and Titian, he returned to Trieste.
In 1889, thanks to contributions from some private individuals who were impressed by his talent, he was able to study in Rome.
After winning an art prize established by the Baroness Cecilia de Rittmeyer, he had sufficient means to stay there for two more years.
Shortly after, the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna purchased his painting "Sii onesta" (Be Honest).
The next period of his life involved extensive travelling; to Berlin, Munich, Budapest, Vienna (where his works were especially successful), then back to Paris in 1897.
He finally paid a visit to London, to study English art from the 18th and early 19th centuries.
In 1903, he was invited to Blenheim Palace, where he painted portraits of several members of the Spencer family.
In the spring of 1904, his mother died tragically.
His close friend, the author Italo Svevo, offered him the hospitality of his home in Burano, where he met with the painters Italico Brass and Pieretto Bianco (1875-1937); old acquaintances from Paris.
In the middle of summer, he left Burano.
He died shortly after, aged only thirty-six, but the cause of his death is unknown.
A retrospective of his works was held in his honor, and a small monument was erected on his grave at the Cimitero di Sant'Anna.
A street in Trieste has been named after him.
In 1932, the Circolo Artistico di Trieste placed a bust of Veruda in the Giardino Pubblico.
It was created by the sculptor, Giovanni Mayer (1863-1946), a friend of Veruda's whose portrait he had painted.
Veruda also appears as a character (the sculptor Stefano Balli) in Svevo's novel, Senilità; translated into English under the title As a Man Grows Older. | Source: © Wikipedia
Isidoro Grünhut | Ritratto del pittore Umberto Veruda, 1886
Umberto Veruda with the writer Italo Svevo
Umberto Alessandro Augusto Veruda (Trieste, 1868-1904) è stato un pittore Austro-Ungarico.
Personaggio estroso ed eccentrico, innovatore focalizzato principalmente sul ritratto, nonostante le influenze dei maestri del passato e dei contemporanei (come Tiziano, Diego Velázquez, Giacomo Favretto e Max Liebermann - fondatore della Secessione di Berlino che frequentò a lungo nel periodo bavarese), Veruda riesce a conservare una propria originalità e, pertanto, ad essere identificato con uno stile personale che delinea gli aspetti interiori dell’animo umano e un forte utilizzo degli effetti di luce e dei colori puri, elementi tratti dalla conoscenza degli Impressionisti francesi.
Nei primi anni della sua attività, per motivi prettamente economici, produce una larga quantità di dipinti commissionati da personaggi della borghesia triestina senza introdurvi novità stilistiche, presenti invece nei ritratti destinati ad amici pittori e scultori, dove gli è consentita ampia libertà espressiva che viene regolarmente applicata nelle opere tardive, come la serie di ritratti di famiglia dei duchi di Marlborough a Blenheim Palace, di fatto la sua commissione più rilevante.
Frequente anche la produzione di scene di genere, con soggetti tratti dall'estrazione popolare (Sii onesta!, Garanghelo, Buranelle).
Di fondamentale importanza l'amicizia fraterna con il concittadino Italo Svevo, con il quale condivide il mancato iniziale apprezzamento della critica a causa della sua pittura ritenuta eccessivamente moderna e rapida; il sostegno e l'appoggio reciproco tra i due amici rappresenta uno stimolo per il superamento delle difficoltà, così come per la diffusione ai posteri delle opere di Veruda, in gran parte ereditate dall'amico e raccolte a Villa Veneziani, casa di famiglia della moglie dello scrittore. | Fonte: © Wikipedia
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