Carlo Wostry | La Belle Époque painter

A painter of historical and genre subjects, Carlo Wostry (1865-1943) was also a sculptor and engraver. He studied in Vienna and also at the Baviere School in Munich, so gaining a varied and comprehensive training as a young man.

His first exhibition was in his hometown of Trieste, Italy and he painted a number of fine portraits there and soon produced a good living from his vocation as an artist.

Greatly influenced by Giovanni Boldini (1842-1931) the great portrait and genre painter from Ferare, Italy.

La Belle Epoque was at the heart of Paris, being the fashion centre of the world, where 'bonne viveur' was the rule not the exception. The Upper Classes from all around the civilised Western World queued to have their portraits painted and they were not disappointed.

The Frenchman James Jacques Joseph Tissot (1836-1902) and the American James Abbott McNeil Whistler (1834-1903), both based in London, were among the artists frequently travelling to Paris, the former ultimately settling there after the untimely death of his mistress Kathleen Newton, and so it was good place for an aspiring artist to be.

Exhibiting regularly at the Paris Salon, Wostry was to gain an Honourable Mention in 1898, but he did not limit himself to just Paris, he also frequented Rome and the Museum of Modern Art there has an example of his work entitled "Tears" and in his home town Museum Revoltella in Trieste three of his paintings can be seen, one being a landscape, another entitled "The Artist" the third "The Source of Clitumno". | © E. Bénézit, Dictionnaire des Peintres

Wostry followed him to Paris, where he was to continue painting portraits of societies Elite, but also genre scenes* as they promenaded along the Champs Elysée and other grand boulevards in the city centre.

Carlo Wostry (1865-1943) nacque a Trieste il 18 febbraio 1865. Suo padre era irlandese e sua madre, Virginia Artelli, proveniva da un’antica famiglia veneziana. Come tutti i rampolli dell’ex impero austro ungarico studiò a Vienna, all’Accademia di Belle Arti, con maestri importanti, come Franz von Leinbach.

Rientrato a Trieste nel 1887 espose la sua prima opera importante, la Via Crucis, che in seguito fu installata nella Chiesa dei Gesuiti di Santa Maria Maggiore. In quegli anni, Trieste era una vivace milieu artistico, ricco di incontri culturali e Wostry divenne una figura di spicco nei circoli artistici.

Espose a Barcellona, visse tre anni a Budapest, e trascorso del tempo in Oriente e in Russia, dove acquisì un certo gusto per l’esotismo.

Nel 1896 iniziò sette anni di permanenza a Parigi, continuando a dipingere, illustrando tutti i tipi di pubblicazioni, scrivendo articoli per riviste europee, ma lavorando soprattutto per Le Figaro Illustré. Poi iniziò un lungo viaggio negli Stati Uniti. Tornato in Italia, ha continuato a lavorare intensamente come pittore e ha organizzato una mostra retrospettiva della sua opera giovanile.

Ha inoltre completato la decorazione della Chiesa di Santa Maria Maggiore a Cordenons con una serie di dodici grandi tele raffiguranti i santi. Carlo Wostry è morto a Trieste il 10 marzo 1943.