EXTRACTS: Drawing from History: The Forgotten Art of Fortunino Matania © The Book Palace (340 PAGES in Full edition)

The Forgotten Art of Fortunino Matania 5 ‘To me there is only one man to-day who really excels at this kind of work. He is an Italian from Naples, Fortunino Matania, and it was my good fortune to secure his loyal services very early in the history of The Sphere . Whereas older artists required two or three days for the production of a double page which was at all convincing or impressive as a view of things seen, Signor Matania is able to present his efforts after but a few hours, and to me his pictures are always attractive.’ Matania was frequently billed as its star attraction and the variety of subjects he tackled during this period, in the years leading up to the Great War, reflect his great versatility. Scenes of London society at its most vibrant and glamorous contrast sharply with his impressions of industry and working class life, while there seem to be few royal or state occasions at which Matania was not present. The roof garden restaurant at the shiny, new Selfridges department store might be a subject in one issue, a socialist rally in Hyde Park the next. Tango teas, the first Royal Variety Performance or skating at Prince’s Skating Club are interspersed with images of tourists in Egypt, the interior of a colliery worker’s cottage, a bustling, early morning Covent Garden market or aspects of the Grimsby fishing industry. His scenes of London, a city that was to be his permanent home for most of his life, are particularly fascinating, each scene brimming with life, and glorious detail. These are pictures that transport us back to the sparkling interior of an Edwardian pub, alive with the hum of conversation and furls of smoke, as barmaids serve customers. They take us to the smartest night clubs, hotels and restaurants – the Savoy, Quaglino’s, the Lotus Club – or to the Zoological Gardens in Regent’s Park on a summer’s day, heaving with mothers, nannies, perambulators and excitable children. A scene in the prestigious Bath Club, visited by Matania in August 1911, shows the young Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII, Duke of Windsor) in his swimming trunks ( The Sphere was at pains to point out the picture had been presented, and permitted for publication by Buckingham Palace). American visitors to the capital are shown admiring the Temple church, and a bier-halle, once a popular Regent Street haunt, is filled with a bawdy, beer-soused crowd of revellers. In every picture, the scrupulous accuracy is breathtaking. Wallpaper, mouldings, furniture, tableware, carvings, doorways, textiles and of course costumes – all are tackled with a care that suggests Matania took great pleasure in recreating these details. Having covered the 1911 Coronation of George V, in December that year, he was given a challenge that was to draw on his stamina and ingenuity as an artist. The Delhi Durbar of George V and Queen Mary was an event of unprecedented splendour and exoticism, staged on a huge scale. It was the kind of scene Matania relished portraying, and he managed to secure a front row seat. While many reporters present had to be satisfied with a view through binoculars from some distance away, Matania donned a ceremonial uniform and, in the sweltering heat, stood on the dais, blending in alongside the other guards, dignitaries and officials. It enabled him to note and memorise every detail, right down to the intricate carving on the dais steps. The results, for which Matania was awarded the Coronation medal, were published in The Sphere a fortnight later and show him to be an illustrator at the height of his powers. Nevertheless, he never downplayed the efforts to which he went to research his pictures. In ‘My Methods,’ a book published in 1932 in which numerous well-known artists were asked about their techniques, Matania exposed the reality of being a press artist: ‘It would require a book to relate the unexpected adventures, the tricks to which I have many times had to resort, the comical positions in which I have found myself, and occasionally the risks I have run of being arrested by the police of those countries of which I was not familiar with the language. Then the hotel room, transformed into a studio, the chambermaid into a model, the sheets of the bed arranged as a train of a Queen, etc. On more than one occasion I have made the drawing in the train on my way back.’ With the only mode of transport by ship, Matania’s trip to India would have kept him away from home for several weeks. Nevertheless, The Sphere was swift to reassure readers that in his absence, his father Eduardo would be standing in for him. Not only that, Fortunino’s cousin Ugo, was sending images back from Tripoli where the Italian- Turkish war was raging. The Matanias liked to keep things in the family. No records exist recording Matania’s salary with The Sphere , but the work, along with other commissions, allowed him to live in some comfort at 47 Sutherland Avenue, a substantial Maida Vale house with stuccoed windows arranged over four floors. The 1911 census tells us that the 30 year-old Matania was head of a typical close- knit but extended Italian family. As well as his wife Elvira (nee di Gennaro), who he’d married in 1905, and his three year-old son, Cirano, also listed were Matania’s parents,