Fortunino Matania Gallery

Australian troops counter-attack at Amiens, WW1

Australian troops hold the line at Villers Bretonneux nine miles east of Amiens during a German attack during the Battle of Amiens in April 1918. The image was an accurate impression by Sphere special artist, Fortunino Matania, having been reconstructed with the help of eyewitness accounts and official material. In the foreground, an infantryman, his rifle slung over his shoulder, takes over a Lewis Gun whose crew had been put out of action. Behind that can be seen another soldier hitting a German with his tin helmet (having already strangled another with his bare hands) while a third German attempts to flee down a railway cutting but is stopped by the gun fire of the Australian officer's batman. Date: 1919

© Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans

Repulsing the famous Prussian guard at Ypres

Repulsing the famous Prussian guard at Ypres. With the British Army on the Western Front - published in 1916 for Tatler and Sphere, though the illustration was first done in 1914. Fortunino Matania, Ri (1881-1963). One of the most accomplished realistic illustrators and artists of his time, his wartime work was immensely popular and appeared in nearly every major news magazine, Allied, Neutral and Central Powers alike. Literally tens of millions of readers saw wartime events through the medium of Matania's weekly illustrations and, as such, he played an important role in defining people's mental image of what Great War battlefield scenes and soldiers looked like. Date: 1914

© David Cohen Fine Art/Mary Evans Picture Library

Pompeii as it was in Ancient Days by Matania

Life in Pompeii 2000 years ago. A new reconstruction series by Fortunino Matania, no. III. Bringing in the new wine to Pompeii after the October vintage. The opening up of new excavations in Pompeii in 1924 led the Sphere special artist and expert in historical reconstruction, paint a series of scenes of daily life in ancient Pompeii. A new vintage of wine is brought into Pompeii from the countryside by means of specially constructed cars, each containing a skin of wine. The latter was the skin of a cow, with the neck tied up at the front and the tail serving as the only outlet. The car was pulled by two horses along the streets of the town, passing exactly over a causeway of raised stones such as were to be found in every Pompeiian street. Not possessing drains, during rainy weather, the streets of Pompeii were flooded by rain water flowing down to the Tiber, consequently passers-by were forced to cross the street on the raised causeway. The wine car stopped before various taverns, and all the anfore were brought out to be filled. The drawing represents the filling of these anfore. The car was drawn from a fresco discovered at Pompeii. At the time of this drawing by Matania (who had been born in Naples), the same scenes were enacted before the cantine of Naples, which have been built on the same lines as those of Pompeii. Cars loaded with barrels still unloaded the new wine coming from the same vineyards. Date: 1924

© Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans