ANACLETO MARGOTTI (1895 – 1984). "Seated Woman, 50". Oil painting on canvas in excellent condition. Measurements: canvas 40x30 cm, with frame 58x48 cm Biography He was born in San Potito, in the countryside north of Lugo, into a family of farmers, the youngest of Francesco Margotti, a worker, and Filomena Bertuzzi. As a teenager, he apprenticed in the workshop of a local decorator, from whom he learned the techniques of tempera and fresco. At the age of 13, in 1908, he created a Self-portrait which, submitted to a competition, won first prize, allowing him to continue his artistic studies. In the summer of 1916, at just twenty years old, he was commissioned to create a painting depicting the Baptism of Christ, as a work with the same subject had been lost in the fire of the archpriest church of Alfonsine, devastated two years earlier by some troublemakers during the "Red Week". The Baracca family spent the summer in San Potito, their country house located near the Margotti's house. The accomplished aviator Francesco Baracca, then twenty-six years old, knew Margotti personally and willingly posed as Christ for the young painter. In 1917 Margotti obtained qualification to teach drawing at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna. In the first phase of his pictorial experience, Margotti was close to the Novecento movement; he frequented the Lughese cenacle of the Futurist musician Balilla Pratella; in 1918 Imola. Subsequently, he made study trips to Vienna (1921) and Paris (1926) which put him even more in contact with the avant-garde research carried out by Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse; at the end of this journey he decided to return to a figurative style inspired by the narration of rural themes, closer to his real dimension (being the son of farm laborers). He then maintained a strong adherence to figurative art and classical Italian culture throughout his life. He chose to tell a world made of humble, poor and disinherited people, seen by him with attention and respect, bringing his name closer to those of Trento Longaretti and Enrico Accatino. In 1946 he founded the National Exhibition of Contemporary Art in Imola, of which he remained the main animator in all subsequent editions (from 1965 it changed its name to National Exhibition of Figurative Art). After the war he returned to present his works in the major national exhibitions: he was present at all the Rome Quadrennials from 1948 to 1959 and was present at the Venice Biennale in 1948 and 1950[7]. In 1960 the city of Florence dedicated an important retrospective exhibition to him. His works are preserved in numerous Italian museums and in Imola. In 1975 Margotti donated a substantial nucleus of his artistic production (250 paintings and 150 drawings) to the Cassa di Risparmio of Imola so that it would not be dispersed. The banking institution, grateful, created the "Margotti Art Collection", still preserved in the Renaissance Palazzo Sersanti [9]. In 1978 the last edition of the National Exhibition of Figurative Art was held (from 1972 it was held every two years); subsequently the painter donated numerous of his paintings to the bishop of Imola. They are currently preserved in the Pio IX Diocesan Museum. Among them is the sketch of the Baptism of Christ, for which the aviator Francesco Baracca posed.