Paolo Forcella

Paolo Forcella was born in Naples in 1868 and trained in the Neapolitan school at a time when Morelli, Dalbono and the painters of Posillipo had made the city one of the liveliest centres of Italian painting. With his brother Nicola Forcella, one of the most admired Orientalists of the period, he travelled to Egypt, and Cairo street scenes, mosques and minarets became an important part of his output.

Back in Italy he painted the subjects of the Neapolitan vedutisti — the bay, the coast and, above all, Venice, whose canals and church façades he rendered in a fluid, atmospheric manner.

Forcella’s Venetian views combine solid architecture with living water: evening light on a Baroque façade, boats and mooring posts throwing long reflections across a quiet rio. His Orientalist works, often on paper, are more finely detailed.

The date of his death is not recorded. His paintings appear at auction in Italy, France and the United States and are held in private collections.