Born in Naples, Italy, Fortunino Matania's early training in art came from his father, who was an artist. He illustrated his first book at the age of fourteen before moving to Milan that same year to work for Illustrazione Italiana. In his later teens, Matania contributed to Illustration Francaise in Paris and The Graphic in London. After returning to Italy for military service, he came back to London at the age of twenty-four and joined the staff of The Sphere. He spent the rest of his life in England.

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Matania was an expert at depicting historical scenes from all periods of history, as well as specific, current news events, with startling realism and precision for the time. His illustrations for The Sphere depicting the sinking of the Titanic on April 15, 1912 have been cited as an early exemplar. In 1914, with the outbreak of World War I, Matania became a war artist and spent nearly five years at the front drawing hundreds of sketches which were often featured in histories of the War. Afterwards, he specialized in illustrating historical and ceremonial events,and his drawings were immensely popular, appearing in all the principal magazines and quality newspapers in Europe and America, with occasional forays into science fiction and fantasy.

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Matania's illustrations for Edgar Rice Burroughs' Pirates of Venus (1933) and Lost on Venus (1933-34) compared favorably to the best in the field, and it became apparent that many modern day artists, such as Frank Frazetta, were likely inspired by Matania's sensuous style. His sole brush with the film industry was his contribution to the well-known 1933 Alfred Hitchcock movie The Man Who Knew Too Much, in which a painting by Matania was reflected with a mirror into the camera lens.