MAURO CONCONI
Milan, 1815 – 1860
Camoens (or The shipwreck of Camoens)
oil on canvas, cm. 178×232,5
Signature and date at the bottom right corner: “Mauro Conconi / 1856”
Presented at Brera in 1856 and reported in the 1860s as part of the collection of the influential Milanese patrician, publisher, and politician Count Cesare Giulini della Porta (Milan, 1815 – 1862), this work by the Lombard painter, Mauro Conconi, recently reappeared on the antiquarian market as depicting the shipwreck of the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama. However, after further research, it was possible to retrace the actual identity of the subject, the Lusitanian sailor and poet Luís Vaz de Camões (c. 1524 – 1580), namely one of the fathers of Portuguese literature, and author of the epic poem Os Lusiadas, which he dedicated to his homeland. The 19th-century critic, and Conconi’s biographer, Giuseppe Mongeri described the painting as “one of the most meditated figures by the artist”, in which Conconi depicted the moment when Camões “stranded by so many misfortunes… [and] shipwrecked on the coasts of Goa, is thrown half-naked and half-alive against a rock by an enormous wave: he embraces it tightly, clutching to his chest the poet’s treasure, the dishevelled pages of his Lusiadas; he raises to the sky, in an act of grace, the only eye saved from long battles and the inclemency of fate”. Initially trained under Luigi Sabatelli (1772 – 1850) and later with Carlo Bellosio (1801 – 1849), Conconi distinguished himself as a bearer of a historical and national sentiment in mid-19th-century painting, which he combined with a keen psychological and expressive exploration of his subjects. The choice to portray Camões acquires significance deeply linked to the ideals of motherland and nation, which resonated strongly in Italy during the Risorgimento years – the very moment when Conconi’s painting is located. The fortuitous rediscovery of the painting not only adds a significant piece to the sparse corpus of surviving works by the artist, but also allows a long-lost masterpiece to be finally reconnected with its historical context and with the broader narrative of 19th-century Italian painting.
Publications
“Esposizione di Belle Arti”, Il Crepuscolo, 7 no. 40, 5 October 1856, pp. 642-45.
“Album Esposizioni di Belle Arti in Milano ed altre città”, Canadelli, Milan, 1856, p. 115
“Mauro Conconi pittore, 1815-1860. Commemorazione”, curated by Giuseppe Mongeri, Tipi di Pietro Agnelli Editore, Milan, 1861, pp. 37-38
“L’Italia nei cento anni del secolo XIX (1801 – 1900) giorno per giorno illustrata. 1850-1860”, curated by Alfredo Comandini, Antonio Vallardi, Milan, 1907-1918, 611 (with reproduction of the painting).
Exhibitions
Esposizione Annuale di Brera, Milan, 1856