Camillo Miola (14 September 1840 – 4 May 1919Enciclopedia Treccani
biography by Laura Possanzini.), also known as Biacca, was an Italian painter of historical scenes and portraits. He often portrayed Neo-Pompeian and Orientalist subjects.

Biography

Miola was born in Naples. He received a

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

education and briefly worked for the government, while pursuing his interest in art. At the age of 21 became a pupil of the Royal Institute of Fine Arts in Naples, where his primary instructor was

Domenico Morelli Domenico Morelli (4 August 182313 August 1901) was an Italians, Italian painter, who mainly produced historical and religious works. Morelli was immensely influential in the arts of the second half of the 19th century, both as director of the Ac ...

. He was a contemporary of another Morelli pupil, Giuseppe Boschetto, who also painted Ancient Roman topics. His first painting exhibited in Naples was ''Francesco Pusterla and the Astrologer Tommaso Pizzano'' (a scene from the novel ''Margherita Pusterla'' by

Cesare Cantù Cesare Cantù (; December 5, 1804March 11, 1895) was an Italians, Italian historian, writer, archivist and politician. An immensely prolific writer, Cantù was one of Italy's best-known and most important Romanticism, Romantic scholars. Biograph ...

). He traveled to Paris in 1867 to work in the studio of the Neoclassic sculptor Jean-Louis Ernest Meissonier and met Gérôme. He returned to Naples by 1868.Getty Institute
biography. He participated in competitions in Naples, Dublin and Paris, entering the work ''

Plautus Titus Maccius Plautus ( ; 254 – 184 BC) was a Roman playwright of the Old Latin period. His comedies are the earliest Latin literary works to have survived in their entirety. He wrote Palliata comoedia, the genre devised by Livius Andro ...

the Miller'', now found in Naples. He exhibited ''

Erinna Erinna (; ) was an Ancient Greece, ancient Greek poet. She is best known for her long poem ''The Distaff'', a 300-line dactylic hexameter, hexameter lament for her childhood friend Baucis, who had died shortly after her marriage. A large fragm ...

of Lesbos'' at Naples and, at Paris, in the Exposition Universelle of 1867, the ''Bust of

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...

''. Other major works are ''Tarquin and the

Sibyl The sibyls were prophetesses or oracles in Ancient Greece. The sibyls prophet, prophesied at holy sites. A sibyl at Delphi has been dated to as early as the eleventh century BC by Pausanias (geographer), PausaniasPausanias 10.12.1 when he desc ...

'', ''The Daneids'', ''The

Oracle of Delphi An oracle is a person or thing considered to provide insight, wise counsel or prophecy, prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by Deity, deities. If done through occultic means, it is a form of divina ...

'' (exhibited at Turin in 1880), ''The Bow Sentry'', (exhibited in Milan in 1881), ''Death of

Verginia Verginia, or Virginia (c. 465 BC449 BC), was the subject of an ancient Rome, ancient Roman story recounted in Roman historian Livy's text ''Ab Urbe Condita Libri (Livy), Ab Urbe Condita''. Upon a threat to her virtue, Verginia was killed by her ...

'' (exhibited at the newly opened

Palazzo delle Esposizioni The Palazzo delle Esposizioni is a Neoclassicism, neoclassical exhibition hall, cultural center and museum on Via Nazionale (Rome), Via Nazionale in Rome, Italy. History Designed by Pio Piacentini, it opened in 1883. It has housed several exhi ...

in Rome in 1883), ''

Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 BC – 27 November 8 BC), Suetonius, Life of Horace commonly known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). Th ...

in the villa'' (exhibited in 1877 at Naples), and ''A Roman and a Barbarian'' (exhibited at the Exposition Universelle of 1878 in Paris). The Princess of

Bauffremont The House of Bauffremont is the name of a French princely family which derived its name from a village in the Vosges, outside of Neufchâteau, Vosges, Neufchâteau, now spelt Beaufremont. The family traces itself to Liébaud, sire de Bauffremon ...

commissioned a ''Portrait of the Abbott Vito Fornari''. In 1876 he painted the ''Prophet Elias'' for the Cathedral of Altamura. He was President of the Artistic Congress of Rome in 1883, and served for five years as the Secretary of the Società Promotrice delle Belle Arti. He was also Director for Costumes for the theatrical presentations of Plautus' comedies at the

University of Naples The University of Naples Federico II (; , ) is a public university, public research university in Naples, Campania, Italy. Established in 1224 and named after its founder, Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick II, it is the oldest public, s ...

. In 1883, he traveled to Egypt, and the next year, he was invited by the Prince of

Sirignano Sirignano is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Avellino, Campania, Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a penins ...

, to travel on his yacht along with the painters Francesco Netti and

Eduardo Dalbono Eduardo Dalbono (10 December 1841 – 23 August 1915) was an Italian painter born in Naples. Biography The son of a writer and art critic father and poet mother, Edoardo Dalbono attended the Royal Institute of Fine Arts in Naples in 1853, but le ...

, as the Prince visited the east Mediterranean coasts. This led Miola to paint some orientalist canvases. IL fatto di Virginia

He was made an honorary Professor of the Royal Institute. In addition to painting, he was known for his art criticism, and wrote under the pseudonym of "Biacca".''Dizionario degli Artisti Italiani Viventi: pittori, scultori, e Architetti''
by Angelo de Gubernatis. Tipe dei Successori Le Monnier, 1889, page 303. In the 1890s, he taught drawing in a girls' school and gave lessons in the history of art at the Naples academy. He died in Naples, aged 78. Camillo Miola (Biacca) - The Oracle The Pythia, a virgin from the local village selected in ceremonies that established her as Apollo's choice, sits atop the sacred tripod as the Delphic oracle. To the left is the omphalos, the most sacred object at Delphi, regarded as the center of the earth. A plinth on the right bears an inscription describing Apollo's conquest of Delphi with the Cretans, who became his first priests.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miola Camillo 19th-century Italian painters Italian male painters 20th-century Italian painters 1840 births 1919 deaths Neo-Pompeian painters Italian Orientalist painters Painters from Naples Accademia di Belle Arti di Napoli alumni 19th-century Italian male artists 20th-century Italian male artists