Gaetano Bellei was an Italian painter born in Modena in 1857 and died in the same city in 1922.
After studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Modena, he went to Rome to study at the Academy of San Luca, the Spanish Academy and the French Academy to perfect the study of the nude.
In 1882 he moved to Florence where he dedicated himself mainly to genre painting, depicting domestic and family scenes, anecdotal compositions that were part of the same trend also explored by Eugenio Zampighi and Gaetano Chierici.
Bellei created numerous genre and popular subjects, and achieved great success in Florence, an obligatory stop on the "Grand Tour", among foreign travellers, especially Americans and English, who were looking for folklore compositions often replicated by the painter in various versions. Bellei is known for works such as "Briscola in convento", "Primi passi", "Scialletto Azzurro" and "La Benvenuto", successfully exhibited in 1882 at the Exhibition of the Royal Academy of London.
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