23 July 2011- 17 June 2012
Mint Museum Randolph: Rankin and Crosland Galleries
Gabriel Carelli was born into a family of artists in Naples, Italy in 1821. He was introduced to one of his father’s patrons, the 6th Duke of Devonshire, in the 1840s, and spent a number of years in England early in his career building his network of patrons and furthering his training. Carelli eventually married an Englishwoman and settled in London. He became a member of the Royal Academy in 1874 and exhibited his work there and at other London galleries frequently until his death in 1900. By the 1880s Queen Victoria had become one of Carelli’s principle patrons and, as a result, his watercolors can be found in the Royal Collection at Osborne House and Windsor Castle.
While he did produce larger oils for exhibition pieces and commissions, Carelli is best known today for the gem-like watercolors he created during his travels in Europe and Northern Africa. In these picturesque scenes he skillfully captured the look and feel of the local terrain and architecture. Such pictures, which feature subjects ranging from Mounts Vesuvius and Etna to cityscapes of Rome and Venice to scenes from such far-off places as Russia, Switzerland, Wales, and northern Africa, were calculated to sell to foreign tourists who wanted mementos of their own European experiences, or, perhaps, to armchair travelers who wanted to decorate their homes with images of exotic, far-off places. All of the watercolors in this exhibition were donated to The Mint Museum between 1984 and 1993 by a single local collector. Together, they provide a comprehensive example of Carelli’s artistic skill and broad range of subject matter. -Jon Stuhlman, Curator of American Art
Additional Online Resources
____________________________
Created by Holly Silinski, Mint Museum Library Intern