Italian Piazza, Rothschild Collection

Italian architecture painter, born, Naples, 1820, died Menton, France, 1900. Born into an artistic dynasty in Naples, Gabriele Carelli was the son of the landscape painter Raffaele Carelli. In 1837 he accompanied his older brother Consalvo to Rome, where he completed his training before returning to Naples in 1840. The artist took part in exhibitions in Naples in 1841 and 1845, and was introduced by his father to his patron, the 6th Duke of Devonshire. Carelli spent some time in 1847 and 1848 in England, where he continued to receive the patronage of the Duke of Devonshire at Chatsworth, Devonshire House and Ciswick; several works by both Raffaele and Gabriele Carelli are today at Chatsworth. He was admitted into the Royal Academy in 1874. He married an Englishwoman and became a British citizen. In 1875 two of his paintings of Neapolitan views were exhibited in Naples; they were purchased by Ferdinand II. He came to the attention of Queen Victoria in the early 1880s, and enjoyed her patronage for the rest of his career. A number of his watercolors are in the Royal Collection at Osborne House and Windsor Castle in Great Britain. Other drawings and watercolors are in the collection of the Royal Institute of British Architects in London and the Museo di San Martino in Naples. Active mainly as a watercolorist, Carelli traveled widely in search of picturesque subject matter, throughout Italy and Spain as well as Greece, the Near East, and North Africa. Long horizontal landscapes are a feature of Carelli's watercolors, which are also characterized by an attention to architectural detail.