ACHILLE FARINA (1804-1879)

"Achille Farina" The Master of the Portrait!!!  by Stefano Dirani

Achille Farina was born in Faenza on 16/2/1804 by Ignazio and Lodovica Errani, a Roman.

For years his family lived in Faenza and in the Napoleonic Census of 1812 a certain Michele is

registered as owner of a two-storey house in the Black Rione, in Contrada S. Bernardo n. 462.

After learning the first design elements, attending private schools, he worked at the lithography of

Pietro Angiolini and associates in Bologna where he reproduced, among others, many frescoes by

Giani present in various palaces of Faenza and Bologna then, for a short period , he was a ceramist

at the Ferniani Factory.

He then went to Florence where he lived for a long time and in that wonderful cultural center he had

the opportunity to practice drawing with beautiful blooms and recopying the paintings of the great

masters present in the various galleries of the city.

He then ventured into oil painting and perhaps the most technically successful work of that period is

the reproducing canvas "Giuditta and Saul", which can still be seen today in the Pinacoteca di Faenza

together with his self-portrait and the portrait of Lodovico Caldesi. In the antechamber of the Mayor

are also preserved the canvases reproducing the "Maddalena" and the "Giuseppe sold to the

merchants", and precisely for the skill he had shown in the execution of these works and for the

professional training he had achieved through the many experiences gained, he obtained the diploma

of Professor of the Academy of Fine Arts, diploma that he exercised in the cities of Arezzo, Bologna,

Florence, Modena and Siena.

In 1850 he was invited to Faenza as a Master of Drawing in the gymnasium.

On June 28 of the same year, in fact, Giuseppe Marri (1788-1852), who previously held the chair, had

sent his resignation to the Municipal Administration and on 4 August the competition announcement

for the vacancy had been published.

Together with our present they asked: Luigi Errani, Romualdo Timoncini, Federico Argnani and

Adriano Baldini, but it was the Farina who was appointed teacher of drawing and figure.

The charge was conferred to him in early January 1851, but being forced to remain in Florence until

mid-May for commitments made earlier, he immediately sent a letter requesting an extension.

The request was accepted and was then appointed alternate Filippo Baldini who replaced it until the

end of the aforementioned month, when Achille began to conduct regular courses.

Besides teaching figure and adorned from 1852 to 1864, Farina was also appointed Director of the

school and carried out his task with great profit. In fact, many of his many students obtained

gratifying results in the artistic field, among others Antonio Berti (1830-1912) and Raffaele Marabini

(1840-1914).

In 1864 he left the teaching and succeeded him Girolamo Conti (1805-1878) and after him the painter

Antonio Berti who won the competition for the chair of drawing.

The latter, a pupil of Nostro, but also of the Ossi, Marri and Tomba (1774-1846), changed the name of

the school first in «School of Drawing and Plastic» and later, in 1879, in «School of Arts and Crafts ».

The school, in fact, was founded with the aim of training and perfecting the artisans in the processing

of the various applied arts, with the precise aim of providing increasingly qualified workers to the

Faenza Industries.

In this second half of the nineteenth century, the kilns were mainly used for ceramics for domestic

use, very basic in the workmanship and almost always devoid of decorations; only the Ferniani Factory

and a few others produced artistic majolica of a certain level.

Realizing that the ancient prestige of Faenza ceramic art was getting lost, the Farina put in place a

project that had long been in mind: to create a workshop with a completely new address.

In 1864, when he was still Director of the Municipal School of Drawing, he had a small furnace built

near the villa (designed by the Tomb) that he owned along the Stradello dei Cappuccini and there he

made several attempts to acquire a better technique in the ceramic field.

The first experiments, the repeated tests of color did not give very positive results at first, but the

strong passion, tenacity and stubbornness were destined successively.

Abandoned in that same year, the teaching competed in various Renaissance motifs, in the figurative

as well as in the portrait on plates and slabs of great size perfecting a particular technique called

"impasto" that emulated on the ceramic the effect of oil painting.

This particular type of application allowed to decorate the enamel already baked and slightly fixed at

a temperature not very high.

In practice, after subjecting the object to the first firing (biscuit), it was covered uniformly with the

enamel, then subjected to a second cooking that did not exceed 700 degrees, but that would still have

fixed the same enamel.

Thus a solid base was obtained, on which, by mixing the colors with particular oils and resins,

(to better adhere to the surface) various shades were obtained on the majolica.

The last phase was then that of fixing with a last firing at 920 degrees.

This particular dough painting could be applied directly on the crude or on the so-called "ingobbio".

The Flour also drew on biscuit in paint with a pastel colored pencil in blood, obtaining excellent results

in often retreating in various poses.

The remarkable results achieved also encouraged other painters to try their hand at this fascinating

technique that achieved very special results; among others Antonio Berti (1830-1912), Angela

Marabini (1818-1892), Giuseppe Ghinassi (1844-1903), Ludovico Bellenghi (1815-1891), Tomaso

Dalpozzo (1862-1906), Adriano Baldini (1810) -1881), Savino Lega (1812-1889), Giuseppe Calzi (1846-1908) and Savini Romeo.

Finally on 11/28/1869, our inauguration of the fornacella as we can read the writing on a plate

displayed on the showcases of the International Museum of Ceramics in Faenza and a few years later

came the first official acknowledgments.

In 1871, for example, at the Milan Exposition he obtained a real personal success and deserved the

silver medal.

In the same year at the Forlì Exhibition he won another silver medal, while the following year for his

merits he was awarded the Knight's Cross.

It was in that same period that, with the help of various prestigious people of Faenza and not, he was

the promoter of the company «A. Farina and Company »whose pieces were so successful also abroad.

If we wanted to take stock of all his work apart from the personal ability that made him define "the

master of the portrait", his great merit was that of having contributed to reviving the ancient artistic

tradition of Faenza majolica.

In Faenza, in the Pinacoteca and in the International Museum of Ceramics, his self-portraits are

preserved, as well as in Florence in the Uffizi Gallery. Mori in Faenza on 11/1/1879 and to pay homage

to his memory, several years later, in 1894, Dalpozzo executed a portrait of majolica that his friends

placed in the local church of the Cemetery.