Oscar Di Prata Artwork valuations, appraisals and auction estimates

Oscar Di Prata (Brescia 1910-2006) He was one of the best-known Brescian artists of the twentieth century, and was a pupil of Gaetano Cresseri and Giuseppe Trainini. Particularly known for its frescoes and mosaics. Read the full biography

Oscar Di Prata (Brescia 1910-2006) He was one of the best-known Brescian artists of the twentieth century, and was a pupil of Gaetano Cresseri and Giuseppe Trainini. Particularly known for its frescoes and mosaics. During his adolescence he became interested in literature, drawing and painting. At eighteen he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice, where his talent for painting emerged. Towards the mid-1930s his personality as a painter reached full maturity; a fascist hierarch invited him to participate in a free-themed painting competition held in Rome, where the painter won a prize and obtained positive reviews from national newspapers. In the years immediately preceding the Second World War he exhibited in Brescia, Milan and Genoa, obtaining critical acclaim. During the war, he was taken prisoner and confined in India. After the war, he returned to Brescia, where he resumed his activity. He later traveled to France and Holland, where he painted various landscapes depicting Paris and Amsterdam. Starting from the 1950s, Di Prata came close to abstractionism, following the example of Nicolas De Staël, and his profound religiosity became more evident. Towards the end of the century, his painting returned almost to the past.