Antonio Masutti

Lesti, Lesti al Timone - Hand Watercolored Lithograph by A. Masutti - 1848

1848

Antonio Masutti was an Italian painter, draftsman, engraver, lithographer, illustrator, and caricaturist. From a poor and numerous family, Masutti managed to redeem himself: his talent was discovered almost by chance and confirmed by several prizes that he won between 1830 and 1834. From 1839, he worked at the Kier printing plant. Masutti made the illustrations for the Strenna Triestina for the editions of 1839–40. He moved to Rome, first to continue his academic career, then changed his mind, entering the group of engravers and illustrators that revolved around the figure of the intellectual and patriot Michelangelo Pinto. For the latter, he made the drawings for the satirical newspaper Il Don Pirlone, of which 106 are now preserved at the British Museum in London. Masutti knows the Piedmontese group: the engraver Enrico Parmiani who puts him in contact with Agostino Lauro. Following Pinto, he moved to Turin in 1849. He continued to work for Pinto at Il Don Pirlone in Rome. Starting from 1851, he illustrated the Pantheon of the martyrs of Italian freedom. For the Turin bourgeoisie, he began to create miniature portraits for which he received good feedback. In 1856, Masutti illustrated the New Mysteries of Contemporary Rome, one of his most important illustrative works. He established a close relationship with Cavour, of whom he made many portraits. Between 1860–63, Masutti illustrated the History of Italy by Giuseppe La Farina and the five volumes of Pietro Corelli La Stella d'Italia or Nove Secoli di Casa Savoia. He came into contact with the major Risorgimento writers for whom he worked as an illustrator, in addition to Prati, also Francesco Domenico Guerrazzi and Antonio Ranieri. Masutti’s portrait of King Vittorio Emanuele II, engraved by Agostino Lauro, got him national resonance. Vittorio Emanuele II gave him the title of knight.