Giuseppe De Nittis

Italian painter (1846–1884)

Giuseppe De Nittis (February 25, 1846 – August 21, 1884) was one of the most important Italian painters of the 19th century, whose work merges the styles of Salon art and Impressionism.

De Nittis was born in Barletta, in the region of Apulia, where he lived with his family in the wealthiest district of the city near the intersection of the Corso Vittorio Emanuele and the Corso Garibaldi, just around the corner from the birthplace of another famous painter and contemporary, Geremia Discanno. Barletta at the time of the Bourbons, and in particular during the reign of Ferdinand II, nicknamed the "Bomb King" for having his own subjects cannonaded, was an extremely class oriented city and those who could afford it gathered regularly near De Nittis' home beneath the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher with its bronze Colossus of Heraclius in front. Situated on the Adriatic coast, Barletta's port thrived as a point of embarkation for the privileged travelling to or returning from the east. His father, Raffaele, was a wealthy landowner who could afford to send his son to study under Giovanni Battista Calò, who tutored other notable Barlettan painters including Vincenzo De Stefano, Giuseppe Gabbiani, and Raffaele Girondi. But, Raffaele was publicly outspoken in his opposition to the Bourbon monarchy and support for the unification of Italy, so was imprisoned for two years. He preferred pastels as the medium for his largest works, such as the triptych entitled Races at Auteuil (1881). A catalog was published to accompany the exhibition.