Angelo Morbelli
(Alessandria 1853 -
Milano 1919)
Italian painter.
He received his first
lessons in drawing in Alessandria, and in 1867 he travelled on a
local study grant to Milan, where he was based for the rest of
his life. He enrolled at the Accademia di Brera and from 1867 to
1876 studied drawing and painting there under Raffaele Casnedi
and Giuseppe Bertini, whose influence is seen in both the
subject-matter and technique of his early works. These include
perspectival views, anecdotal genre scenes and history paintings.
In the Dying Goethe (1880; Alessandria, Pin. Civ.) the
theatrical setting, enriched by a sophisticated execution and a
well-modulated use of colour, derives from the teaching of
Casnedi and Bertini, while the historic-romantic quality of this
painting also recalls the style of Francesco Hayez. In the years
that followed, Morbelli began to concentrate more on themes such
as labour and the life of the poor, influenced perhaps by
Realist painters of the 1880s such as Achille D'Orsi, Francesco
Paolo Michetti and Teofilo Patini. Morbelli's Return to the
Stable (1882; priv. col., see Scotti p. 24) shows him
progressively adopting a lighter palette with bluish shadows and
rougher, more fragmented brushwork.