Giuseppe Palanti

Giuseppe Palanti (30 July 1881 – 23 April 1946) was an Italian painter, illustrator, and urban planner, best known for his portraits, notably of Mussolini and Pius XI. He had a long collaboration with Teatro alla Scala in Milan, creating costume, set design and advertising material for multiple opera productions. He was also a major contributor towards the development of the seaside resort Milano Marittima.

Born in Milan to Giovanni Palanti, a carpenter and furniture maker and Virginia De Gaspari, a seamstress, of Cremonese descent, Palanti was orphaned at a young age. Although he completed elementary and technical schools, he is soon forced to find a job, and by 1895 finds employment drawing sketches for the Milanese fabric company, Scotti. At fifteen, he simultaneously enrolled in evening courses at both the Scuola Superiore d'Arte Applicata all'Industria (Higher School of Applied Arts in Industry), where he studied under Luigi Cavenaghi, and the Scuola degli Artefici dell'Accademia di Brera (School of Craftsmen of the Brera Academy). He also sought work as a decorator and poster designer, looking to apply his art practically. In 1898, he enrolled in the painting course at the Brera Academy, taught by Bignami, Mentessi, Pogliaghi and Tallone. In 1899, while still a student, he won a competition to design the cover of the Milanese magazine La Promessa, and posters for the Esposizione Floricola di Monza (Monza Flower Exhibition). In 1900, he won the Zogheb competition for best student of the School of Applied Art. Consequently, was awarded a study trip by the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce which sent him to Paris to follow the Exposition Universelle, an experience that would influence his style, notably the exhibition pavilions and their advertising billboards. He wrote a detailed account of his interest in poster design, especially the floral work of Alphonse Mucha, and in the technical solutions of art applied to this industry. On graduating in 1901, he was invited by Cavenaghi to teach advanced composition at the School of Applied Art (corso Superiore di composizione) at the Brera Academy, which he would continue to do for ten years