A family of artists: Spaventa Filippi, father and son, at the Castle of Masnago

A small, but intense exhibition at the Castle of Masnago pays homage to Silvio and Leo Spaventa Filippi. The former, a great intellectual and man of letters, the latter, a painter closely linked to figurative art, lived through the 1900s, leaving their marks in the publishing and artistic fields. Cultured, academic, a populariser of certain famous authors of children’s books, the name Silvio Spaventa Filippi is associated with the weekly magazine for children Corriere dei Piccoli, of which he was the enlightened editor who achieved sales of the magazine of up to 500,000 copies, which was an incredible number for the day. His passion for literature led him to work as a critic and as a translator, into Italian, of some of the most famous children’s books by Jonathan Swift, Charles Dickens, and Lewis Carroll, with his Alice in Wonderland. His house was a meeting place for many leading intellectuals, of Milan’s season of culture, in those years. It was in this lively atmosphere that his son, Leo, grew up, fascinated by the masters of Lombard painting, and by visits with Carlo Bisi.

“A very young man who gives you hope,” is how Carlo Carrà described him, and he received several awards during his long career. He was awarded at the Quadrennial Exhibition in Rome, in 1935, and was invited to the Biennale Exhibition in Venice. He was always faithful to the representation of reality, and there is no shortage of references to Picasso, Cézanne and Manet in his works. Portraits and still life paintings suggest a calm, comforting, everyday atmosphere. A reality, as seen “through the filter of ‘beauty’, in a more human representation, without omitting harmony.”

The exhibition will remain open until 3 March 2013

Castello di Masnago, 13 December – 3 March 2013.

From Tuesday to Sunday, 9.30 am – 12.30 pm, and 2 pm – 6 pm.

Open on 8 and 26 December, 6 January; 31 December, morning only.

Entrance ticket €4, reduced rate €2, group ticket €5.