Since antiquity Southern Italy, at the centre of the Mediterranean, has been a melting pot of cultures, from the Middle East to Western, Southern and Northern Europe. The Natural beauty of Naples’s rugged coastline, together with hundreds of years of architectural and artistic tradition has inspired generations of artists. The local ‘Vedutisti’ follow in the tradition of the celebrated 19 landscape painters Vincenzo Caprile and Vincenzo Migliaro. JMW Turner travelled to Naples in his twenties making countless sketches of the awe inspiring landscape. He returned as a mature artist and painted works such as the wonderfully romantic late work. ‘Neapolitan Fisher-girls Surprised Bathing by Moonlight’ circa 1840.

18 Naples was traditionally the final destination for aristocratic young Englishmen whose extended ‘gap year’ was spent travelling in pursuit of culture. This ‘Grand Tour’, as it is termed, resulted in the formation of many fine British art collections.
21 Art

The coastline from Naples to Amalfi has remained unspoilt and is the inspiration for Andrea Patrisi’s art. In his harbour paintings one can almost smell the salty fishing nets piled on the decks of the decrepit boats. The once grand palazzi are crumbling and unkempt but they have vistas of incomparable beauty.

Patrisi paints without sentimentality with a swift technique. His paintings are sweepingly brushed rather than painstakingly worked, this gives the canvases a vivacity and sparkle. Patrisi avoids detail, he has an instinctive awareness of the effective level of finish which keeps the surface of the paintings lively. Now in his fifties Patrisi is at the height of his artistic powers, the refinement of his improvisatory manner is unsurpassed. He is the master of the ‘Scuola di Realismo Magico’.

Patrisi paints his beloved Amalfi and Naples coastline with an unceasing joy.
Although he works the paint in a seemingly effortless way his technique is never slick, his reverence to the subject matter is never compromised.