Portrait of TogatedGiuseppe Veronese (da "Professori di materie scientifiche all'Università di Padova nell'Ottocento")

Giuseppe Veronese was born on the 7th of May, 1854 in Chioggia, a small town on the Venice lagoon. His father, Giovanni Antonio, was a painter and a decorator; his mother, Maria Elisabetta Ottavia Duse (cousin of the famous Eleonora Duse), took care of the family’s four children. During his childhood het showed an interest for art, especially for painting, but because of economic restraints, and, as far as we know, because of his father opposition to his artistic inclination, he decided to attend a technical school. Two teachers of the school, having noticed his particular abilities, helped him to prepare for the technical Institute of Venice, where he became an excellent student in all subjects. Once he finished the school, he got an assignment in Vienna, Austria (1872 – 1873) to a firm that managed the level of the water of the Danube River. In the same period, he had the opportunity to work as a designer for the Universal Exposition of 1873 in Vienna. Even though his job earned him a very good wage, he did not like it as much as studying, so he decided to enroll at the Polytechnic School in Zurich. Passion and willingness to study always went together with a lifetime of sacrifices: in Venice he gave lessons and carried out small jobs, and later, in Zurich, he used to live with factory workers because life in Switzerland was expensive, even though he had the help of the family of Count Papadopoli of Venice. After specializing at Berlin and Leipzig Universities, he was invited to teach at Padua University and, from 1881 on, he got involved political issues until he became a senator in 1904. In 1885, he married the Baroness Beatrice Bertolini and they had 8 children, of which 3 died when they were very young. He died suddenly of a heart attack in Padua on July 17th, 1917. He was described by his contemporaries as a simple and direct man, always grateful to those who had helped him throughout his life. Open to scientific debate, he used to reply point by point to all the criticisms that were made about his methods and his theories. He grew up during the Unification of Italy, and he was spiritually close to patriots like Luigi Cremona, a professor at Rome University who, as a young man, had fought for the liberation of Milan and later Venice from the Austrian Empire. Veronese also contributed to the growth of the new Italian State, offering his technical capability and theorical knowledge in different areas of public works. In 1915, he publicly favored Italy’s entry into the war against Austria. He let two of his sons be sent to the battle front without asking any favors to save them from the dangers and sufferances of the war. Even if his main concerns were scientific work and political activity, he also kept his interest in arts and was a good painter.