THE VELA FAMILY

• Vela, Vincenzo (1820-1891)
• Vela, Lorenzo (1812-1897)
• Vela, Spartaco (1854-1895)

Vela, Vincenzo – Sculptor (* 3.5.1820 Ligornetto/TI  † 3.10.1891 Ligornetto/TI)

1820-39
	The son of Giuseppe Vela and Teresa Casanova, while still a child he was apprenticed to a stonemason. Around 1834 he joined his brother Lorenzo, a sculptor of decorations, in Milan, where he continued his apprenticeship as a stonemason working on the Cathedral. Having enrolled at the Brera Academy in 1835 he immediately attracted attention at the competitions for the various disciplines.

1840-47
He completed his training as a sculptor in the studio of Benedetto Cacciatori (1793-1871). In 1842 he won the Venice Academy competition, where he showed a remarkable independence from the classical dictates that governed the academic teaching of sculpture.

		After finishing his studies in 1844, he began to receive public and private commissions. The statue of «Bishop Luvini» (1844) (ill. 50) and «Morning Prayers» (1846) (ill. 51) caused a stir, on account of their strict adherence to reality. They were widely acclaimed by the public and by progressive critics.
ill. 50 Luvini	ill. 51 Morning Prayers

1848-50
In November 1848 he joined up as a volunteer for the Sonderbund war, during which he met general Henry Dufour, whose portrait he did some years later (1853) (ill. 52). Later, he also fought in the campaign against Austria in Lombardy, participating in the Como revolt (1848) (ill. 53). Back in Milan after that defeat, he returned to portrait-painting and tombstone sculpture for the aristocracy (ill. 54).

ill. 52 General Dufour	ill. 53 Surrender	ill. 54 Countesse d'Adda

1851-55
	In 1851 the exhibition of «Spartaco» (ill. 55) at the Brera established his name as leader of the naturalist school and spokesman for Risorgimento ideals in sculpture. The following year he was forced to leave Milan. He settled in Turin, where he was able to count on the support of liberal circles.
ill. 55 Spartaco

1856-80
From 1856 he was professor of sculpture at the Albertina Academy. In Turin his career prospered and was spelt out by major public commissions and by his participation in national and international exhibitions.

		In Turin he ran no less than three studios, one of which is described in a watercolour by Tetar Elven (1831-1908), held in the collection (ill. 56). After his triumph at the International Expo in Paris in 1867 with «The Last Moments of Napoleon I» (ill. 26), which was bought by the Emperor Napoleon III, the sculptor retired to his villa at Ligornetto.
ill. 56 Van Elven	ill. 26 Napoleon I

1881-91
The 1880s marked a further evolution in his style, and renewed successes with his «Victims of Work» (1882-83) (ill. 57), the monuments to Agostino Bertani (1887) (ill.58) and to general Giuseppe Garibaldi (1889) (ill. 59). After the artist's death, his son Spartaco fulfilled his wishes by bequeathing to the Swiss Confederation the villa at Ligornetto and all his father's works.

ill. 57 Victims of Work	ill. 58 Bertani	ill. 59 Garibaldi

Vela, Lorenzo – Sculptor (* 4.7.1812 Ligornetto/TI  † 10. 1. 1897 Milano)

Elder brother of the better-known Vincenzo Vela. A sculptor mainly of decorations and of animals. He did decorative works for public and private buildings, genre sculptures (ill. 61) and small groups of animals. Having moved to Milan, in 1832 he was admitted to the Brera Academy, where he studied until 1837 at the School of Decoration under Ferdinando Albertolli.

During his training he collaborated with the sculptor Benedetto Cacciatori (1793-1871) and with him did the most challenging work of his early career. From 1860 for the next thirty years, he taught decoration at the Brera. He took part in the plastic decoration of the d'Adda chapel at Arcore, in the Poldi Pezzoli building in Milan and in the «Ca' de' Sass» with six allegorical lunettes.

		After his death, a selection of models (ill. 62) and paintings was transferred from his Milan studio to his brother Vincenzo's villa at Ligornetto, thus integrating the donation left by his nephew Spartaco in favour of the Swiss Confederation.
ill. 61 Basket of chicks	ill. 62 Hero

Vela, Spartaco – Painter (* 22.3.1854 Torino  † 23.6.1895 Ligornetto/TI)

Only son of the sculptor Vincenzo Vela and of Sabina Dragoni. Painter of genre pictures, figures and landscapes. Although fascinated by the scientific disciplines, he was «naturally» drawn to artistic studies while attending the Brera Academy in Milan, where his masters were Giuseppe Bertini, Eleuterio Pagliano and Mosè Bianchi.

His pictorial output reflects the principal movements of his time. In his landscapes (ill. 64) and genre scenes, his painting was characterised by the bold brush-strokes typical of «Lombard impressionism». Notable is his large painting of the biblical subject «La Rispa» (ill. 65), exhibited in 1881.

ill. 64 Road to the Quarry	ill. 65 La Rispa		ill. 66 Alla cava	ill. 67 C. Lose

Spartaco Vela made use of photographs, often taken by him personally, for the preparation of many of his works, such as the painting «Alla Cava» (ill. 66) with its related «photographic sketch» (ill. 67).

Spartaco's oeuvre is limited, with few works signed or dated, and many left unfinished. A talented artist and sensitive draughtsman, Spartaco never achieved the fame of his artist friends of his own generation. In accordance with his father's last wishes, he bequeathed to the Swiss Confederation the villa at Ligornetto and all the collections in it, as well as the works of art from his own house in Milan.

© Museo Vela, Ligornetto