Who was Carlo Maria Mariani?

Carlo Maria Mariani was born in Rome in 1931. He was a painter who spent the 1970s defending painting at a time when much of the art world had declared it obsolete; he died in New York in November 2021 at the age of 90.

What is Carlo Maria Mariani known for?

Carlo Maria Mariani is known as the central figure of *Pittura Colta*, cultivated painting, when the movement attracted international attention in the 1980s. His work *The Constellation of Leo* is his most discussed from that period, presenting key figures of the Roman art world as neoclassical allegorical characters.

What was Carlo Maria Mariani's art style?

Carlo Maria Mariani adopted the highly finished, smooth-surfaced technique of eighteenth-century academic art. He filled it with mythological allegory, ironic self-portraiture, and deliberate quotations from the Old Masters.

Where to See Carlo Maria Mariani

2 museums worldwide

About Carlo Maria Mariani

Italian · 1931–2021

Italian^[1] painter and leading figure of Pittura Colta who revived eighteenth-century academic technique in ironic dialogue with art history.

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Carlo Maria Mariani's works are held in 2 museums worldwide.

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🇳🇱 Netherlands

1 museum

Groninger Museum

Groningen, Netherlands

1 works

Museum details Map

Also here
Keith Haring (8)Carel Willink (6)Jacob van Ruisdael (5)Aert van der Neer (4)Anselm Kiefer (4)A. R. Penck (4)

🇺🇸 United States

1 museum

Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Los Angeles, United States

1 works

Museum details Map

Also here
Yoshitoshi (100)Albrecht Dürer (62)Pablo Picasso (17)Henry Moore (13)Katsushika Hokusai (9)Diego Rivera (7)

Frequently Asked Questions

Who was Carlo Maria Mariani?
Carlo Maria Mariani was born in Rome in 1931^[1]. He was a painter who spent the 1970s defending painting at a time when much of the art world had declared it obsolete; he died in New York in November 2021^[1] at the age of 90.
What is Carlo Maria Mariani known for?
Carlo Maria Mariani is known as the central figure of *Pittura Colta*, cultivated painting, when the movement attracted international attention in the 1980s. His work *The Constellation of Leo* is his most discussed from that period, presenting key figures of the Roman art world as neoclassical allegorical characters.
What was Carlo Maria Mariani's art style?
Carlo Maria Mariani adopted the highly finished, smooth-surfaced technique of eighteenth-century academic art. He filled it with mythological allegory, ironic self-portraiture, and deliberate quotations from the Old Masters.

Sources

Where to See guide aggregates verified holdings of Carlo Maria Mariani's works across the following collections.

[1] wikipedia Wikipedia: Carlo Maria Mariani Used for: biography.
[2] book Andrew Graham-Dixon, Caravaggio: A Life Sacred and Profane, 2010 Used for: stylistic analysis.
[3] book Horst Bredekamp;, Galileo's Thinking Hand Used for: stylistic analysis.
[4] book Peter Robb, M Used for: biography.
[5] book Peter Robb, M: The Man Who Became Caravaggio Used for: biography.

Editorial overseen by Solis Prints. Sources verified 2026-05-30. Click a source for details, or hover over [N] in the page above to preview.

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