Alessandro Scorzoni: life and works

Alessandro Scorzoni (April 22, 1858 in Calcara di Crespellano, Province of Bologna – July 31, 1933 in Bologna) was an Italian painter, who depicted eclectic subjects, including sacred images, allegorical paintings, portraits, and landscapes.

Born to a associates of limited resources, he studied below Antonio Puccinelli and Salvatore Muzzi at the Bolognese Academy of Fine Arts. He as well as worked at painted interior embellishment and illustrations for publications.

Among his fresco works, he painted 18 lunettes depicting the rural lifestyle for the villa Giovannina (Villa Calari) in Cento. He along with painted a fresco of “San Martino distributes activity to poor” for the Castello dei Manzoli (Castello di San Martino in Soverzano), located near Minerbio, where he participated in the restoration works by Tito Azzolini and Alfonso Rubbiani. Other major works are frescoes for palazzo Malvezzi and the oratory of San Michele in Bosco.

His landscapes depict views surrounding Bologna, including San Ruffillo, il Savena, and l’Idice. Among his illustrations are l’Albo unico and “Anche Bologna!” (1880 Circolo Artistico) and “Il Natale della Lira” (1898, Accademia della Lira). He afterward made designs of decoration for ceramics of the Manifattura Minghetti, and completed two tapestries of “Amor Ardente” e “Amor Calmo” in Palazzo Corni in Modena. In 1884, he was awarded the Bevilacqua Prize. From 1895 al 1906, Scorzoni displayed works at the exhibitions of the “Francesco Francia” Art Association. In 1898, he was made honorary academic at the Bolognese Academy of Fine Arts, and Resident Academic in 1905. Scorzoni had as a pupil the painter Antonino Sartini. He died destitute in the Ospedale Maggiore of Bologna.

Retrospective exhibits of his accomplish were held in December–January, 1982, at the Museo Civico of Bologna, and in the fall of 1999 at the Museo Storico Didattico della Tappezzeria, in the Villa Spada of Bologna.