Eugenio Conti

Son of the doctor Bernardino and Angela Ogliari, he studied painting at the Accademia Carrara of Bergamo and had Enrico Scuri as his teacher; in 1864 he moved to Florence and studied with Antonio Ciseri, from 1866 he was in Rome to attend the National Academy of San Luca attending the workshop of Cesare Mariani he remained there until 1864. In his youth he was linked to the patriots Garibaldi's men. He fought in 1866 as a volunteer among the Garibaldini, performing heroic deeds, and was taken prisoner by the Austrians in Trentino, and was incarcerated in Slovenia, he could only return to his homeland following an exchange of prisoners.

Later in 1874 he lived between Milan in Crema and married his cousin Zoe Fontana, with whom he had four children, discovering the village of Lierna on Lake Como thanks to a family of high nobility, where he would then spend many years in holiday, finding in that environment the inspiration for numerous works.

He made paintings for the churches of Vaiano Cremasco, Credera, San Giovanni Battista and Santa Maria della Croce in Crema, for Palazzo Bonzi and villa Poma in Biella. He took part in the industrial and artistic exhibition in Cremona, in a similar exhibition in Turin and in the industrial exhibition Milan.

In 1901 he was appointed honorary member of the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera.

He is buried in the cemetery of Sergnano: on the tomb there is a bronze medallion with the portrait of him made by the sculptor Alessandro Laforêt.

Conti will often be a guest with numerous other painters of a noble family in Lierna on Lake Como, where he is hosted to stay in the summer of 1908, making his last large work before dying The boat turns the tip  in Lierna, painted En plein air from the terrace of a villa on Lierna, declaring it to be the most beautiful sight of his life. The work is now part of the permanent collection of the Civic Museum of Crema and Cremasco.

Museums 
 Frescoes Basilica di Sant'Ambrogio in Milan
 Civic Museum of Crema and Cremasco
 Museum of the Maggiore Hospital in Milan
 Affrechi Church of San Giacomo in Crema
 Monumental Cemetery of Milan

Exhibitions 
 Universal Exhibition in Paris (1878)
 National Exhibition of Milan 1881
 Italian general exhibition of 1884
 Museo della Permanente, Milan 1885
 Triennial Italian exhibition of fine arts of 1900

Bibliography 
 Thieme Becker, Kunsterlex, 1912
 A. De Gubernatis, Dizionario artisti italiani viventi, 1889
 A.M. Comanducci, Pittori Italiani dell'Ottocento, 1934 
 A.M. Comanducci, Dizionario Ilustrato dei pittori e incisori italiani moderni, II ediz. Milano, 1945 
 A.M. Comanducci, Dizionario Ilustrato dei pittori e incisori italiani moderni, III ediz. Milano, 1962 
 Andrea Bombelli, I pittori cremaschi, 1857
 A.M. Comanducci, Ed. 1962
 Carlo Mussi, Eugenio Giuseppe Conti, Leva Artigrafiche, Crema 1987
 E.G.Conti, Dalla campagna garibaldina alla presa di Porta Pia (1866-1870)

Other websites 
  Ti racconto il Museo - Il battello gira la punta, Museo Civico di Crema e del Cremasco

1842 births
1909 deaths
Italian painters
People from Crema
19th-century Italian painters
20th-century Italian painters
Accademia Carrara di Bergamo alumni