Giovanni Bragolin
Bruno Amadio (9 November 1911 – 22 September 1981), popularly known as Bragolin, and also known as Franchot Seville, Angelo Bragolin and Giovanni Bragolin, was the creator of the group of paintings known as Crying Boys.[1][2] The paintings feature a variety of tearful children looking morosely straight ahead. They are sometimes called "Gypsy boys" although there is nothing specifically linking them to the Romani people.
Bruno Amadio | |
---|---|
Born | Venice, Italy | November 9, 1911
Died | September 22, 1981 69) Padua, Italy | (aged
Nationality | Italian |
Education | Academic |
Occupation | Painter |
Notable work | The Crying Boy |
He was an academically trained painter, working in post-war Venice as painter and restorer, producing the Crying Boy pictures for tourists. At least 65 such paintings were made under the name Bragolin, reproductions of which were sold worldwide. He was not always paid royalties for the reproductions.[3] In the 1970s he was found to be alive and well-to-do and still painting in Padua. Claims that he fled to Spain after the war, painting children from a local orphanage which subsequently burned down, appear to be an unconfirmed urban legend.[4]
Notes
- Steve Punt, “Solved: Curse of the Crying Boy; Comic’s Obsession with Painting”, The Sun, Oct. 9, 2010, p.8.
- Massimo Polidoro, "Curse That Painting!", Skeptical Inquirer, v.36, n.6, pp.17-19 (Nov.-Dec. 2012).
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