Francesco Lojacono

Francesco Lojacono ( born May 26, 1838 in Palermo, † February 26, 1915 ) was an Italian landscape painter in Sicily.

Life

He received his first training from his father, the painter Luigi Lojacono ( 1806-1882 ). When Salvatore Lo Forte, he continued his education.

In 1856 he achieved first show results with ideal landscapes in Palermo, which allowed him to Naples at the brothers Giuseppe ( 1812-1888 ) and Filippo Palizzi ( 1818-1899 ) to further train. It is disputed in which of the two he was in teaching. During his stay in Naples lasting until 1859 he studied at the School of Posillipo. It is believed that he became acquainted with the works of the Barbizon school about Filippo Palizzi. He was also influenced by Giacinto Gigante.

Then he moved to Florence, where he came into contact with the group of painters macchiaioli who represented the plein air painting of the Barbizon school in Italy.

In 1860 he, his father and brother Salvatore Lojacono Giuseppe Garibaldi joined, and participated in the " train of a Thousand" part. Despite being wounded in the Battle of Milazzo, he fought under Nino Bixio on the side of many artists in the Battle of the Volturno on October 1, 1860. 1861 he successfully took part in the first all- Italian art exhibition in Florence. On August 29, 1862, he came with Garbibaldi while trying to conquer Rome, in Aspromonte in captivity.

After his early release, he returned to Palermo, where he maintained his residence until his death. In 1865, he joined the School of Resina, which also included Giuseppe de Nittis and Antonino Leto. He -fed in the following years, numerous, especially Italian exhibition of his works, which enjoyed a growing popularity. 1870 his works were well known in Vienna, where he personally stayed in 1871 and was received by Emperor Franz Joseph I.. In 1873 he traveled to Paris to exhibit their work in the Salon pictures. He remained until 1874. 1876 or later, he came to London and Berlin, where he was Wilhelm I should have received. In 1877 he was elected to the jury of the Paris World Exposition in 1878, where he also exhibited itself. On this occasion, the first time criticism of his academic style of painting has been expressed. 1883 and 1888 were issued by him in Munich, in 1891 in Berlin Pictures, 1895 at the First Biennale di Venezia, 1900 again in Paris.

In 1878 he was appointed honorary professor of landscape painting at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Naples.

Lojacono was estimated by Gabriele D' Annunzio, who wrote numerous favorable reviews of his pictures. Among his pupils were Gennaro Pardo and Ettore De Maria Bergler.

He was married and had several children.

Work

Lojacono is the most important landscape painters of the 19th century in Sicily. Theoretical writings by him are known, but can be derived from his belonging to the aforementioned artists' associations derive its positioning. In front of him were almost exclusively painted in Sicily the ancient ruins and the famous cities on the coast, where the painter mainly foreigners, especially German were. Lojacono however, chose in the sense of romantic realism in addition to views of Palermo more mundane subjects, even from the interior, for his painting.

As one of the first Italian painters he reached beside painted studies in photographs back as models for his paintings. This is from his efforts to understand the greatest possible realism. He continued the studies and photographs then together in the studio to mostly large-scale paintings. Although this method, a certain artificiality was not to be denied, most critics praised him for the generated realistic effect.

Compatriots, fishermen, shepherds and cattle revive many of his paintings, sometimes they also represent the main subject and make them genre scenes. The hardness of working life is sometimes suspect, but never is it an indictment of social or environmental ills. Lojacono painted on unprimed canvas or wood panel with thick, opaque paint.

It is possible to recognize three main creative periods.

• From about 1863 to 1879 he painted meticulously executed landscapes in cultivated and fertile aspect with a tendency to idylls, including well-known scenes from the area around Palermo. He painted then layered and detailed down into individual leaves and branches.

• From about 1880 to 1894 he painted a monumental summer landscapes that looked bright, hot and inexorable, but still nice. These works earned him the nickname " Thief of the Sun" a. From traditional vedutas known scenes were hardly selected. With shown were rural folk scenes, where the poverty of the population is not veiled, but not presented as a problem. He went off the layered painting and sat, as far as possible without blurring the color, the color fields in a train side by side. The sharp delineation of the forms he maintained. Mostly he painted the first Sizlienmaler already autumn scenes.

• From about 1895 to 1915 he preferred moist - cool and dark Szenenerien acting atypical of Sicily, also gardens and plants portraits. He walked over to a blurred painting technique, in which he renounced human and architecture staffages. The artistic expression took in this era greatly.

On the occasion of an exhibition of his works in 2005 at the Galleria d' Arte Moderna (Palermo) his life and work have been extensively worked scientifically.

Works in public collections

His einfrigsten collectors belonged to the businessman Giuseppe Sinatra (1863-1948) in Agrigento, who donated 88 of his 1944 painting of the gallery Civica in Agrigento, now Museo Civico of Agrigento. 13 paintings, a portrait bust of the artist Archimede Campini ( 1884-1950 ) and a portrait of Onofrio Tomaselli ( 1866-1956 ) are located in the Galleria d' Arte Moderna (Palermo). More works in the Galleria Nazionale d' Arte Moderna in Rome and the Museo di Capodimonte in Naples.