ELISEO SALA
(Milan, 1813 - Rancate di Triuggio, 1879)

male portrait

Oil on canvas, 11.5 x 11.9 cm
Literature

"1780-1880 From the breath of the ancient to the movements of the heart. Italian painting and sculpture from late Romanticism to Neoclassicism ", exhibition catalog, edited by M. Vezzosi, Rome 2003

The portrait in question is attributed to Eliseo Sala, an Italian painter whose training began at the Brera Academy with Sabatelli, after that he moved to Venice where he perfected his art analyzing the Venetian painting, later, he settled for a time in Rome and met Francesco Coghetti with whom he became friends.
Early in his career he mainly devoted himself to genre painting but in a short time he drew his attention to the portrait, production in which became very skilled and for which he is best remembered.
A lot of his artworks are kept in the Modern Art Gallery in Milan and in the Brera Art Gallery.
His realist portraits, even if made elegantly, sometimes reveal the will of the painter once a bit too much to the desire effect.