Girolamo Pieri Pecci Ballati Nerli (21 February 1860 – 24 June 1926), was an Italian-born painter who worked in Australia and New Zealand in the late 19th century, influencing the art scenes of both countries. In Australia, he is noted for influencing
Charles Conder
Charles Edward Conder (24 October 1868 – 9 February 1909) was an English-born painter, lithographer and designer. He emigrated to Australia and was a key figure in the Heidelberg School, arguably the beginning of a distinctively Australi ...
of the
Heidelberg School
The Heidelberg School was an Australian art movement of the late 19th century. It has been described as Australian impressionism.
Melbourne art critic Sidney Dickinson coined the term in an 1891 review of works by Arthur Streeton and Walter ...
movement, and in New Zealand, as an early teacher of
Frances Hodgkins
Frances Mary Hodgkins (28 April 1869 – 13 May 1947) was a New Zealand painter chiefly of landscape, and for a short period was a designer of textiles. Born in Dunedin, she was educated Dunedin School of Art, then became an art teacher, ...
. His portrait of
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll ...
in the
Scottish National Portrait Gallery
National Galleries Scotland: Portrait is an art museum on Queen Street, Edinburgh. Portrait holds the national collections of portraits, all of which are of, but not necessarily by, Scots. It also holds the Scottish National Photography Collec ...
is usually considered the most searching portrayal of the writer.
Biography
Born in
Siena
Siena ( , ; traditionally spelled Sienna in English; ) is a city in Tuscany, in central Italy, and the capital of the province of Siena. It is the twelfth most populated city in the region by number of inhabitants, with a population of 52,991 ...
in Italy to an Italian aristocrat, Marchese Ferdinando Pieri Pecci Ballati Nerli, his full name was Girolamo Pieri Pecci Ballati Nerli. The fourth of six children, he was not a 'Marchese' as he was sometimes styled, or a 'Count', but a 'patrizio di Siena', a minor distinction marking the great antiquity of his family. His father married Henrietta Medwin, an Englishwoman. Her father
Thomas Medwin
Thomas Medwin (20 March 1788 –2 August 1869) was an early 19th-century English writer, poet and translator. He is known chiefly for his biography of his cousin, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and for published recollections of his friend, Lord Byron.
...
was a minor literary figure in
Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824) was an English poet. He is one of the major figures of the Romantic movement, and is regarded as being among the greatest poets of the United Kingdom. Among his best-kno ...
's circle, the author of ''Journal of the Conversations of Lord Byron'' and of ''The Life of Percy Bysshe Shelley''; Medwin was a second cousin on both parents' side of
Shelley.
Girolamo studied art in
Florence
Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025.
Florence ...
under
Antonio Ciseri
Antonio Ciseri (25 October 1821 – 8 March 1891) was a Swiss-Italian painter of religious subjects. Ciseri's paintings are Raphaelesque in their compositional outlines and their polished surfaces, but are nearly photographic in effect. Among hi ...
and
Giovanni Muzzioli
Giovanni Muzzioli (10 February 18545 August 1894) was an Italian painter primarily known for his work in the fields of painting and book illustration. Muzzioli gained recognition for his depictions of various subjects, including portraits, landsc ...
and was a younger member of the Italian
Macchiaioli
The Macchiaioli () were a group of Italian painters active in Tuscany in the second half of the nineteenth century. They strayed from antiquated conventions taught by the Italian art academies, and did much of their painting outdoors in order ...
school, the 'patch painters', an Italian movement anticipating French
impressionism
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...
.

He migrated to Australia in 1885, first settling in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
, where he shared a studio with fellow Italian Ugo Catani and the Portuguese-born
Artur Loureiro
Artur José de Sousa Loureiro (11 February 1853 – 7 July 1932) was a Portuguese painter.[Artur Lo ...](_blank)
. Upon relocating to
Sydney
Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
in 1886, Nerli exhibited with the
Art Society of New South Wales
The Royal Art Society of New South Wales, or Royal Art Society of NSW, was established in 1880 as the Art Society of New South Wales by a group of artists including Arthur and George Collingridge, with the aim of creating an Australian school of ...
(ASNSW). He caused a sensation there later that year with his exhibition of paintings of
bacchanalian
The Bacchanalia were unofficial, privately funded popular Roman festivals of Bacchus, based on various religious ecstasy, ecstatic elements of the Greek Dionysia. They were almost certainly associated with Rome's native cult of Liber, and proba ...
orgies, and at an 1888 show his portrait of actress
Myra Kemble
Myra Kemble (17 November 1857 – 27 October 1906) was an Australian stage actress.
Life
Early life and career
Myra Kemble was born on 17 November 1857 in Sligo, Ireland, to Pritchard and Teresa Joseph Gill . She emigrated to the Colony of ...
attracted much attention. The free brushwork and unfinished appearance of his works were as exciting to connoisseurs as the subjects were to the general public. Nerli also joined the ASNSW's ''
en plein air
''En plein air'' (; French language, French for 'outdoors'), or plein-air painting, is the act of painting outdoors.
This method contrasts with studio painting or academic rules that might create a predetermined look. The theory of 'En plein ai ...
'' sketch club. It was likely through this club that he met the young painter
Charles Conder
Charles Edward Conder (24 October 1868 – 9 February 1909) was an English-born painter, lithographer and designer. He emigrated to Australia and was a key figure in the Heidelberg School, arguably the beginning of a distinctively Australi ...
, who was later acknowledged as having been influenced by Nerli's style. Conder subsequently became a leading member of the impressionistic
Heidelberg School
The Heidelberg School was an Australian art movement of the late 19th century. It has been described as Australian impressionism.
Melbourne art critic Sidney Dickinson coined the term in an 1891 review of works by Arthur Streeton and Walter ...
movement alongside
Tom Roberts
Thomas William Roberts (8 March 185614 September 1931) was an English-born Australian artist and a key member of the Heidelberg School art movement, also known as Australian impressionism.
After studying in Melbourne, he travelled to Europe i ...
and
Arthur Streeton
Sir Arthur Ernest Streeton (8 April 1867 – 1 September 1943) was an Australian landscape painter and a leading member of the Heidelberg School, also known as Australian Impressionism.
Early life
Streeton was born in Mount Moriac, Victoria ...
. The degree to which Nerli influenced the movement as a whole is a matter of contention, but his "delicacy of touch, decorative placement, and choice of subject matter" were shared by Conder and Streeton in particular, and he is known to have visited their "artists' camps" in both Melbourne and Sydney. Late in 1889 he went to
Dunedin
Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...
in New Zealand for the
New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition where he encountered the artist
Alfred Henry O'Keeffe
Alfred Henry O'Keeffe (21 July 1858 - 27 July 1941), was a New Zealand artist and art teacher, who spent the majority of his life in Dunedin. During the first quarter of the twentieth century, he was one of the few New Zealand artists to engage wi ...
. He went back to Australia in 1890.
In August 1892 he visited
Samoa
Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...
and painted the well-known portrait of
R. L. Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll ...
, now in the
Scottish National Portrait Gallery
National Galleries Scotland: Portrait is an art museum on Queen Street, Edinburgh. Portrait holds the national collections of portraits, all of which are of, but not necessarily by, Scots. It also holds the Scottish National Photography Collec ...
. A portrait in pastel done during the same visit was bought by Scribner and Sons, New York, in 1923. Stevenson wrote some humorous doggerel verse recording their encounter.
In 1893 Nerli returned to Dunedin where he set himself up as a private art teacher. 'Signor Nerli' remained in the city just over three years bringing, new vigour to the circle presided over by
W.M. Hodgkins and a cosmopolitan glamour to Dunedin's second, bohemian circle of younger painters. He taught
Frances Hodgkins
Frances Mary Hodgkins (28 April 1869 – 13 May 1947) was a New Zealand painter chiefly of landscape, and for a short period was a designer of textiles. Born in Dunedin, she was educated Dunedin School of Art, then became an art teacher, ...
, inspired
O'Keeffe
O'Keeffe () is an Irish Gaelic clan based most prominently in what is today County Cork, particularly around Fermoy and Duhallow. The name comes from ''caomh'', meaning "kind", "gentle", "noble" Some reformed spellings present it as ''Ó Cu� ...
and reportedly had an affair with
Grace Joel
Grace Jane Joel (28 May 1865–6 March 1924) was a New Zealand artist best known for her ability as a portraitist and figure painter.
Early life
Grace Joel was born in Dunedin, New Zealand on 28 May 1865, the sixth of nine children. Her Englis ...
, a young woman artist he may also have known in Melbourne. In 1893 Nerli was elected to the council of the Otago Art Society and in 1894 set up the Otago Art Academy with J.D. Perrett and L.W. Wilson in Dunedin's
Octagon
In geometry, an octagon () is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon.
A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, which alternates two types of edges. A truncated octagon, t is a ...
. Its life classes employing a professional nude model were so successful that the government run Dunedin School of Art had to hire Nerli for the same purpose. It seems this was the means by which painting from the nude was inaugurated at the school.
Late in 1896 Nerli left Dunedin suddenly, stayed briefly in
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...
and went on to
Auckland
Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...
. He opened a studio there and exhibited at the Auckland Society of Arts in April 1897. He then eloped with Marie Cecilia Josephine Barron whom he married in
Christchurch
Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...
New Zealand, in March 1898. She was a Spinster of 23, and he said he was a Bachelor and Artist of 38; he gave his name as Girolamo Pieri Ballati Pecci Nerli, but the surname in the index was "Pecci".
[Intentions to Marry Notice dated 5 March for marriage in Registry Office Christchurch; Ref BDM 20/46 No 94 Page 313] The couple immediately sailed for Australia settling first in Sydney and then Melbourne. Nerli and his wife returned to Europe in 1904 where the artist spent the rest of his life, struggling against declining fortunes, between London and
Nervi
Nervi is a former fishing village 12 miles (19 km) northwest of Portofino on the Riviera di Levante, now a seaside resort in Liguria, in northwest Italy. Once an independent ''comune'', it is now a ''quartiere'' of Genoa. Nervi is 4 miles ( ...
,
Genoa
Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...
in Italy. He died childless in Nervi on 24 June 1926.
Legacy
An occasionally brilliant painter, Nerli brought something of the new influences emerging in Europe to the Australasian art scene, helping to shift the direction of Australian and New Zealand art. In Charles Conder and Frances Hodgkins he influenced those countries' most notable expatriates. A few of his works have secured him a lasting place in Australia's and New Zealand's art histories. ''The Sitting'' (1889) is worthy of
James Tissot
Jacques Joseph Tissot (; 15 October 1836 – 8 August 1902), better known as James Tissot ( , ), was a French painter, illustrator, and caricaturist. He was born to a drapery merchant and a milliner and decided to pursue a career in art at a y ...
, and Nerli's lost work, ''The Ascension'' (c.1887) was a technical tour de force anticipating aspects of 20th-century art. His landscapes of the Heidelberg period, ''Beach Scene, Black Rock'' and ''Fitzroy Gardens'' (both c. 1889) show him combining the new objectivity which superseded romantic landscape with a lyricism worthy of the French Impressionists. However, his greatest achievements are a few penetrating portraits, that of Robert Louis Stevenson already mentioned, his ''Portrait of Dr. D.M. Stuart'' (1894), ''Portrait of W.M. Hodgkins'' (1893) in the
Hocken Collections
Hocken Collections (, formerly the Hocken Library) is a research library, historical archive, and Art museum, art gallery based in Dunedin, New Zealand. Its library collection, which is of national significance, is administered by the University ...
Dunedin, and his ''Portrait of a Young Woman Artist'' (c.1889), also in the Hocken. These works capture elusive psychological states, Stevenson's illness and Stuart's nearness to death. Nerli's ''Portrait of a Girl'' (1894?) in the collection of the
Dunedin Public Art Gallery
The Dunedin Public Art Gallery holds the main public art collection of the city of Dunedin, New Zealand. Located in The Octagon in the heart of the city, it is close to the city's public library, Dunedin Town Hall, and other facilities such as ...
is a minor masterpiece, brilliantly evoking the ambivalence of adolescence.
Nerli is represented in the Australian National Gallery, most of the Australian state galleries and the principal public collections of New Zealand.
List of works
Works in the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
References
Further reading
* Brown, H.G. & Keith, H. (1969 & 1988) ''An Introduction to New Zealand Painting 1839-1980'' Auckland, NZ: David Bateman. .
* Dunn, M. (2005) ''Nerli an Italian Painter in the South Pacific'' Auckland, NZ: Auckland University Press. .
*
Entwisle, P. (1984) '' William Mathew Hodgkins & his Circle'' Dunedin, NZ: Dunedin Public Art Gallery.
* Entwisle, P. Dunn, M. & Collins, R. (1988) ''Nerli An Exhibition of Paintings & Drawings'' Dunedin: NZ Dunedin Public Art Gallery. .
* Entwisle, P.(1993) ''Nerli, Girolamo'' in ''The Dictionary of New Zealand Biography Volume Two 1870-1900'' Wellington, NZ: Bridget Williams Books, Department of Internal Affairs. .
External links
Entry in ''Australian Dictionary of Biography''by Barbara Chapman
Entry in ''Dictionary of New Zealand Biography''by Peter Entwisle
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nerli, G P
1860 births
1926 deaths
19th-century Italian painters
Italian male painters
20th-century Italian painters
19th-century Italian male artists
20th-century Italian male artists
Italian expatriates in New Zealand
Italian expatriates in Australia