Renato Natali
(Livorno 1883 - 1979)
Oil painting on panel, signed lower right
Panel dimensions: 50x70cm Frame dimensions: 75x95cm
He was born in Livorno to a humble family. He studied here in the workshop of Lorenzo Cecchi, who was also his teacher at the School of Arts and Crafts, but he was essentially self-taught.
In 1905 he exhibited for the first time at the Venice Biennale, which he would participate in 6 more times until 1930. In Livorno, he frequented Caffè Bardi in Piazza Cavour, a meeting place for artists since 1909, and collaborated on its decoration with 3 paintings. He also exhibited in 1912 at the important 1st Livornese Art Exhibition at Bagni Pancaldi, where he won the Gold Medal from the Ministry of Public Education. A year later, he was in Paris, where he drew much inspiration.
In his very long career, he never adhered to specific movements; his painting is rapid, with rich colors, acidic and dissonant tones, strong chromatic contrasts, which he uses to depict Livorno, the main protagonist of his paintings. He paints views of the city day and night, immortalizing its life, also made of brawls and prostitutes, so much so that critics call him "peintre de la rue" and the Livornese people "Natali delle notti" (Natali of the nights), as evidenced in this museum by the 3 canvases Scorci della Vecchia Livorno (Glimpses of Old Livorno) (circa 1935).
In 1920, in Livorno, he was among the founders of the Gruppo Labronico, an association of painters founded in honor of Mario Puccini, who had just passed away, to collect his and Giovanni Fattori's legacy. Natali was its President from 1977 for the last 3 years of his life.
His paintings are in numerous Livornese homes and in some symbolic places in the city, such as Bar Civili.
He died in Livorno in 1979, at the age of 95