Paintings Drawings Sculptures 2016 - Jean Luc Baroni

Francesco Paolo Michetti
Tocco da Casauria 1851-1929 Francavilla al Mare
42
Head of a Young Boy
Terracotta.
Height: 27.9 cm; with base: 38.6 cm.
Provenance: Private collection, USA
Francesco Paolo Michetti was born at Tocco da
Casauria (in the Province of Chieti, now Pescara) in
1851. His father was a band conductor. At a very early
age he began to show a natural talent for painting:
in 1868 he was awarded a study grant that made it
possible for him to move to Naples and be admitted
to the Accademia di Belle Arti. There he studied under
the guidance of Domenico Morelli and Filippo Palizzi,
met Edoardo Dalbono, and was influenced by Mariano
Fortuny.
During his stay in Naples he was approached by
several major European art dealers, including Goupil
and soon after, Reutlinger, who introduced him to the
international market and competed for his works.The
brothers Paolo and Beniamino Rotondo purchased
many of his early paintings which still belong to
the Rotondo Collection, now housed in the Museo
Nazionale di San Martino, in Naples.
In 1871 he was already back in his native region,
Abruzzo, although he travelled frequently: in 1872 he
went to Paris for the first time, and took part in the
Salon. What fascinated him particularly in Abruzzo
were the ancestral, living folk traditions which were
rich in pathos and pregnant with a magic, pagan
heritage. Michetti’s painting Lo sposalizio in Abruzzo,
of 1876, is a witness to this fascination.
In 1877, at the Esposizione Nazionale di Belle Arti
of Naples, he exhibited his Corpus Domini, which
aroused much interest in the art world and was as
highly praised as it was bitterly criticised, for instance
by Adriano Cecioni. The painting passed through
several distinguished collections before being acquired
by William II, Emperor of Germany.
At the beginning of the eighteen-eighties, Michetti
married Annunziata Circignani, who became his
chief model and features in numerous paintings and
photographs. He also purchased the Convent of Santa
Maria Maggiore at Francavilla al Mare, where he
settled in 1883.
158