Morelli, Domenico

Born Aug. 4, 1826, in Naples; died there Aug. 13, 1901. Italian romantic painter. A participant in the Revolution of 1848–49.

Morelli studied at the Academy of Arts in Naples; he became an instructor at the academy in 1869. Morelli’s paintings deal primarily with religious, historical, and literary subjects. They are marked by an intense, dramatic treatment of subject and, at the same time, by a realistic rendering of the details of everyday life. His compositions contain unexpected elements and sharp chiaroscuro (The Iconoclasts, 1854, the National Gallery of the Palace of Capodimonte, Naples; The Mocking of Christ, 1875, National Gallery of Modern Art, Rome).