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Lot Essay
Filippo Palizzi can be considered the leading Realist painter of the Neapolitan School in the second half of the 19th century. The artist was born in 1818 in Vasto (Abruzzo). He was one of nine children whom, encouraged by their mother, were all involved in the arts. Palizzi was accepted in the Reale Accademia di Belle Arti in Naples in 1837, where he met and befriended the artist Domenico Morelli. Discouraged by the strict academic and classical teaching, he left after only a few months to join the studio of Giuseppe Bonolis. It was through the influence of Giuseppe, his brother who fled to France, that the young Palizzi was introduced to the artists of the Barbizon School. In 1855, the artist visited Paris and then travelled on to the Netherlands.
Palizzi founded the Naples Societa Promotrice di Belle Arti in 1861 together with Domenico Morelli. Morelli and Palizzi were to remain lifelong friends. Mutual admiration between the two artists was clear, with Morelli stating that Palizzi’s art contained ‘a whole world of color and light, so true and real it was palpable' (D. Morelli, E. Dalbono, La scuola napoletana di pittura, Bari, 1915, pp. 24-25).
The present painting is one of two autograph reductions of a work executed by Filippo Palizzi in 1863 for King Victor Emmanuel II. The original and larger version was exhibited at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1867 and then donated by the King to the Museo di Capodimonte, Naples. The other autograph and larger reduction of the present subject was commissioned by a French private collector after the acclaim received by the prototype and its subsequent acquisition by the King and was sold at Christie’s London in 2011 (£265,250). A third painting, of similar size to the present work, but only attributed to the artist, is in the Falmouth Art Gallery in Cornwall.
The artist’s fervent naturalism is demonstrated by his ability to accurately render both the anatomy and character of the animals, here represented in an unprecedented variety of species. The bright colour palette used and the fantastic effect given by the rainbow enhance the richness of the present composition.
We are grateful to Professor Nicola Spinosa for having authenticated the present lot on the basis of a photograph.
Palizzi founded the Naples Societa Promotrice di Belle Arti in 1861 together with Domenico Morelli. Morelli and Palizzi were to remain lifelong friends. Mutual admiration between the two artists was clear, with Morelli stating that Palizzi’s art contained ‘a whole world of color and light, so true and real it was palpable' (D. Morelli, E. Dalbono, La scuola napoletana di pittura, Bari, 1915, pp. 24-25).
The present painting is one of two autograph reductions of a work executed by Filippo Palizzi in 1863 for King Victor Emmanuel II. The original and larger version was exhibited at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1867 and then donated by the King to the Museo di Capodimonte, Naples. The other autograph and larger reduction of the present subject was commissioned by a French private collector after the acclaim received by the prototype and its subsequent acquisition by the King and was sold at Christie’s London in 2011 (£265,250). A third painting, of similar size to the present work, but only attributed to the artist, is in the Falmouth Art Gallery in Cornwall.
The artist’s fervent naturalism is demonstrated by his ability to accurately render both the anatomy and character of the animals, here represented in an unprecedented variety of species. The bright colour palette used and the fantastic effect given by the rainbow enhance the richness of the present composition.
We are grateful to Professor Nicola Spinosa for having authenticated the present lot on the basis of a photograph.