Gari Melchers: Painting in Italy

"The Communicants" by Gari Melchers

"In the summer of 1882, while still a student at the Académie Julian, Gari Melchers embarked on a trip to Italy. His artist father responded with a congratulatory letter containing worldly advice and parental admonitions warning his son of certain hazards that might befall him during his forthcoming trip:

'Your travel plans - to go with your friend Pauwels - to Naples and surroundings to study there for three months I can only approve of. But never forget that you find yourself there on volcanic soil. Use moderation in your enjoyment of its fiery wines and of its females with a temperament where love and hatred dwell in the same breast together, passion, that is, which can rage and destroy. Beware of the lover's dagger no less than of the greedy eye of peasant and shepherd; keep your gold pieces hidden, and in the mountains pay only with small coins of which you should always have a supply on hand... 

You don't know him yet but what about paying a visit to your Godfather, Garibaldi, on Caprera? In the end, the old man may even let you paint or draw his portrait; this would be good advertising for the American press..

Well then, my son, that which I yearned for in my youth but which had to remain just a beautiful dream, that is what now is going to be fulfilled for you: you will see and experience sunny Italy.'

This trip to 'sunny Italy' was a rite of initiation considered de rigueur for any young aspiring salon painter of the period. According to later accounts, he was accompanied by two companions and traveled to Italy via Marseilles. He spent a period of time in the mountain village of Atina and lived and painted for a while in a Trappist monastery at Casa Mari. 

A number of works were produced; the environs and inhabitants of Atina and the monastery at Casa Mari provided the subjects for the artist's Salon entries of the following year. The interior of the church at Casa Mari and the Trappist monks who worshiped there are also represented in two small oil paintings on wooden panels. They were the first of a long series of paintings by Melchers depicting individuals at religious devotions in church settings."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Gari Melchers: His Life and Art" by Joseph G. Dreiss.)