Antonio Mancini Painting by Paul Meijering

About "Antonio Mancini Painting"

by Paul Meijering

About the artwork

Realistic painting in acrylic of Italian painter Antonio Mancini with his Il Saltimbanco, painted by the Dutch fine artist Paul Meijering - The original painting measures 120 x 90 cm

Antonio Mancini (Albano Laziale, 14 November 1852 - Rome, 28 December 1930) was an Italian painter. He painted mainly in a realist style, later emphatically with modernist and impressionist influences.

Antonio Mancini displayed a special talent for drawing at an early age and was admitted to the Accademia di Belle Arti di Napoli in Naples at the age of 12.

In 1877, Mancini left for France and met the impressionists Edgar Degas and Édouard Manet, who would strongly influence his later work. He befriended John Singer Sargent, who invited him for a long stay in London in 1880.

From 1881, Mancini suffered from severe depression, necessitating regular clinical admissions. Finally, he settled again, and now permanently, in Rome. Penniless, he tried to find a new balance there, supported financially by friends from the art world. They included Dutch painter and art collector Hendrik Willem Mesdag, who sent him money annually in exchange for paintings from 1885 onwards. Mesdag bought and resold more than 100 of his works.

Mancini had a relationship with the prostitute Aurelia, who modelled for him several times and eventually became his housekeeper and life companion. Eventually, he did find some balance in his life and achieved renewed productivity. In 1918, he even became a teacher at the Accademia d'Italia. He died in 1930, at the age of 78.