FABRIS, Pietro

(b. ~1736 ?, d. ~1780 Napoli)

Italian painter and engraver. He worked in Naples for most of his life, but frequently added the phrase ‘English painter’ to his signature. He is noted for landscapes and genre scenes that illustrate events at the royal court and picturesque scenes of Neapolitan life, including pedlars, fishermen, picnickers and dancers. His works were popular with the British, Americans, and Europeans making the Grand Tour.

Two paintings representing the Departure of Charles III of Bourbon for Spain (Palacio Real, Aranjuez) were presumably painted in 1759, when this event occurred. In 1768 Fabris exhibited in London at the Free Society and accompanied the British envoy, Sir William Hamilton, to Sicily; he included a portrait of this enthusiastic patron in one of two genre scenes showing the Drawing-room in Lord Fortrose’s Apartment in Naples (1770; National Picture Gallery, Edinburgh). He exhibited again in London in 1772 at the Society of Artists.

Fabris is also noted as one of the first artists in Naples in the 18th century to use gouache as a medium.

Naples, a View of Mergellina

This Mediterranean view shows Mergellina and the Palazzo Donn’Anna beyond, with fishermen drawing their catch, peasants grilling fish and other figures conversing. It is a fine example of Fabris’s talent for blending the colourful aspects of daily life with his careful approach to the topographically accurate description of landscape.

Though still a small fishing village during the eighteenth century, the expansion of Naples meant that Mergellina was gradually absorbed and is now part of the city itself.

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Posillipo, a View of the Coast towards Vesuvius

This signed and dated painting is one of a pair of canvases which illustrates the artist’s fascination with the colour and liveliness of the Neapolitan coastline.

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Pozzuoli, a View of the Bay

This signed and dated painting is one of a pair of canvases which illustrates the artist’s fascination with the colour and liveliness of the Neapolitan coastline.

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View of Paestum

This painting presents a view of Paestum from the west with the temples of Poseidon and Ceres. Fabris is known to have painted Paestum on other occasions, too. Paestum was a Graeco-Roman town south of Naples founded at the end of the seventh century BCE.

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