School of Resina

The School of Resina was a loosely linked group of Italian painters who, from the 1860s, abandoned academic studio practice for a frank, direct realism painted from life. It nucleated around Giuseppe De Nittis, expelled from the Naples Academy of Fine Arts, who moved into rooms in the Royal Palace of Portici at Resina - today part of Ercolano and Portici, just south of Naples - determined to paint real life outdoors rather than in a studio. Marco De Gregorio, Federico Rossano, and Adriano Cecioni joined him, later followed by Alceste Campriani, Antonino Leto, Filippo Palizzi, and others; Domenico Morelli mockingly called them the Republic of Portici. Through De Nittis they took up the Macchiaioli's lessons and inherited the earlier School of Posillipo's landscape tradition. The group grew looser when De Nittis left for Paris in 1867, but its unidealized realism fed Italian Verism.

Defining characteristics

• Non-academic realism painted from life, often out of doors
• Contemporary everyday subjects: peasant and domestic scenes, the Campanian countryside
• Macchia-like patches of tone and light replacing fine finish
• Natural, muted palettes of the Neapolitan coast and countryside
• Informal, candid compositions rather than staged academic scenes

Key figures

• Giuseppe De Nittis (1846-1884) — Founder figure who left the Naples Academy to paint outdoors and drew the group to Resina
• Adriano Cecioni (1836-1886) — Realist painter and critic; author of The Embroiderers
• Filippo Palizzi (1818-1899) — Older Neapolitan realist who joined the group
• Alceste Campriani (1848-1933) — Painter of the Neapolitan countryside who joined in the group's later years

Example works

• Le Ricamatrici (The Embroiderers) — Adriano Cecioni (1865-66)

Sources

• School of Resina - Wikipedia encyclopedia

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