1902 Cristoforo De Amicis is born on 30 June in Alessandria to Lucia Gabey, a trouser maker, and Giuseppe De Amicis, a railway worker. He is the eldest of three children.

1919 After completing the lower course at the Accademia Albertina in Turin, he enrols at the Brera Academy in Milan, the city where he will live for the rest of his life.

1924 He graduates from the Brera Academy and receives the Premio Hayez, awarded to its most deserving graduate. From 1927 to 1972 he teaches there continuously, holding different teaching posts.

1927 From 1927 to 1929 he takes part in exhibitions of the Novecento Italiano movement in Italy and abroad, earning critical acclaim. In 1928 he marries Maria Lavezzari, a fellow student at the Brera Academy; their son Piero is born in 1929.

1930 At the beginning of the decade, he undergoes a profound crisis and almost entirely abandons painting, embarking instead on an intense career in architecture in collaboration with the studios of architects Lingeri and Terragni.

1933 Sironi invites him to paint the fresco Figure d'estate (ACDA 1046) for the 5th Triennale; the work is painted over at the end of the exhibition.

1934-35 His association with Rationalist architects leads to a brief abstract period, including Composizione 1 e 2 (ACDA 83, 84) and Composizione in rosso (ACDA 36). In the following years he returns to figurative painting, with a richer palette shaped by a Cézanne-inspired approach. By invitation, he takes part in exhibitions organised by the Fine Arts Syndicate, the Venice Biennale, the Rome Quadrennial and the Bergamo Prize. Among other distinctions, he receives the Milan City Council acquisition prize (1936) and the Medardo Rosso Prize.

1943 He spends the war years (1942-45) in Lodi, where, drawing on post-Cubist ideas, he paints the large composition Morte di Arlecchino (ACDA 25) and Natura morta rossa (ACDA 29).

1951 He is appointed to the Chair of Painting at the Brera Academy, a position he holds for four years, until 1955. He enters the competition announced by the Fabbrica del Duomo for a large stained-glass window and begins working in this field, continuing until 1972. This period sees his nude drawings, landscapes of the Lodi area and Lake Maggiore, large female nudes (ACDA 2, 7), and series of self-portraits (ACDA 14, 162). He receives the Pellizza da Volpedo Prize (1957), the Bottigella Prize (1959) and other public honours.

1961 Maria Lavezzari, who has always been in fragile health, suffers a severe bout of depression. Adapting to the new family circumstances, De Amicis moves his studio into their home, gradually limits his contact with the outside world, pursues the theme of the nude and returns to still life. Etelia poses for him in his studio almost every day and later also works as his secretary, remaining by his side until his death.

1971 In recognition of his artistic and teaching achievements, he is awarded the Milan City Council Gold Medal of Merit and the Ambrogino d'Oro.

1978 Maria Lavezzari dies on 4 September. From then on, during the summer months, he returns to painting the landscapes of the Lodi countryside, using a variety of painterly approaches, as he had in the 1940s and 1950s.

1979 In October and November, the Municipality of Alessandria and the Piedmont Region organise a retrospective of his work. The artist himself arranges and installs the exhibition at Palazzo Cuttica in Alessandria. In December, a first pulmonary vascular incident leaves him physically and emotionally weakened. After recovering to a satisfactory degree, he resumes work, reducing the size of his paintings and focusing on still lifes, landscapes, flowers and Madonnas. As a representative of Chiarismo, he finally feels encouraged by growing market demand for his work.

1982 At the exhibition Annitrenta, four of his works are shown in the “Reaction to Novecento” section and one in the “Abstract Artists” section. His presence in two different sections is an important recognition of his artistic research during the 1930s.

1982 In October, he serves on the jury of a painting competition in Lodi; in the following days he suffers a cerebral spasm.

1986 The exhibition Il Chiarismo lombardo at Palazzo Bagatti Valsecchi in Milan shows seven paintings from different periods. Despite his poor health, he paints every morning until two days before his death.

1987 He dies on 23 April at his home in Milan.