Attilio Pratella was a painter; born in Lugo 1856, he died in Naples in 1949.
Pratella started to draw at school and in 1877 was admitted to the Academy of Fine Art in Bologna thanks to a scholarship; he studied there for two years and the landscape paintings by Fontanesi, that Pratella saw in the Academy Gallery, were a “pictorial revelation”, in the painter’s words.
In 1880 he attended the Fine Art Institute in Naples. During those years, to make ends meet, Pratella worked at the decoration of the ceramics produced in the Cacciapuoti factory.
In 1887 he showed his painting “Il Mattino” (the morning) at the “Promotrice” exhibition in Naples; this painting reveals the artist talent for landscape. From that moment on his success grew constantly; his paintings were in high demand and Pratella exhibited in Italy and abroad, including venues such as the Venice Biennale and the Paris Salon.
Attilio Pratella is one of the most loved and sought after artists by XIX century painting collectors; his landscapes of Naples’ gulf are very famous.
