Spartaco Vela

Spartaco Vela (22 March 1854 – 23 June 1895) was a Swiss painter mainly active in Milan, Italy.

Biography

Vela was born on 22 March 1854 in Turin, the only child of Swiss sculptor Vincenzo Vela and Sabina Vela-Dragoni. He was raised in Turin until 1867, when he moved along with his parents to the family's hometown of Ligornetto, in the Swiss canton of Ticino. His first lessons in design were by his own father, who encouraged him to draw al vero and not copy masterpieces as many textbooks suggested. Influenced by his father, Vela attended the Brera Academy in Milan between 1869 and 1879, where he studied painting with Giuseppe Bertini, Eleuterio Pagliano and Mosè Bianchi, forming a lasting friendship with the latter.

Although he was never married, Vela fathered a son in 1881.