Capri
Rubens Santoro, 1881, oil on canvas, cm 34,5x53,5
(1859 – 1942)
A pupil of Domenico Morelli at the Royal Institute of Fine Arts in Naples, Rubens Santoro developed his artistic language through extensive travels in Italy and abroad. Crucial to his evolution was his 1874 meeting in Portici with Mariano Fortuny and the subsequent influence of Spanish painters associated with the dealer Goupil, most notably Martín Rico. In this 1881 view of Capri, a dazzling, almost raw luminosity prevails—an expression of the objectivity of the autonomous fact reflecting the real. Here, painting becomes an optical instrument which, in its clear and sometimes "offensive" brilliance, parallels the raw themes of contemporary literature, moving beyond mere genre appeal to assert the power of reality.
