Francesco paolo michetti biography of alberta

The artist

Francesco Paolo Michetti was born in Tocco di Casauria on the 4th of October , and his first artistic training took place in Chieti, Abruzzo. His undeniable talent led the city to grant him a scholarship in to pursue his studies at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Naples.
In Naples, Michetti was especially attracted by the realism of Domenico Morelli, Filippo Palizzi and the School of Resina.

Despite poor attendance at his academic courses, he nevertheless twice won prizes (Mezza figura di vecchio, ; Paesaggio con figura, ).
In Michetti participated at the Paris Salon, and began a collaboration with the German dealer Reutlinger.

Francesco paolo michetti biography of alberta canada He traveled to Paris , encouraged and supported by De Nittis, by the patron Beniamino Rotondo, and by the art merchant Reutlinger. Gubernatis states that it was "a phantasmagory of form and color, that reveals the fecundity and courage of the artist". Julian Ashton - Head of a woman Francesco Paolo Michetti

This would herald a feverish and prolific period full of artistic stimuli. Michetti then met and developed an interest in the work of Mariano Fortuny, and began to study photography, presumably with the mediation of Filippo Palazzi.
He exhibited again at the Paris Salon in , and in attracted critical attention at the Naples National Exhibition, where he presented la Processione del Corpus Domini a Chieti (private collection).

Countess La Field, deeply touched by this painting, subsequently commissioned Mattinata, a work which depicts the rehearsal of one of  Francesco Paolo Tosti romanza at Francavilla. His participation in important exhibitions became more intense during the late nineteenth century: in he attended the Universal Exposition in Paris, in the first International Exhibition of Modern Paintings of the Raffaello Society and the Paris Salon, in the National Exhibition of Milan.

In he illustrated the Canto Nuovo by Gabriele D’Annunzio which was published by Angelo Sommaruga.
The following year marked a turning point in Michetti’s career.

Francesco paolo michetti biography of alberta Pasquale Celommi - Gubernatis remarks on the vivaciousness of these works, and says: At the Exhibition of Milan, he was a prolific exhibitor with 34 paintings, mostly studies of faces, full of sentiment, and seascapes, full of windblown sails. However, in he accepted an invitation to become member of the Ordering Board of the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna, and also a member in of the Acquisitions Board of the same institution. With a palette reduced to monochrome, favouring the use of tempera diluted with glycerine, the painting frees itself in brushstrokes with a strong abstracting value, capable of uniting figures and landscape in a fluid, elusive and seamless reality, to capture what he feels is the immutable substance of reality.

The monumental painting Il Voto, presented at the Rome International Exhibition, hits the critics and the public for the raw realism in which it described the feast of Saint Pantaleon at Miglianico. The work, reviewed by D’Annunzio in the pages of “Fanfulla della Domenica”, finally entered Rome's Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna.
During the same period Michetti bought the convent of Santa Maria Maggiore in Francavilla, where he invited his friends Costantino Barbella, D'Annunzio, Matilde Serao, Edoardo Scarfoglio and Domenico Tosti during the summer of The new house became a magnet for artists such as Giulio Aristide Sartorio, Guido Boggiani and Basilio Cascella, who spent long periods painting together.
His relationship with D’Annunzio was especially close, who wrote Il piacere (), L'innocente () and part of his Trionfo della morte () at Francavilla.

In the company of D'Annunzio, Barbella and Antonio De Nino (a scholar of local folklore), the artist visited the most remote locations in Abruzzo, in order to make photographic records of traditional festivals, collecting a wealth of material, which would later be used in the monumental canvases Le Serpi e Gli Storpi (both of which are at the Museo Michetti Francavilla a Mare).
The first half of the s saw Michetti participating in major exhibitions in Germany, including the International Art Exhibition of the Society of Artists in Berlin in In the painting La Figlia di Jorio (Pescara, Palazzo della Provincia) received a medal at the 1st Venice Biennale.

The jury of critics and art historians explained its decision thus: "Michetti [] has expressed human drama with sincerity, with immense naturalistic power." During the second half of the decade, Michetti's participation in public expositions became ever more sporadic.
The artist spent long periods of isolation at the convent of Francavilla, reinterpreting his rich photographic material in carrying out the pictures Le Serpi e Gli Storpi, which would be presented after years in the making at the Paris Universal Exposition of In this period photography was no longer a simple tool for the gathering of documentary material, but instead became a language of self-expression in its own right, the potential of which was studied in the isolated wilds of Abruzzo.

Francesco paolo michetti biography of alberta state Self-portrait May, 29th Francesco Paolo Michetti Robert Harris - He also exhibited at Salons in and In the company of D'Annunzio, Barbella and Antonio De Nino a scholar of local folklore , the artist visited the most remote locations in Abruzzo, in order to make photographic records of traditional festivals, collecting a wealth of material, which would later be used in the monumental canvases Le Serpi e Gli Storpi both of which are at the Museo Michetti Francavilla a Mare.

In , Michetti was appointed Senator of the Kingdom, and the following year he agreed to send fifteen of his landscapes to the Venice Biennale. This was to be his last public appearance, and was followed by ultimately futile attempts to persuade him to resubmit his work for public exhibition. However, in he accepted an invitation to become member of the Ordering Board of the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna, and also a member in of the Acquisitions Board of the same institution.

He died from pneumonia at the convent of Francavilla on 5th March