ROMUALDO LOCATELLI (1905-1943)
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Romualdo Locatelli was born in Bergamo, Italy in 1905. He was descended from a well-known family that had already produced several renowned artists, including the 18th Century composer Pietro Antonio Locatelli and the painter Andrea Locatelli. His father, Luigi Locatelli, was a renowned fresco and decorative artist, who had been trained by his own father. Locatelli’s grandfather owned a firm that specialized in decorative painting and was credited with creating frescos in numerous churches and palaces in the Bergamo region. By the age of fourteen he was assisting his father and grandfather with the decoration of a church in San Filastro.
Locatelli first attended Academia Carrara in Bergamo, and then was further schooled at Palazzo di Brera in Milan. It was here that he would meet his future wife Erminia, a young art student and model who he would one day paint as The Madonna.
In 1926 he exhibited Il Dalore, a painting done in honor of his father, at the Palazzo di Brera. Today, the painting is held at Academia Carrara in Bergamo, and is considered the work that set his artistic career in motion. Locatelli travelled to Tunisia in 1929, where painted Orientalist subjects, and then moved on to Sardinia, Tuscany and Veneto. During this time Locatelli’s paintings reflected a modernistic style, and his subjects varied from genre topics to society paintings. In the 1930's, Locatelli moved to Rome where he became a renowned society portraitist, and his first exhibition in the city was a grand success. Late in 1938, Locatelli and his wife sailed from Rome on a tour of Asia. They stayed for a time in Java, but eventually moved on to Bali, where they established a studio in the city of Denpasar. The women of Bali inspired Locatelli, and brought out a sensuality in his painting such as that expressed in the portrait Tigah. He also made memorable paintings of Legong Dance, one of the most traditional dances in Balinese culture. His 1939 painting Legong Dancer is considered a late Orientalist masterpiece.
In the months before Pearl Harbor, Locatelli and his wife left Bali and traveled to Shanghai, Tokyo, and then Manila, where he was able to have nearly twenty of his Balinese paintings shipped to a gallery in New York City. After the Japanese invaded the Philippines, Locatelli’s status seemed to keep him safe for a time, but after crackdowns on Italians and other foreigners on the island the situation in Manila quickly worsened. On February 24th, 1943, Romualdo Locatelli went missing while out on a walk in the countryside and was never seen or heard from again.
Some Know Works:
The Madonna
II Dalore
Tigah
Legono Dancer
Locatelli first attended Academia Carrara in Bergamo, and then was further schooled at Palazzo di Brera in Milan. It was here that he would meet his future wife Erminia, a young art student and model who he would one day paint as The Madonna.
In 1926 he exhibited Il Dalore, a painting done in honor of his father, at the Palazzo di Brera. Today, the painting is held at Academia Carrara in Bergamo, and is considered the work that set his artistic career in motion. Locatelli travelled to Tunisia in 1929, where painted Orientalist subjects, and then moved on to Sardinia, Tuscany and Veneto. During this time Locatelli’s paintings reflected a modernistic style, and his subjects varied from genre topics to society paintings. In the 1930's, Locatelli moved to Rome where he became a renowned society portraitist, and his first exhibition in the city was a grand success. Late in 1938, Locatelli and his wife sailed from Rome on a tour of Asia. They stayed for a time in Java, but eventually moved on to Bali, where they established a studio in the city of Denpasar. The women of Bali inspired Locatelli, and brought out a sensuality in his painting such as that expressed in the portrait Tigah. He also made memorable paintings of Legong Dance, one of the most traditional dances in Balinese culture. His 1939 painting Legong Dancer is considered a late Orientalist masterpiece.
In the months before Pearl Harbor, Locatelli and his wife left Bali and traveled to Shanghai, Tokyo, and then Manila, where he was able to have nearly twenty of his Balinese paintings shipped to a gallery in New York City. After the Japanese invaded the Philippines, Locatelli’s status seemed to keep him safe for a time, but after crackdowns on Italians and other foreigners on the island the situation in Manila quickly worsened. On February 24th, 1943, Romualdo Locatelli went missing while out on a walk in the countryside and was never seen or heard from again.
Some Know Works:
The Madonna
II Dalore
Tigah
Legono Dancer
