Giuseppe Costantini

GIUSEPPE COSTANTINI (Nola, 1843 - Naples, 1893).
"Temple of Vesta", Rome.
Watercolor on paper.
Signed and located in the lower left corner.
Measurements: 51 x 70 cm; 68,5 x 88,5 cm (frame).

The painter Giuseppe Costantini developed a characteristic genre, in which he combined the genre costumbrista with the romantic mythification of the ruin. Here we show a paradigmatic example of his ability to combine these two times: that of contemporary life with that of the timelessness of the ruin. In this watercolor, we distinguish the important temple of the Vestal next to the fountain of Triton, in front of which two washerwomen and a group of peasants stop.

Giuseppe Costantini was the son of Don Giovanni, surgeon of the Military Hospital of Nola (originally from San Paolo Belsito), and Donna Carmela, of the wealthy family of the Beard of Nola. After studying first at the Seminary of Nola, he went to the Art Institute of Naples and attended the Academy of BB. AA. of Naples between 1865 and 1866. After his academic studies, he befriended the painters of the Posillipo School, but returned to Nola around 1870 to assume the direction of the School of Design and Applied Arts, where he remained until 1893, the year of death.