Review of 'Art & Reality in the Great War – the work of Fortunino Matania' by Luci Gosling (February 2020)

Fortunino Matania was born in Naples in 1881. He was the son of an artist, Eduardo Matania, and acquired his skills as an artist in his father’s studio. He designed, drew and exhibited his work from an early age. Expeditions to Pompeii, not far from his home, inspired him with a sense of the dramatic & historical nature of his art. He produced illustrations for the weekly ‘l’IllustrazioneItaliana’ from the age of 14, this magazine published his famous scenes from the Russo-Japanese war in 1904. He then moved on the French ‘Illustration Française’ before being invited to work for ‘the Sphere’ where his most famous work was to be published. During his working life he would illustrate the coronation of every British Monarch from Edward VII to Elizabeth II.

His illustrations of the Russo-Japanese War (from descriptions of participants)made his name in Europe but he concentrated mainly on being a society illustrator before World War 1. He travelled to India in 1911 to illustrate the Delhi Durbar where he revealed a special talent. Having been assigned a special position to observe the event, he was able to recreate the scenes from memory after the event as sketching during the ceremonies was forbidden. While he was in India, his position as society illustrator was covered by members of his family – usually his father Eduardo or his cousin Hugo.

In 1912 he produced a set of illustrations of the sinking of the Titanic, both of the Titanic sinking but also the confusion and chaos on its decks, all from interviews with survivors. When war was declared in 1914, he produced detailed illustrations of a variety of scenes – returning wounded, the RAMC in the trenches, the aftereffects of the shelling of Hartlepool and the artillery action at Néry, all from detailed interviews. In 1915 he produced images which sealed his reputation – A Scottish soldier rescuing a girl from the battlefield at Loos, a Belgian child sticking his tongue out at a German Soldier (The Strongest), a German Gas attack (which was syndicated and appeared not only in the Sphere but also in a German periodical, Die Wechenschau) and ‘The Last general Absolution of the Munsters’.

While Mantania was in France during 1915, he became aware of the shell shortage experienced by the BEF. On his return to the UK, he campaigned vigorously about this and Mantania was one of many voices, including Charles Repington, to call on the government to increase production. The Ministry of Munitions was created (supervised by Lloyd George) and new factories devoted to shell manufacture were built.Also, in 1915, Matania produced a series of illustrations of Zeppelins, both in flight and after their ‘shooting down’, and scenes from the Italian Front.

During 1916, Matania’s illustrations of war took on a more story like quality especially during the various accounts of the Somme battles and soldiers in dugouts, especially at Christmas writing letters home.

Perhaps the best known of Matania’s war time paintings is ‘Goodbye Old Man’ depicting a soldier bidding farewell to his mortally wounded horse. It was commissioned by the Blue Cross Fund, a charity established for the benefit of horses wounded in war.

His illustrations for the remaining years of the war depicted heroism in battle and resilience on the Home Front. Matania filled his studio with props to ensure accuracy. After the war he was in demand to produce pictures based on a romantic view of history. He was at his best with pictures of Ancient Rome, biblical scenes like Samson and Delila and even American Indian maidens once again using props in his studio for accuracy.

These illustrations often included voluptuous nudes which Matania would include as ‘his public demanded these images’ in his work. He submitted paintings to the Royal Academy and was asked to produce illustrations for fantasy novels as well as authentic designs for Cecil B DeMille’s ‘Ten Commandments’.

As an Italian immigrant he was interned during World War 2 after Italy joined the war on the Axis side. After the war he contributed work to Italian magazines during the 1950s. Fortunino Matania died in 1963.

Report by Peter Palmer

Below is a video of Luci Gosling's presentation