Name/Title
14 DrawingsEntry/Object ID
2018.258.122Description
Rollie McKenna's personal collection of drawings done by Italian artist Laetitia (Laetizia) Cerio of Capri. The drawings all bear her signature, and professional stamp on the reverse, along with a title. Only one of them is dated.
Titles include: NYC
Barocchetto
Trulli
Scala a Matromania
Roofs from Palazzo Barberihi
Old Man
Vecchia
Spanish Stairs, Roma
La casa del prete Calabrese
Mario
Immacolatella Vecchia, Napoli
Between Firescapes
La Musica del Lauro
Backstage - Ziegfield Theater, 1952. Drawn during the Performance of the Two "Cleopatra's" with Sir Lawrence Olivier and Vivian Leigh.
Anna Letizia Fiammetta Elena Cerio was born in Buenos Aires on February 29, 1908, daughter of photographer & concert pianist Elena Hosmann and naval engineer & Mayor of Capri Edwin Cerio.Edwin Cerio and Elena Hosmann wished that their daughter experience the broadest education possible and because of this desire Letizia attended the “first” Montessory School in Rome, pedagogical school in Odenwald, boarding school in Zurich, and fine arts school in Florence. She studied drawing and painting with Baccio Maria Bacci and painting with Elfriede Pegagos.During her adolescence, even in the early 20th century, Letizia spent extended time in Capri, Europe, Argentina, and the USA. Letizia met Ramiro Alvarez de Toledo, Count of Caltabellotta, and they married on March 12, 1932, in the main salon at the family house, the Palazzo Cerio.
The marriage soon bore two children, daughter Beatriz in 1933 and son and Fernando Ignazio in 1934. She began to illustrate professionally and she finally received her higher education diploma from the Luc-Mary School in Paris in 1940, just before escaping Europe and complexity of World War II. Ramiro, had been already been forcibly removed from the Palazzo Cerio to serve in the Italian Legion in North Africa and Letizia was alone on the island with Edwin and the children. When Capri seemed to be in imminent danger Edwin said that they should leave for safety and Letizia and the two children were whisked away in the middle of the night on a Capri rowboat for a clandestine rendezvous with Umberto II, di Savoia, to leave for safety on his yacht. In 1952 Letizia held her most provocative exhibit on Capri titled “Zoo in Piazza” and unveiled a series of 15 images she called the “Piazzini” depicting known island aficionados as human-animal hybrids living life in the famous Piazzetta of Capri.In 1982 Letizia abandoned drawing entirely and devoted the next 15 years solely to painting and to leading the “Centro”. She held several important exhibits of her oil paintings in the USA, London and Capri, selling virtually all of her pieces. Laetitia died in January, 1997.Collection
Rollie McKenna