Self portrait, 1914
Indian ink cm 15 x 16
Indian ink cm 15 x 16
1892
He was born in Rossiglione in the province of Genoa on 14 February.
1899
His family moves to Milan.
1907
He obtains the "Technical Schools" diploma and goes to work as a librarian at Hoepli’s. His collegues are C. Branduani and G Scheiwiller.
1910
For a short time he attends private lessons with the painter Rapetti and in 1911 then he enrolls at the Fine Arts Academy of Brera in Milan where his professors are Cesare Tallone, Vespasiano Bignami, Mentessi and Confalonieri.
1912
He wins the "Brera award" for nudes.
1913
He participates in an exhibition at the Permanente in Milan and continues to attend the Brera Academy. In the meantime he meets E.Longoni, A.Wildt and G.Belloni regularly at their studios.
1914
He works as an illustrator for magazines connected with "Corriere della Sera”: first with “La lettura" then in 1915 and 1916 on “Il Corriere dei Piccoli” and “Italia Bella”.
1916
Together with A. Beltrame, R. Salvadori, Galli, Sacchetti, Bucci and others he illustrates "Qua e là per il mondo" by L.Barzini, for Hoepli. He takes part in an "Ally exhibition" under the pseudonime of Gian Maria Sandri and does some work for the National League of the Honourable Mr. Brentari.
1917
He illustrates some plates for "Pluto", a Greek play by Aristotles ( never published ).
1918
He goes to Rome where he meets Moggioli, Tito and others.
1921
He illustrates "Fanciulli d’Italia" by A.V. Gentile and "Viaggio sentimentale" di L. Sterne for Hoepli.
1922
He wins a prize at an illustration exhibition at Palazzo Pitti in Florence. He takes part in the Brera Academy 's National Exhibition at the Permanente in Milan. He does some illustrations for "Il Novellino" and “Il Guerin Meschino” .
1923
He is given the work of illustrating an important edition of "Poesie Edite e Inedite" by Carlo Porta, published in 1929 by Hoepli.
1924
He goes to Rome , he meets Mentessi and others again . He tries to sign on in the army as an illustrator. However he is admitted to a hospital on Monte Mario, perhaps also for political reasons.
1925
He does illustrations "La Novella".
1926
He is in Milan "on parole" and manages to successfully arrange a personal show at the Bolognesi Gallery, then he is admitted to hospital again until 1933.
1933
Released from hospital he goes to live in Ceriano Laghetto, a village near Milan, where he lives in some modest accomodation supplied by the Local Authority.
1934
He is in touch again with Hoepli, with Scheiwiller and Branduani. He meets up regularly with C. Carrà, C. Carpi, L. Bracchi, Simeone, E. Morelli, M. Maserati and others.
1936
He takes part in the VII Exhibition at the Permanente of Milan and submits to Hoepli sketches for an edition of a Spanish literature masterpiece, "Lazzarillo de Tormes", which he has been working on for some years but which is never published. These sketches are inedited.
1938
He presents Hoepli with a series of drawing and sketches for an edition, never realized, of "I Promessi Sposi", which he had been working on for years. Subsequently he is hospitalized in the psychiatric hospital in Mombello (Milan).
1940
He illustrates some children's books for the Ceschina publishing house: "Narrow the leaf, broad the way...", by G. Latronico and "Ravaldino", by A. Romagnoli.
1941
He proposes to Hoepli the publication of the manuscript "What is madness", a popular book on psychiatric problems, with its large collection of somatics. The manuscript remained unpublished.
1942
He creates drawings and sketches for the thirteenth-century text of the "Fioretti" of San Francesco, which have also remained unpublished. He prepares, for Piero Trevisani, drafts for "Enzeli", a popular book for children, which have been lost and remained unpublished.
1943
He prepares drawings of a religious nature for an exhibition at the Angelicum in Milan, which never took place.
1953
After various hospitalizations from 1945 to 1952, in 1953 he was permanently interned in Mombello.
1959
He dies alone in the psychiatric hospital on 6th November.