Guido Greganti - Stronger than Life

He was born in Livorno in 1897.

In 1921 he decided to devote himself exclusively to painting and the following year he moved to Rome, where he began a long and fruitful career as a portraitist during which he always maintained an isolated position, outside the innovative ferment of contemporary artistic trends, carefully respecting the indications of a rigorously figurative tradition (Biancale).

The portrait of Cardinal V. Vannutelli (1924: location unknown), that of Pius XI (1925: property of the diocese of San Paolo in Brazil) and the first portrait of Benito Mussolini (1929: formerly property of the National Press Association of Rome, now lost) date back to the beginning of his career, which was difficult and burdened by economic difficulties.

The first official recognition of G.'s technical abilities came in 1939, when the Gold Medals for Military Valor Group commissioned him to create portraits of the soldiers who had been awarded the gold medal between 1848 and 1939. The result was a portfolio of 61 drawings, later published in five volumes, edited by the group itself (Bianchi). Between 1948 and 1950, he created the second series for the officers of the Second World War.

In 1942, commissioned by the Ministry of the Navy, he painted the portrait of Victor Emmanuel III (property of the Ministry of Defense, Navy, Rome). This was just the beginning of a long career tied to military commissions, which would lead him to become the official painter of the Carabinieri.

His collaboration as a designer with the Italian Encyclopedia dates back to those years, for which he created a series of around 1000 machinery drawings.

His first solo exhibition dates back to 1947, when G. exhibited at the Roman gallery La Conchiglia. The works presented, including the portrait of Pius XII (property of the Pontifical North American College, Rome), clearly revealed his style, attentive to tradition and intended primarily to satisfy the demands of a certain type of official portraiture.

In 1950 he won two national competitions: the first with the portrait of Pius X (Church of Sant'Onofrio, Rome); the second with a painting depicting Saint Barbara (Church of San Francesco, Villafranca Lunigiana). In the same year, in yet another solo exhibition at the Conchiglia, G. was recognized as a portrait painter. Among his most notable works is that of Signora Aolia (whereabouts unknown), notable for the elegance of his brushstrokes and the evocative power of his chromatic tones.

In 1953 he exhibited for the first time in Milan at the S. Babila art centre: in the exhibition, presented by G. Prederali, in addition to portraits of politicians and exponents of the Roman bourgeoisie, there were also interesting views of Rome such as The Garden of the Lake , The Janiculum Lighthouse , Ruins of the Temple of Ceres .

But the turning point in G.'s artistic career, which allowed him to gain recognition abroad, was the intensification of his relationship with the Pontifical North American College in 1952. From then on, G. began a very fruitful career as an official portraitist, closely linked to ecclesiastical circles.

For the new Roman headquarters of the College, built in 1953, between 1953 and 1963 he created the complete series of portraits of all the rectors of the College starting from 1868, when the institution was still located on Via dell'Umiltà. He was commissioned to create portraits of cardinals and bishops to decorate the headquarters of the College itself, some American dioceses, and the headquarters of the apostolic delegation in Washington. In 1958, in Miami, Florida, he painted the presbytery (approximately 100 ^m2 ) of the church annexed to the Mercy Hospital, with Our Lady of Mercy and themes related to the concept of human and divine mercy, as well as the portrait of Monsignor Hurley , Archbishop of Miami.

Since 1962, G. was chosen as the official portraitist of the President of the Tunisian Republic al-Ḥabīb Bū Rqība (Burghiba), for the execution of three portraits of himself and those of his first wife Maffida and his second wife Wassila (property of the presidential palace in Tunis) and for some paintings of historical subjects, the most important of which depicts the Return of Burghiba to Tunis after the independence of Tunisia (property of the presidential palace in Carthage).

In 1968, the University of California at Berkeley entrusted him with the execution of some portraits of scientists for the large Science building named after the Nobel Prize winner for physics Ernest Lawrence, of whom he also executed the portrait (property of the University of California).

The last official commission of a certain prestige was the Crucifixion in 1975, preserved in the basilica of Nazareth in Israel.

He died in Rome in 1986.

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