(Tocco da Casauria 1851 - Francavilla al Mare 1929)
LA FALCA, FIGURES OF PEOPLE IN THE FOREGROUND, SAILING BOATS IN THE BACKGROUND
Pastel on brownish paper. Inscribed La Falca at bottom left, Signed Michetti at bottom right; 420 x 625 mm.
The drawing dates back to the last decade of the nineteenth century. Another painting of the same period bears the inscription Falca. See F. Benzi, G. Berardi, T. Sacchi Lodispoto, S. Spinazzè, Francesco Paolo Michetti, catalogo generale, Milan, 2018, cat. No. 510.
Andrea Iezzi, whom I thank here, suggests that the name Falca is that of the tall woman who appears in both compositions. In ours on the left, in the one published on the right.
In our pastel the tall and single female figure on the left, contrasts with the group of men on the right, taking up the theme of the famous painting by Michetti La figlia di Iorio, which was the inspiration for the drama in verse by Gabriele D'Annunzio of 1903.
Francesco Paolo Michetti was taught at the Accademia in Naples by Morelli, but he also attended the life drawing classes of Filippo Palizzi, who exercised the greatest influence on his development. In 1871 Michetti made his first trip to Paris. There he came in contact with Fortuny, De Nittis and the dealer Goupil and exhibited at the Salons of 1872 and 1875. In 1883 Michetti purchased a convent in his homeland, Abruzzo, as his home and studio. For the next twenty years, the convent was a meeting place for artists and exponents of culture. Abruzzo was Michetti's emotional and aesthetic inspiration: he combined studies from life and extensive photographic documentation, capturing its people, animals, and local events in emotionally charged paintings with luminous colors and vibrant light.
