Famous artist from Meta di Sorrento
Edoardo Federico de Martino, an artist who became famous for his
paintings of warships and naval battles, was born today in 1838 in Meta, just
outside Sorrento.
At the height of his success, De Martino worked in London, where his
paintings of ships and famous British naval victories were held in high regard
by Queen Victoria.
De Martino at his easel. |
He went on to work as a painter for Queen Victoria’s son, King Edward
VII, and he often accompanied the King on naval tours.
De Martino was born in the small town of Meta, to the north east of
Sorrento, which had a long history of boat building.
He served as an officer in the Italian Navy but by the time he was 30
his main interest was painting.
He became associated with the School of Resina, a group of artists who
painted landscapes and contemporary scenes that gathered in Resina, a seaside
resort south of Naples, now incorporated into the towns of Herculaneum and
Portici.
Influenced by his fellow artists, De Martino eventually went to live and
work in Naples.
He found fame after moving to London, where he painted scenes from the
battles of Trafalgar, the Nile and Cape San Vincenzo.
For his service as Marine painter in Ordinary to King Edward VII, De
Martino was appointed an Honorary Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO)
in the 1902 Birthday Honours. He received the decoration from King Edward VII
at Sandringham House on 9 November 1902.
From 1905 onwards, De Martino travelled about, completing paintings of
Italian naval ships and views of the Brazilian coast.
Edoardo De Martino died in Richmond upon Thames in London in 1912 at the
age of 76.
In 2013, many of De Martino’s sketches and paintings were put on display
in an exhibition organised by the Association of Commercianti del Casale di
Meta.
A painting of a naval battle by De Martino. |
Meta lies between Piano di Sorrento and Vico Equense on the main coastal
road going from Sorrento in the direction of Naples.
The town has a long
history of boat building and by the time of De Martino’s birth its shipyards
were producing hundred of boats, with the local women sewing the sails for them
in the courtyards of their houses.
Although steamships eventually replaced
sailing boats, the shipyards continued to produce the Sorrentine Gozzo, a small
sailing and rowing boat that enables the occupant to fish and row at the same
time. Meta has a magnificent church, the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Lauro, in
the centre of the town, just off the main road.
The church was built in
medieval times on the site of an ancient temple after a local deaf and dumb
woman was said to have found a statue of the Virgin Mary under a laurel tree
and then miraculously had her hearing and speech restored.
It was rebuilt in
the 16th century and restored and modified in the 18th and 19th centuries. The
wooden door is from the 16th century building and the Chapel of the Madonna del
Lauro has frescoes from the 18th century. Meta celebrates the Festa of Santa
Maria del Lauro every year on 12 September.
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