Michele Rapisardi (December 27, 1822 in

Catania Catania (, , Sicilian and ) is the second largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo. Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation, among the largest in Italy, as evidenced also by ...

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

– 1886 in Florence) was an Italian painter.

Biography

Initially trained with his father, the painter Giuseppe Rapisardi, he then had a classic education locally in Catania, and then obtained a stipend from the city to study in the studio of Cavalliere Giovanni Costa in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. He won a number of prizes at the

Accademia di San Luca The Accademia di San Luca (the "Academy of Saint Luke") is an Italian academy of artists in Rome. The establishment of the Accademia de i Pittori e Scultori di Roma was approved by papal brief in 1577, and in 1593 Federico Zuccari became its fir ...

. After four years he traveled to Florence, Venice, then Paris. He was eclectic and prolific. He painted a number of genre works, based on history and drama: ''Episode of the 1301 Siege of Messina''; ''Main Italian Poets at the Court of Frederico II in SiciIy''; ''Vatti a far monaca!''; ''Hamlet before Ophelia''; ''La prima sventura di Luigi Camoens''; ''Le castellane e il menestrello''; ''Il trovatore cacciato in bando''; ''Dante and Beatrice''; ''The escape of

Bianca Cappello Bianca Cappello (154820 October 1587) was an Italian noblewoman who was the mistress, and afterward the second wife, of Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Her husband officially made her his consort. Coincidentally, the creation of t ...

''; ''Le maggiolate''; ''Mad Ophelia''; and of the '' I Vespri Siciliani''. He painted religious works for a number of churches in his Catania, with paintings such as ''San Benedetto''; '' L'Immacolata''; '' La cena in Emaus''; ''Il sacrifìcio di Gedeone''; '' San Vito''; ''Le Vergini di Sion''; '' San Luigi Gonzaga''; ''L'Addolorata''; '' Sant'Agata in jail''. Rapisardi was criticized for the anachronism of his costumes. He painted his self-portrait.Self portrait

Gallery

File:Autoritratto - Michele Rapisardi.JPG, Self-portrait (

Castello Ursino Castello Ursino ( scn, Casteddu Ursinu, lit=Bear Castle), also known as Castello Svevo di Catania, is a castle in Catania, Sicily, southern Italy. It was built in the 13th century as a royal castle of the Kingdom of Sicily, and is mostly known fo ...

, Catania) File:Rapisardi - Testa di Ofelia pazza (1865).jpg, ''Head of the mad Ophelia'' File:Hamlet - Michele Rapisardi.jpg, Hamlet File:I vespri siciliani - Michele Rapisardi.JPG, ''I Vespri Siciliani'', Castello Ursino, Catania File:M R sirena 1871.jpg, ''Siren'' File:M R venere su divano rosso 1858.jpg, ''Venus in her Pink Divan''

References

1822 births 1886 deaths Artists from Catania 19th-century Italian painters Italian male painters Painters from Sicily 19th-century Italian male artists {{Italy-painter-19thC-stub