Carlo De Paris

Carlo De Paris was born in Barcelona in 1800, but when he was only one year old, his family moved to Rome, where he initially stayed until 1825. Unfortunately, his parents died when he was very young and he was therefore brought up by the Jesuit abbot Giovan Francesco Masdeu who, noticing his precocious artistic qualities, introduced him to the studio of the Spanish painter José Aparicio. He followed his teachings until 1815, when the master returned to Madrid as he was appointed chamber painter to King Ferdinand.

The teachings of Raphael and ancient art

Over the next two years, Carlo De Paris trained in Luigi Agricola’s studio, and during this period he went to the Vatican Rooms to study and copy Raphael’s marvellous frescoes and the antique statuary in the rooms of the Palace. At the same time he attended the Accademia di San Luca and, following Agricola’s advice, studied with Gaspare Landi. He participated in the Canova Competition in 1820 with a painting of Roman history, La continenza di Scipione, a work of an academic nature that earned him second place. He thus specialised in the historical genre, with classical or literary subjects as in the works Francesca da Rimini in the act of reading or The Death of Priam.
The move to Mexico City
In 1825, he left the capital to visit an uncle in Provence and then his brother in Barcelona, but after a stop in Milan, he decided to embark on a long journey to Mexico City in 1828, becoming the favourite painter of the new Republican Government born in 1813 from Independence from North America. The painter made a name for himself on South American soil with a painting with a Roman subject, The Pontifical Chapel in the Quirinal Palace with a papal function. He then received much praise for several portraits of Mexican characters, but also for views, impressions or paintings of scenes of local customs such as Indigenous Ceremonies at Children’s Funerals or The Village of Chapula. In particular, he received a commission from the President of the Mexican Republic to paint portraits of all the presidents in office since the year of Independence: Victor Guerrero, Pedraza, Santa Anna, Gomez Farías, Augustine and Iturbiade.

Between history and landscape painting

In 1836, he returned to Rome and was immediately successful showing his Mexican works, receiving the approval of Pope Gregory XVI and the painter Vincenzo Camuccini. An example of this fame is the painting Valle dove la capitale del Messico, which reflects academic canons with its use of diffuse light and particular attention to naturalistic details. However, a more lively chromatism emerges that transcribes Mexican colours. In this period, he devoted himself to commissioned portraits and to the depiction of landscapes of the Roman countryside with an academic approach, but with an eye to reality. Examples of this production are Le cascatelle di Tivoli or Veduta del Gianicolo with the Quercia di Tasso. The works presented in 1857 at the Genoa Exhibition with Cascata di Terni and two Caccia ai cinghiali (Boar Hunt) also belong to this phase.
He continued to deal with ancient or contemporary history paintings such as La proclamazione del dogma dell’Immacolata Concezione, Pio IX ritorna da Gaeta and L’andata dei volontari civici alle infelici trasordinate guerre d’oltralpe del 26 marzo 1848. He disappeared in 1861 at the age of sixty-one in the city of Rome.

Emanuela Di Vivona