Enrico Albrici (1714–1775) was an Italian painter of the late

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

. His surname is alternatively spelled or Alberici or Albrizzi or Albricci. He was born at

Vilminore di Scalve Vilminore di Scalve (Bergamasque: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Bergamo in the Italian region of Lombardy, located about northeast of Milan and about northeast of Bergamo. As of 31 December 2010, it had a population of 1 ...

in province of

Bergamo Bergamo (; lmo, Bèrghem ; from the proto- Germanic elements *''berg +*heim'', the "mountain home") is a city in the alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately northeast of Milan, and about from Switzerland, the alpine lakes Como ...

, and was a pupil of Ferdinando del Cairo of

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo. ...

, under whom he studied three years. He painted for the churches and buildings of Brescia, Bergamo, and the villages in the Valle di Scalve. He painted a ''Woman of Samaria'', a ''Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican'', a ''Raising of Lazarus'', a ''Prodigal Son'' and a ''Good Shepherd'' for the church Santa Maria dei Miracoli at Brescia. He also painted monochrome paintings for the facade of ''Charity'' and ''Virtue'' Grisaglia allegoria della Carità Santa Maria della Carità Brescia.jpg, ''Charity'', facade fresco, at Santa Maria della Carità in Brescia (At lower right corner, bird cuts itself, in order to feed blood to offspring) Portale e grisaglie Santa Maria della Carità Brescia.jpg, Portal and frescos by Enrico Albrici of the Santa Maria della Carità church in Brescia. Grisaglia allegoria con fascio littorio Santa Maria della Carità Brescia.jpg, Allegoric figure with

fasces Fasces ( ; ; a ''plurale tantum'', from the Latin word ''fascis'', meaning "bundle"; it, fascio littorio) is a bound bundle of wooden rods, sometimes including an axe (occasionally two axes) with its blade emerging. The fasces is an Italian symbo ...

in a

grisaille Grisaille ( or ; french: grisaille, lit=greyed , from ''gris'' 'grey') is a painting executed entirely in shades of grey or of another neutral greyish colour. It is particularly used in large decorative schemes in imitation of sculpture. Many g ...

fresco by Albrici on the facade of the Santa Maria della Carità church in

The fresco paintings above were traditional for a serious late Baroque artist; on the other hand, in private commissions, Enrico was a follower of an idiosyncratically jocose and

Bamboccianti The ''Bamboccianti'' were genre painters active in Rome from about 1625 until the end of the seventeenth century. Most were Dutch and Flemish artists who brought existing traditions of depicting peasant subjects from sixteenth-century Netherland ...

style fostered by Faustino Bocchi. Both Bocchi and Albrici are now best known for his peculiar paintings of hordes of dwarfs engrossed in daily activities or in farcical epic gestures. The critic Scotti describes him as one that "lowers art to a new grade and wield the brush to draw monstrous dwarfs, gnomes and grotesque animals, witches with Lilliputian bodies, but hands and heads of giants. With (Albrici), genre painting descends into childish caricature, which though it sometimes has certain salacious spiciness and rusticity (montanita), it never gains the vigor of true and satisfying satire".

References

* * 1714 births 1775 deaths Artists from the Province of Bergamo 18th-century Italian painters Italian male painters Painters from Brescia Fresco painters 18th-century Italian male artists {{Italy-painter-18thC-stub