Giuseppe Tominz

Giuseppe Tominz, also known as Jožef Tominc (6 July 179024 April 1866), was an Italian-Slovene painter from the Austrian Littoral. He worked mostly in the cultural milieu of the upper bourgeoisie in the Austrian Illyrian Kingdom. He was one of the most prominent portraitists of the Biedermeier period. He became renowned for his realistic portraits. He worked mostly in the Austrian Littoral, but also produced religious paintings in Carniola and in Croatia. His handiwork can be seen in the Church of the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Donji Stoliv. Nowadays, many of his works are on display in the Revoltella Museum in Trieste, some in the National Gallery of Slovenia in Ljubljana, National Museum of Serbia and in the Museum of History and Art of Gorizia. He is considered part of both the Italian and the Slovenian national culture canon.

Biography

Early life and education Giuseppe Tominz was born in Gorizia as the second of eleven children of Ivano Tominz, a dealer in ironware, and his wife Maria Anna ( Gioacchini) of Udine. He was educated in a bilingual environment. He attended a primary school run by Piarists in Gorizia, where he began to learn to paint in the third year. He received his first training as a painter from the local artist Karel Keber and probably also from the painter Franz Caucig.

Early career In 1803 Tominc left Gorizia in order to study and in 1809 went to Rome with letters of recommendation from the Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria, sister of Emperor Francis I of Austria, and count Francesco della Torre. He lived and studied from 1810 until 1817 with the painter Domenico Conti Bazzani and at the Accademia di San Luca, where he won a silver medal in 1814 for his drawing Study of the Apostople. In Rome he developed a distinctive drawing technique, with plasticity in the figures and objects, and cool colours, producing works in a classicizing style similar to that of Ingres and of Vincenzo Camuccini (e.g. Self-portrait with the Artist’s Brother Francesco, c. 1818; Gorizia, Musei Provinciali Palazzo Attems-Petzenstein). In 1816, he married Maria Ricci. In 1818, they had twin sons. Of his early artistic works, several anatomical studies, sketches and one of his landscapes View of Vietri, Rieti and the Salerno Bay have survived.

Tominz also included objects that hint at the profession or the lifestyle of the person depicted. Inspired by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres or Vincenzo Camuccini, he used cool colours and plastic models of people. He is however best known for his oil painting technique, his precise skills of observation and his rapid style.

When depicting religious motifs, Tominzc relied on graphical templates, the old Italian masters and Nazarene painters. Amongst his numerous sacred works are altars and other pictures for churches in Gorizia, Prvačina, Aquileia, Kanal ob Soči, Gradisca d'Isonzo, and elsewhere.

Works

Woman with White Turban Lady with Camellia Dr. Frušić with Family Portrait of Petar II Petrović-Njegoš, 1833 The Wife of Mayor Sancin Cäcilia Countess of Auersperg, mother of Count Anton Alexander von Auersperg Three Ladies from the Moscon Family Nikola Lazarević Marija Lazarević Capetan Polić Man with Letter (Self-Portrait) Self-Portrait at the Window Self-Portrait (On the toilet) Portrait of Father Portrait of Ciriaco Catraro

Gallery