Arthur de Tivoli (born Arturo Giuseppe Guglielmo de Tivoli) was born into a Jewish family in Viareggio, Kingdom of Italy on 1 October 1891. He trained at Drummond Road School of Art in Bournemouth and exhibited landscapes and portraits at the Bournemouth Art Society. While working in Florence, he showed at the Societá delle Belle Arti in 1914 and 1915. He returned to England permanently in 1935, reportedly fleeing racial persecution under Mussolini. Arthur de Tivoli died in Boscombe, Bournemouth, England in 1961.
Painter Arthur de Tivoli (born Arturo Giuseppe Guglielmo de Tivoli) was born on 1 October 1891 in Viareggio, Kingdom of Italy. His father, Giuseppe de Tivoli (also known as Joseph William de Tivoli), had been born in London and worked as a railway engineer in Italy. His mother, Anne (née Bevan), was English, and his parents separated within a few years of his birth, after which Arthur was raised by his mother. The family had a notable artistic heritage: his great-uncles included the painter Serafino de Tivoli (1826-1892), a founding figure of the Macchiaioli movement in Tuscany, and the artist and dealer, Felice de Tivoli (c.1826-1908). De Tivoli married Ethel (née Hedger) in Poole in 1930; they had no children.
De Tivoli showed early aptitude: in 1907, aged sixteen, he registered a patent for a 'Flying machine wing regulator', and in 1910 he was engaged in producing illustrations for a deluxe poetry edition. He trained at Drummond Road School of Art in Bournemouth, gaining first-class marks for drawing in 'light and shade' in 1911 and first-class results in drawing from the antique in 1912; in spring 1913 he received favourable notices for landscapes and portraits at the Bournemouth Art Society annual exhibition. In 1910 he provided senstive illustrations to Constance Sutcliffe's If Thou Wert Blind, and Other Poems (London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co., 1910). By early 1914, de Tivoli was working in Florence, Italy, where he exhibited at the Societá delle Belle Arti, in 1914 and 1915. de Tivoli additionally exhibited at the Paris Salon. He returned to England permanently in 1935, reportedly owing to the intensification of racial persecution of Jewish communities under Mussolini's Fascist government.
De Tivoli’s practice centred on landscape, portraiture and still-life painting, working in oil on canvas and board; his surviving works include panoramic views of Florence, views of Poole Harbour, still lifes of flowers and portrait studies. In June 1920, he presented to Sir Merton Russell-Cotes, founder of the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum, Bournemouth, a portrait study of a girl's head, inscribed in Sir Merton's own hand on the reverse as 'Study by Arthur de Tivoli and presented to Sir Merton Russell-Cotes by the artist June 1920'; Sir Merton also acquired A view of Florence from de Tivoli at around the same period.
Arthur de Tivoli died in Boscombe, Bournemouth, England, in 1961. In the UK public domain his works are held in the collections of the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum, Bournemouth, and Poole Museum. The Ben Uri Research Unit welcomes contributions from researchers or family members who might have further biographical information.
Michal Mel