TOMMASI, Adolfo - b. 1851 Livorno, d. 1933 Firenze

Italian painter. He left his native town and moved to Florence where he attended the Academy of Fine Arts under the guidance of Károly Markó the Younger. At the end of the 1870s, at the Tommasi’s estate at Bellariva, he got to know Silvestro Lega, who taught Adolfo’s younger cousins Angiolo and Ludovico and spent a great deal of time with the Tommasi family.

Having learned the technique of painting from life, he presented a markedly naturalistic work (After the Frost) at a show of the Società Donatello in 1880, that provoked both criticism and praise because its subject matter was unusual. He took part over the following years in the national exhibitions held in Turin (1884), Venice (1887) and Bologna (1888).

In the 80’s Tommasi’s painting developed from the juvenile pastel tones with chiaroscuro effects to Impressionist type studies in light and atmosphere. In 1892, in Florence, he showed the Primavera (Spring), which was purchased by Umberto I for the Galleria d’Arte Moderna. In 1893 he won a gold medal at the International Exhibition of Watercolour Painting at the Milan Permanent Exhibition.

In 1907 a nervous condition interrupted his work and it was only in 1912 that he started painting again. From this date on he executed numerous landscapes of the countryside around Leghorn and Lucca, marine paintings and views of villages in the Apuan Alps and Liguria. He painted a series of views of ancient villas and gardens at the end of the century and experimented during his last years of activity with a mixed technique of oils and pastel.