636 - Gioacchino PAGLIEI (1852–1896)

Gioacchino PAGLIEI (1852–1896) The Lyre Player at Rest Oil on canvas Signed lower right H_61 x W_37.5 cm Gioacchino Pagliei was a late 19th-century Italian painter trained at the Academy of Saint Luke in Rome. A student of Francesco Grandi, he collaborated with him on the decoration of the Church of San Lorenzo in Damaso, the Quirinal Palace, and the Citadel of Piombino. His style is associated with the Neo-Pompeian genre: classical-inspired scenes in which he excelled at rendering fabrics, skin tones, and marble decorations, in a quest for fidelity to reality combined with an ideal of beauty, typical of Italian academic art. In the 1880s, he exhibited at the Società degli Amatori e Cultori delle Belle Arti. He died at the age of 44, leaving behind a relatively small body of work, which is why his pieces are rare on the market. His work is reminiscent of the styles of Lawrence Alma-Tadema and Jean-Léon Gérôme.