Fishermen unloading the catch, in the Bay of Naples

Attilio Pratella is one of the most appreciated Italian painters of the 19th century. By his own admission, Pratella was stricken by the landscape paintings of Antonio Fontanesi while studying at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Bologna and this 'pictorial revolution' influenced his production from the 1880s. Active in Naples from 1880, throughout his lifetime he was known as the foremost painter of the Neapolitan gulf and the artist best able to catch its light, atmosphere and liveliness in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius.