Mario Praz - Life and Writings

Life and Writings

Mario Praz was a well-respected Italian-born art critic and scholar of the English language. He taught Italian Studies at the Victoria University of Manchester between 1932 and 1934. He then went on to teach English Literature at the University of Rome from 1934, until he retired in 1966. In 1962, Praz was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II and became a Knight Commander of the British Empire KBE. Despite Mario Praz being best known for his writings in the English literary field, he has made strong contributions to the concepts, writings and perception of both interior design and interior decoration. The concepts that were presented in his "The Romantic Agony" have been shaped into his design and art criticism. This writing style has been successfully administered in Praz’s two most noteworthy design books, “The House of Life” and “An Illustrated history in Interior Design”. These works highlight his theories of the interiority of a space, and reveal his concepts to how a person inhabits the interior and how they shape it to make it their own.