Antonio Varni (Genoa, 1841 -Genoa Sampierdarena, 1908[1]) was an Italian painter, painting vedute, historical, and genre pieces.
Son of a painter, he enrolled in 1853 at the Accademia Ligustica of Fine Arts in Genoa, where he gained various prizes.
[2] Among his many works: an oil canvas of Una passeggiata; Petrarch induces the painter Lippo Memmi to secretly paint a portrait of Laura; Sappho meditates Suicide; Don Abbondio and the cardinal Borromeo, an episode from I promessi sposi; Victim of Primogeniture, also called Victim of the Cloister because it depicts a young nun in her death bed, dying due to the cloistered life imposed by her family; The sack and massacre of Muslims in a house in Bulgaria; and The island of Favignana.
Among his works were: Un novelliere fiorentino, and genre paintings, acquired by the Ottoman consul resident in Genoa; four paintings representing scenes from the novel I Promessi Sposi of Manzoni, including: Don Abbondio che accompagna l ' Innominato ; Padre Cristoforo in casa di Agnese; Lucia in the convent of Monza; Renzo e L'Azzeccagarbugli.
At the Mostra Milanese, he displayed the genre paintings: Politica in convento., L' organetto del villaggio; In tempo.... triste pagina del secolo XIX; Per amore; Chiostro; and Un bel mattino a Pegli.