Giacinto Gigante (1806 to 1876): landscape regenerated from within.

Portrait of Giacinto Gigante, Domenico Morelli (1826–1901), oil on canvas, Museo Nazionale di San Martino, Naples. Born in Naples in July 1806 to Gaetano Gigante and Anna Maria Fatati, Giacinto Gigante grew up in an artistic household. Around 1801, his parents had married and had eight children, four of whom died young. The surviving childrenContinue reading “Giacinto Gigante (1806 to 1876): landscape regenerated from within.”

Giuseppe De Nittis: Light, Air and Modern Life.

Léontine in canotto/ Léontine in a rowing boat (1874), oil on panel, 24×54 cm, Private collection. Self-Portrait (ca.1883) Pastel on canvas, 114×88 cm, Palazzo della Marra, Barletta. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons). Giuseppe De Nittis: “A happy man who would have wished everyone around him to be equally happy.” Jeanne Mairet, Souvenirs, 1907. De Nittis was aContinue reading “Giuseppe De Nittis: Light, Air and Modern Life.”

Gemito and Mathilde Duffaud – ‘Not Made for Financial Gain.’

Introduction – Vincenzo Gemito and Mathilde Duffaud Mathilde Duffaud, la parigina, was Gemito’s first love—the first profound adult attachment of a foundling child. He met her in 1873 while living with his adoptive parents in the Palazzo del Mojariello in Capodimonte. Mathilde lived on the floor above with the French antiquarian Duhamel. Already known asContinue reading “Gemito and Mathilde Duffaud – ‘Not Made for Financial Gain.’”

Antonio Mancini – Hunger and Fame (la fame e la fama).

‘…a dodici anni mi recai a Napoli, dove rimasi fino ad adulto. Io giunsi a Napoli in pessimo arnese. La fame era allora molta, ma scarsa la fama…’ ‘…at twelve years old, I went to Naples, where I stayed until adulthood. I arrived in Naples in terrible shape. At the time, there was a lotContinue reading “Antonio Mancini – Hunger and Fame (la fame e la fama).”