Paolo De Matteis

Titolo: Artist 1. THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY IN GUARDIA SANFRAMONDI The XVII and XVIII centuries were for Guardia Sanframondi times of intense economic , social and above all cultural change. This Samnite town, already under Carafa denomination, had intensified its relations with the Kingdom of Naples which was the center of new unrest that was developing in all areas of knowledge. It is thanks to the city of Naples, that Guardia got “a breath of fresh air” from the contemporary culture that was spreading throughout Europe. Such prosperity and cultural wealth brought further growth and development to the town with different elements of the town blossoming and which would symbolize those times of change. In fact, those were years that gave rise to large sums of money being spent for new works which were commissioned to prestigious artists of the time. Further testimony to the prosperity of the time are the works of Paolo De Matteis, Pietro Bardellino, Francesco Narici e Domenico Antonio Vaccaro who gave their artistic talent to no fewer than to three different churches in Guardia Sanframondi: Ave Gratia Plena, San Sebastiano e San Rocco (see section Places of Interest) PAOLO DE MATTEIS (Piano Vetrale 1662 – Napoli 1728) Italian painter. He worked especially in the Kingdom of Naples between the end of 1600s and the beginning of 1700s. ********* Paolo De Matteis, was born in Pietra Vetrale, district of Orria, in the current province of Salerno. He trained with Francesco di Maria in Naples, them with Luca Giordano. In 1682 he was to Rome with Giovanni Maria Morandi, who introduced him to the Academy of St. Luca’s milieu. In Rome he met the Marquis of El Carpio, Gaspar Méndez de Haro y Guzmán, with whom he returned to Naples in 1683, when the Marquis was named Viceroy of Naples. From 1702 to 1705, De Matteis worked in Paris, under the patronage of Luigi XIV, than in Calabria e Genoa. In Genoa, he painted the“Immacolata Concezione con l’apparizione di San Girolamo”. Upon returning to Naples, he painted decorative schemes for Neapolitan churches, including the vault of the San Ignatius’s chapel in the church of Gesù Nuovo in Naples. He also painted the Assumption of the Virgin for the Monte Cassino Abbey. Between 1723–1725, De' Matteis lived in Rome, where he was commissioned by Pope Innocent XIII. He also worked in Austria, Spain, England and France. His pupils were Ignacio de Oliveira, Bernardes Peresi, and members of the Sarnelli family including Francesco, Gennaro, Giovanni, and Antonio Sarnelli. Others pupils were Giuseppe Mastroleo, Nicola de Filippis, Domenico Guarino and his daughter Mariangela de Matteis. He died in Naples in 1728 and was buried in the Church of the Conceprion to Chiatamone. DOMENICO ANTONIO VACCARO (Napoli 1678 – Napoli 1745) Italian painter, sculptor and architect. He created many important sculptural works and architectural projects in Naples. His later works were executed in an individualistic Rococo style. ********* Domenico Antonio Vaccaro was born in Naples; his parents was the sculptor Lorenzo Vaccaro and Caterina Bottigliero. He studied for the first time with his father and then became a student of the painter Francesco Solimena. He initially dedicated himself to painting but from about 1707 onwards he seems to have worked almost exclusively as a sculptor and architect. In the 1703 he started painting again. Amongst his most interesting works we can find the statue of Moses in the church of San Ferdinando, interior work in the Chiesa di Santa Maria in Portico, and the statues of Penitence and Solitude on the premises of the monastery (now museum) of San Martino. He also designed the Palazzo Spinelli in Tarsia, Palazzo Caravita in Portici, the Church of San Giovanni in Capua, and he reconstructed the Cathedral of Bari. In September 1717, commissioned by the Ordine Ospedaliero di San Giovanni di Dio, he began the makeover of the Church of Santa Maria della Pace. Finally, he designed the Palace of the Immacolatella in the center of Naples and the small church of Santa Maria della Concezione a Montecalvario, near Naples. Vaccaro died in 1745. Upon his deadth many construction works where left unfinished but these were subsequently brought to completion by his children who had followed in his footsteps and other architects. He had as pupils Francesco Pagano, Giuseppe Astarita, Giovanni del Gaizo, Luca Vecchione, Antonio Donnamaria, Filippo Falciatore e Ludovico Vaccaro. FRANCESCO NARICI (Sestri 1719 – ? 1785) Italian artist and author of important works placed in various Neapolitan and Genovese Churches. ********* Francesco Narici was born in Sestri (Genova) in 1719. He studied in Naples where he moved in 1735 and where it is thought he was trained by artists from the circle of Francesco Solimena (1657-1747). Narici’s first documented work was executed in 1751 for the Church of S. Anna in Capuana in Naples, and it shows the strong influence of Solimena. By 1755 Narici produced some altarpieces for Neapolitan Churches and for the Church of Ave Gratia Plena in Guardia Sanframondi. In the next decades the artist returned to his birthplace, Genoa, where he painted portraits of Doge Marcello Durazzo and members of the Monticelli family. In the 1778 the painter signed the canvas representing “l’Assunzione della Vergine” for the parish church of Bedalucco (Imperia), commissioned two years earlier by Francesco Striglione and in the same years he was commissioned for an altarpieces representing “Sant’Antonio Abate in meditazione” for the church of the San Giovanni a Sestri. The artist’s career ended around 1179. From this year we have the “Vergine con San Nicola e Ignazio di Loyola”, commissioned by the church of the Ave Gratia Plena in Guardia Sanframondi. He died in 1785. PIETRO BARDELLINO (Napoli 1732 – Napoli 1806) Italian artist and author of important works placed in various Neapolitan Churches. ********* Pietro Bardellino was born in Naples in 1732, and was initially trained by Francesco De Muria. We can notice the influence of the De Muria in his work “L’Ultima Cena”, preserved in the Cathedral of Bitonto, which recalls the prototype of the Holy Family. Another work of this period is “La Vergine appare a Pio V e a Don Giovanni d’Austria”, executed in 1778 in the Church of San Giacomo degli Spagnoli. In 1773 he became director of the Accademia Napoletana del Disegno which later became the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Naples. Bardellino joined with the Rococo movement, influenced by Corrado Giaquinto. In later years he produced masterpieces such as the portrait of Gaetano Barba (1790, Naval Accademy of San Luca) and frescoes of 1792 for the Girolamini’s Library. He died in Naples in 1819. 2. THE MODERN/CONTEMPORARY PERIOD In our more modern times Guardia Sanframondi has seen the developmentof some enterprises in artistic field, from local artists and resident foreigners, that aim to give renewed functionality of our medieval town. Among these we remember: GIOVANNI MANCINI (Guardia Sanframondi 1953 – Guardia Sanframondi 2016) Giovanni Mancini was born in Guardia Sanframondi (Bn), on April 15th 1953. His parents, Maria Falato and Antonio Mancini, were from Guardia. They were farmers and used to take him in the fields so he began to explore a world made by bugs, fossils, roots and minerals, which he liked analyzing. His curiosity followed him for all his life. Since he was a child, he liked drawing. In 1966, he started to attend the Art School in Benevento where he developed his passion thanks to teachers like Nunzio Bibbò, Mario Persico, Mario Rotili, Rubens Capaldo etc. During this period he works hard and he exposes his works in some exhibition, winning the prize “Premio ANSI” (BN). In 1971, after graduated from high school, he joins the Institute of Fine Arts in Naples, attending the Sculpture class, with Professors Castelli and De Vincenzo. De Vincenzo will become his leader and there will be an emotional connection between the two of them that will last forever. He falls in love with Naples’ artistic heritage and begins to study deeply the history of art of the Campania region. He understands how art spread in his territory. He wants to make people become aware of that heritage and founds a cultural association with a group of friends, called “Friends of Monuments” in order to protect the artistic heritage of Guardia Sanframondi, often exposed to the negligence of institutions. De Vincenzo follows him and pushes him to take part to organizations in Naples, Salerno, Caserta, Benevento and Milan at the Palace of Art “Fair of young artist”, organized by Mario de Micheli. After finishing his studies, he decides to become a professor, as substitute teacher in middle school and in high school of Benevento. In 1977, he becomes professor of Techniques of sculpture at the Institute of Fine Arts in Catanzaro. At the same time, he has been called as art conservator at Capodimonte Museum (Na), with a permanent contract. But he chooses to be a professor at the Institute of Fine Arts, due to his love for sculpture. Here, he spends time with the dean Carmine Di Ruggiero, the professors Giovanni Pisani, Alfredo Scotti, Guglielmo Longobardo, Massimo Perez, Tony Ferro. He travels every week from Guardia Sanframondi to Catanzaro. During this travels by train often with his collegues, he develops several ideas and projects of work. In Catanzaro he meets Caterina Tarantino, one of his students, they fall in love and got married in 1980. They will have two kids and will stay together until the end. During this period, he analyzes the research on the materials and on the new technologies. He keeps up with the new products and likes to experiment everything.

Load more