Matthew Spender, English artist who made Chianti his home, dies aged 81

Matthew Spender, the English sculptor, painter and writer who lived for decades in the Chianti countryside and helped inspire Bernardo Bertolucci’s Stealing Beauty, has died aged 81.

Spender died in Gaiole in Chianti, in the province of Siena, on May 31, 2026, according to Italian media reports. Born in London in 1945, he was the son of poet Stephen Spender and pianist Natasha Spender. He studied Modern History at Oxford before training at the Slade School of Art. 

In 1968 he moved to Tuscany with his wife, artist Maro Gorky, daughter of Armenian-American painter Arshile Gorky. The couple settled in San Sano, a village in the municipality of Gaiole in Chianti, where Spender lived and worked for more than half a century. 

Spender worked in painting and sculpture, using materials including wood, terracotta and marble. His works were shown in Italy and abroad, and he also wrote books including In Toscana, a reflection on Italian customs, art and daily life seen through the eyes of an English artist.

His connection with Tuscany also reached cinema. Bernardo Bertolucci knew Spender’s home in Chianti and drew on its atmosphere for Stealing Beauty, the 1996 film starring Liv Tyler. Several of Spender’s sculptures appeared in the film, helping shape its visual world. 

Spender and Gorky received Italian citizenship in 2021, after more than 50 years in Gaiole in Chianti.

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