Carlo Bossoli, Pittore giramondo tra le corti reali e il magico Oriente

Bossoli (Lugano, 1815 - Turin, 1884) was, at the turn of the mid-19th century, one of the most appreciated - and disputed - artists in Europe. His views, his paintings evocative of historical events, his portraits were appreciated by kings - from the Savoy family to Queen Victoria -, princes, the best nobility and the most sophisticated bourgeoisie. Those who could not afford his oils, beautiful, or his tempera paintings, masterly, bought reproductions on the market, especially in England. London publishers published ‘The War in Italy’ in 1859, in which he recounted the Battle of Solferino and other episodes of the War of Independence or ‘Wiew of the Crimea’ (1853).

The Savoy family, who elevated him to ‘Our Painter of History’, commissioned no less than 150 tempera and lithographs from him. They document the railway undertakings of the Kingdom, in particular the birth of the Turin-Genoa line, but also other historical events. 105 temperas recount the Piedmontese and Italian wars of 1859, 1860 and 1861, the years of Italian Unification.

Bossoli is a ‘wandering’ painter. While still a child, he travelled with his family from his native Lugano to Odessa. It was here that the governor, Count Michail Voroncov, and his wife Elizaveta set their eyes on the young artist, who entrusted prestigious works to other Ticino craftsmen in order to embellish the city. In 1840 he returned to Italy, to Milan, an artist already of renown; here he documented, like a true reporter, the events of the Five Days of March 1848.

Nobles and rich bourgeois commissioned him to paint views of their gardens and palaces. He is a successful artist, but he cannot last long anywhere. He travelled through many countries: England, Ireland, Russia, Spain, Morocco.... These are the years in which old Europe is overwhelmed by the magic of the Orient and the Exotic, and he knows how to recreate those atmospheres suspended between dream, legend and reality in a perfect way, having experienced them up close and loved them.

To contextualise Bossoli's art, in the section dedicated to exoticism, a period room will be recreated with ‘Turkish-style’ furnishings by Piedmontese cabinetmaker Giuseppe Parvis.

From 1853 he lived in Turin with his sister Giovanna and his nephew Francesco Edoardo (Odessa, 1830 - Turin, 1912), also an artist, to whom a section in the exhibition is dedicated. Here he built a fascinating mansion in oriental style, as a reminder of his many travels.

He died in the Piedmontese capital but, at his explicit request, was buried in the Cemetery in Lugano, the homeland that, despite his cosmopolitan life, he had never stopped frequenting and loving.

The exhibition brings together more than 100 works by the artist and his grandson, documenting all the many facets of his art. They are on loan from Italian and Swiss public institutions and important private collections. Many are exhibited for the first time.