Achille D'orsi Biography
Achille D'Orsi was born in Naples in 1845. In 1857 he enrolled at the Royal Institute of Fine Arts in Naples, where he attended the sculpture school directed by Tito Angelini. Even though Angelini's teaching was still traditional, he did not oppose the new realist trends that were spreading among younger students, following the example of Stanislao Lista's work. D'Orsi's talent was already evident in 1863, when he presented the terracotta sculpture A wounded Garibaldino, now preserved in the National Museum of Capodimonte in Naples, at the II Exhibition of the Society promoting fine arts of Naples. . The work, still romantic in its subject and inspiration, reveals a realistic intention in representing the heroic theme in a human key, without epic or mythological complacency.
Much of D'Orsi's early activity was linked to the exhibitions of the Neapolitan promoting society, where he presented works such as A fisherman in 1864, Don Basilio in 1871, La beghina in 1872, La calunnia (La calunnia) in 1874, The cabalist (The kabbalist) and Sulla fossa (On the grave) in 1876. These works were mostly small sketches in terracotta or plaster, in which characters from everyday life were interpreted expressively. D'Orsi quickly acquired great fame in Naples, creating some subjects that would later become part of the repertoire of genre sculpture. The Salvator Rosa, one of the sculptor's most lively and sensitive creations, was made in life-size terracotta as a model for a monument to be erected in a square in Naples.
In the 1870s D'Orsi's realistic style became more precise, following in the footsteps of Domenico Morelli and Francesco Paolo Michetti in painting. He abandons smooth and compact modeling, still linked to romantic and purist sculpture, and prefers rough and irregular surfaces, accentuating the contrasts of light and enhancing the chromatic qualities of the materials used. In these years D'Orsi's artistic experience was also linked to that of Vincenzo Gemito, with whom he shared a predilection for some popular Neapolitan subjects, such as street urchins, fishermen and street vendors. Both were also influenced by classical art, but with different results. While Gemito directly approaches Hellenistic naturalism through the study of the Herculaneum bronzes, drawing certain technical and stylistic indications from them, for D'Orsi the reference to the ancient world remains a rather external suggestion.
In the following years, D'Orsi had become a nationally recognized figure, contributing to the spread of realistic sculpture in Italy. In particular in Milan, where he participated in the Brera Exhibition in 1878 with the bronze sailor's head, he carried out an intense artistic activity, so much so that he could be considered among the initiators of Lombard realism. Already appointed honorary professor in 1878 for merit with his works, he continued his career at the Royal Institute of Fine Arts in Naples. In 1887-88 he became a free professor of sculpture, in 1895 he joined the titular professor of sculpture Emanuele Caggiano, and finally, in 1902, he was appointed professor of sculpture and Dean of the institute, a position he held until 1915. He died in Naples on February 8, 1929.
