Enrico Ursella Artwork valuations, appraisals and auction estimates

Enrico Ursella was born on 4 May 1887 in Buia, in the province of Udine. His family had peasant origins and for this reason, in the early twentieth century, he moved to Germany to work in the brick kilns, where many of his compatriots had already found work. Read the full biography

Enrico Ursella was born on 4 May 1887 in Buia, in the province of Udine. His family had peasant origins and for this reason, in the early twentieth century, he moved to Germany to work in the brick kilns, where many of his compatriots had already found work. During this period, he cultivated a passion for drawing, portraying his colleagues and the hard life of emigrants. He decided to enroll at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice, where he followed Ettore Tito's lessons from 1912 to 1914. In 1914 he was commissioned to decorate the dome of the church of S. Bartolomeo in the new cemetery of Buia, and this allowed him to gain the favor of local critics. In 1916 he sent the work News of War (private collection) to the Permanent Exhibition of Fine Arts in Milan, which portrays his father intent on reading the newspaper in the courtyard of the house in Sottocostoia. In 1920 he participated with around forty works in the II Friulian Art Exhibition and a year later he obtained the Marangoni scholarship from the Municipality of Udine, which allowed him to go to Rome. During the Roman period he was interrupted by frequent trips to Friuli to participate in collective exhibitions. From 1925 to 1935 his creative period was his most productive, participating in numerous local and national exhibitions. After the Second World War, he continued to participate in various collective exhibitions, but unfortunately his death overtook him on 6 November 1955 in his home in Camadusso, after a long illness.