Giuseppe Abbati (Naples, 13 January 1836 – Florence, 21 February 1868) was an Italian painter and patriot. Son of the painter Vincenzo, he followed his family first to Florence in 1842 and then to Venice from 1846 to 1858, where he formed his own artistic culture both under the guidance of his father and by attending the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice from 1850 with the masters Michelangelo Grigoletti and Francesco Bagnara; here he met the painters Vito D'Ancona and Telemaco Signorini on a study trip. Read the full biography
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Giuseppe Abbati (Naples, 13 January 1836 – Florence, 21 February 1868) was an Italian painter and patriot. Son of the painter Vincenzo, he followed his family first to Florence in 1842 and then to Venice from 1846 to 1858, where he formed his own artistic culture both under the guidance of his father and by attending the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice from 1850 with the masters Michelangelo Grigoletti and Francesco Bagnara; here he met the painters Vito D'Ancona and Telemaco Signorini on a study trip. In 1858 the Abbati family was again in Naples, where the following year Giuseppe exhibited the painting The Chapel of San Tommaso d'Aquino in San Domenico Maggiore at the exhibition of the Royal Bourbon Museum and met the painters Bernardo Celentano and Domenico Morelli. In 1860 he joined the Expedition of the Thousand and lost an eye in the battle of Volturno. At the end of that year he moved to Florence, frequenting the artistic meeting place of the Caffè Michelangiolo together with the painters Telemaco Signorini, Vincenzo Cabianca, Odoardo Borrani, Domenico Caligo, Vito D'Ancona, Serafino De Tivoli and the critic, collector and patron, Diego Martelli; the painting The cloister of Santa Croce is from 1861. In 1863 at the Promotrici of Turin and Florence he exhibited paintings executed "en plain air": Surroundings of Florence, The Hour of Rest, Arno near Florence, Motivo near Castiglioncello, Olive Trees of Monte alle Croci; in 1864, in Brera, he presented Il lattaio di Piagentina. He took part in the III War of Independence in 1866, enlisting as a volunteer Bersagliere; he was taken prisoner in the battle of Custoza and interned in Croatia. Returning to Florence in December 1866, he moved to Diego Martelli's estate in Castelnuovo della Misericordia. On 13 December 1867 he was bitten by his own dog Cennino. He died 39 days later from hydrophobia at the Florence hospital at just 32 years old.
