Edoardo Gelli

Edoardo Gelli, also known as Eduardo Gelli or Odoardo Gelli (4 September 1851 in Savona – 30 March 1933 in Florence), was an Italian genre and portrait painter (and later academician) ; active in Florence and Vienna between the end of the 19th and the start of the 20th century.

Biography Gelli was born in Savona, where his parents, Antonio Gelli (from Lucca) and Marina Dall’Orso (from Chiavari), managed the Albergo dell’Universo (later Albergo Svizzero) from 1849.

In 1862 his mother moved to Lucca to allow him to attend the Regio Istituto di Belle Arti (Royal Institute of Fine Arts), where he studied until 1871 under teachers including Carlo Dal Poggetto and Antonio Fontanesi. In 1872 he obtained a scholarship to continue his studies in Florence, where he later settled.

He trained in at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze (Academy of fine arts of Florence) under Antonio Ciseri. The contemporary American art collector James Jackson Jarves grouped him with Francesco Vinea and Tito Conti, two other costume genre painters.

In 1873 he exhibited San Sebastiano, followed in 1875 by An Episode of the Massacre of the Innocents, both now preserved at Palazzo Mansi in Lucca.

During his early Florentine years, he focused on historical costume subjects such as Charles I in Van Dyck's Studio and scenes from the Thirty Years' War, alongside genre scenes often set in 18th-century or convent environments.

From the early 1880s, he devoted himself mainly to portrait painting. Notable works include portraits of Luigi Pisani (1883), Diego Martelli and Ernesto Bellandi (1884, Uffizi Galleries, Florence). In 1886 he traveled to Vienna, where he exhibited at the Künstlerhaus and gained significant success, leading to commissions from Emperor Franz Joseph I and members of the Habsburg court. He remained in Vienna until 1888.

In November 1888 he was appointed resident academician of the Accademia di Belle Arti of Florence.

After returning to Italy, he painted members of the House of Savoy, working in Monza and Rome. In 1900, a portrait of Queen Margherita was sent to the Exposition Universelle in Paris.

At the Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904, he displayed The Lost Chord.

Within the era of late 19th-century Florence, Gelli became a portraitist of high society.

In his studio in Via Marsilio Ficino, he painted in 1899 a large portrait of the Royal Family of Siam during their European tour, Antonio Puccinelli, and Giacomo Puccini, whom he portrayed twice.

Around the turn of the century, he also addressed religious themes, notably the 1902 triptych (Annunciation, Nativity, Deposition) for the church of Santa Caterina d’Alessandria in Florence.

He was active in the Società di Belle Arti and promoted exhibitions such as the Mostra dell’Arte Toscana (1905).

In 1911 he retired from artistic life and moved to Maiano, near Fiesole. He died in Florence on 30 March 1933 and was buried in Cimitero di Soffiano.

Family

Gelli was married to Ida Marchesini (Florence, 1862–1927), a sculptor and pupil of Domenico Trentacoste. Singer and chansonnier Odoardo Spadaro was Ida's cousin on her mother Mary Marchesini's side.

They had one daughter, Anna (born 1892), who married Andrea Piegaja, owner of the Royal Victoria Hotel in Pisa.

Exhibitions He participated in numerous exhibitions, including: The American Exhibition of the Products, Arts and Manufactures of Foreign Nations, Boston (1883) Exposition Universelle, Antwerp (1885) Festa dell’Arte e dei Fiori, Florence (1896–1897) Exposition Universelle, Paris (1900) International Exhibition, Milan (1906) Venice Biennale (1895, 1897, 1899, 1903, 1905)

Works Works by Gelli are held in: Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Palazzo Pitti (Florence) Museo Stibbert (Florence) Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna (Rome) Museo Nazionale di Palazzo Mansi (Lucca) Villa Museo Puccini (Torre del Lago) Museo Revoltella (Trieste) Bratislava City Gallery (Bratislava) Henry Ford Museum (Dearborn, Michigan, USA)

Gallery