Calcedonio Reina

Calcedonio Reina (Catania, Sicily February 4, 1842 – Catania, November 10, 1911) was an Italian painter and poet. He is described as having a melancholic and neurasthenic temperament in life and art.

Biography

His father was a prominent surgeon in Sicily, and who wished for a career in Medicine for his son. Calcedonio moved to Naples in 1864, and soon found himself making copies of the classic sculptures in the Capodimonte Museum. He was accepted as a pupil of the Institute of Fine Arts by Domenico Morelli. Soon thereafter he traveled to Florence, and Rome, painting interiors and vedute of ruins, designing statues and busts. He was prolific during this period. Among his paintings are Il Cieco pompeiano; Suor Clara sedotta dal demonio; and Una scena dell'89.

In 1877 at the National Exposition of Fine Arts in Naples, he displayed Accaduto nel coretto; Miserere; Exagitatio; and Ada. In 1881 at Turin, and the next year at Milan, he exhibited Amore e morte. This painting is depicts a couple in amorous kiss, in front of the arrayed rows of mummified corpses in the Catacombs of Cappuccini of Palermo. It is a morbid, almost ghoulish, commentary on Hayez's The Kiss.^[1] In 1883 at Rome, he exhibited Per Montecarlo (lost); and È lui.. (Accaduto nel Coretto). In Berlin in 1883 and London in 1888, he exhibited paintings titled Temptation. In 1891-1892 at Palermo, he exhibited Campagne d'una volta and Expiation. In 1897 at the Brera Triennale of Milan, he sent a painting titled Vendetta. In 1898 at Turin, he sent a painting titled Nyosoumba and to St Petersburg, Russia, he sent Ti aspetto.

His book of poetry: Canti della Patria was warmly received by contemporaries such as Victor Hugo, Guerrazzi, and Tommasèo. Calcedonio was a friend of the famed Sicilian poet Mario Rapisardi.^[2][3]

The house where he lived and died in Catania has an outside plaque stating he was a poet in painting, and painter in poetry.^[4]

References

1. Amore e Morte at the Museo del Castello Ursino in Palermo.
2. Artisti Napoletani Viventi: Pittori, scultori, incisori, ed Architetti. by Enrico Gianelli, preface by Eduardo Dalbono. Tipografia Melfi e Joele, Naples, 1916, page 400-402.
3. Dizionario degli Artisti Italiani Viventi: pittori, scultori, e Architetti., by Angelo de Gubernatis. Tipe dei Successori Le Monnier, 1889, page 410.
4. Plaque reads: Calcedonio Reina/Cuore e mente d'artista/Incarno potentemente/incarnó potentemente/il pensiero geniale/nella magia dei colori e dei versi/e fu poeta nella pittura/pittore nella poesia/in questa casa ov'egli visse e morí/la patria/a perenne ricordo.