Umberto Veruda

Umberto Veruda (6 April 1868 – 29 August 1904) was an Austro-Hungarian painter known for his portraits and scenes of upper-class society. Born in Trieste to a modest family, he began his artistic training under Raffaele Astolfi before enrolling at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich at age sixteen. There, he studied under Alexander von Wagner and was influenced by Max Liebermann's work. In 1887, Veruda spent six months in Paris studying with William Adolphe Bouguereau and Joseph Nicolas Robert-Fleury, focusing on drawing rather than oil painting. He later visited Venice to study the works of Favretto, Velázquez, Tintoretto, and Titian. Veruda continued his education in Rome from 1889 onwards, thanks to private patronage and a prize from Baroness Cecilia de Rittmeyer, which allowed him to extend his stay. During this period, the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna acquired his painting "Sii onesta." He traveled extensively to cities like Berlin, Budapest, Vienna (where his work was particularly successful), and Paris again in 1897. In London, he studied English art from the 18th and early 19th centuries. In 1903, he painted portraits of the Spencer family at Blenheim Palace. Following his mother's tragic death in 1904, Veruda stayed with his friend Italo Svevo in Burano, where he met painters Italico Brass and Pieretto Bianco. He left Burano that summer and died shortly thereafter at age thirty-six; the cause of his death remains unknown. A retrospective of his work was held, and a monument was erected at his grave in Trieste's Cimitero ...