Gaetano Bellei (1857-1922), A joyful moment

Gaetano Bellei (Modena 1857-1922), “A joyful moment”, late 19th century.
Oil on canvas, 50 x 74 cm within a contemporary gilded frame.
Signed "G. Bellei/Modena" on the right.




A joyful moment, an elegant canvas by Gaetano Bellei, depicts an interior scene in a precious noble palace. The protagonist is a tender young girl, dressed in bright silk and fine lace, portrayed while playing with a colorful parrot. The young girl is lying on a chaise longue; as can be seen from the slight twisting of her body, she has just placed a small blue fan to allow the parrot to land on her hand. In the foreground there is a small stool, also lined like the chaise longue in light blue brocade, white lacquer and gold leaves, on which fragrant roses have been placed. In the background, a fabric screen with gold trim separates the spaces, making the adorable little scene that unfolds before our eyes something more intimate and private. The background, from which a curious orientalist candelabra with a helical shape rises, is almost in shadow; it is rendered by a shaded painting that unites the console, the frame and the carpet hanging on the wall in a not excessively distinct golden material. The focus of the artist and, irremediably, that of the observer, are the laughing girl and the green bird she plays with, perhaps it is precisely a symbol of innocence and purity of the girl's adolescence, still tied to childish moods. A joyful moment is not only a very fine painting, but a reminder, a memento aimed at making us remember how youth is as beautiful as it is ephemeral, that lasts only an instant or, as the title says, "a moment".

BIOGRAPHY

Gaetano Bellei was born in Modena in 1857 and trained as an artist under the guidance of the master Adeodato Malatesta at the Academy of Fine Arts in Modena, before completing his training at the Accademia di San Luca. In 1876, while still a student, he won the competition for the Poletti Prize in Modena with the historical painting Il Francia che mira per la prima volta la S. Cecilia by Raffaello, now in the Museo Civico in Modena, which allowed him to obtain an artistic pension. He then went to Florence, where he met Gaetano Chierici, who inspired him in terms of narrative composition; encouraged by the English antique dealers and patrons Bredling and Strange, he devoted himself entirely to genre painting.
These scenes characterize Bellei's artistic debut, whose themes were repeated and replicated with few variations, such as Briscola in convento and Primi passi, as they were highly sought after by collectors and patrons. The jovial subjects of his paintings are combined with a praiseworthy technical knowledge of the pictorial material, accompanied by the artist's desire to keep up with the European trends of his time. In 1882 he brought La Benvenuta to the Exhibition of the Royal Academy of London, which guaranteed him fame in Anglo-Saxon circles. In 1885 he exhibited Il micino fortunate for the first time in Genoa, a subject with such commercial success that it was painted in several versions. From 1893 he taught at the Academy of Modena, but continued to participate in various exhibitions, including Turin in 1898, Milan in 1906, Genoa in 1910 and Rome in 1911. Bellei established himself as a painter of human affections, of the simple daily life of man, often a farmer; the subjects most frequently portrayed were elderly people and children, often captured in joyful moments of play. Genre scenes, very popular among wealthy clients, guaranteed him artistic success and economic well-being throughout his life. In the first decade of the 20th century he did not shy away from experimenting with contemporary trends, including Divisionism, which is best expressed in portraits such as his Self-Portrait; he then experimented with styles and themes typical of Art Nouveau, as in Durante la pioggia (During the Rain) of 1919, focusing on the twisting of bodies and clothes moved by the wind. Bellei also boasts commissions from parishes in the province of Modena, producing altarpieces for the churches of Zocca and Bomporto. He died in Modena in 1922.