Isola Comacina fig. 1 is the only island in Lake Como and measures 600 meters long by 150 meters wide. Owned by Mr. Giuseppe Capriani, the island of Comacina was gifted by him in 1918 to King Albert I in recognition of Belgium’s heroic conduct during World War I (1914–1918). Albert I returned it to Italy on May 18, 1920, with the stipulation that, in exchange, Belgian and Italian artists be hosted there each summer as artists-in-residence. Designed by the Italian rationalist architect Pietro Lingeri as a green oasis overlooking a magical landscape, three studio bungalows (now historic landmarks) have, since the late 1950s, offered residents an exceptional palette of colors and a very special light that cannot fail to inspire the artists’ creativity.
Isola Comacina was the destination of our first family vacation abroad fig. 2fig. 3. The island welcomed us in August 1962 and 1965, while Antoine Mortier’s oil-on-canvas paintings represented Belgium at the Venice Biennale. My father, at age 52, had just bought his first car, a small Fiat 600, and, having been granted a residency, he set off with his wife and child to tackle the mountain passes separating his homeland from the country he had discovered on his own during a study abroad program in 1959. The landscapes, the light, the spirit of the island, and the objects inspired him. My father captured these memories in ink and watercolors with subtle hues, painted using water from the lake fig. 4fig. 5fig. 6fig. 7. Exceptional and never before seen, these works will forever remain a distillation of the intense emotions he experienced during those residencies.
