Pio Joris (8 June 1843 – 6 March 1921) was an Italian painter, engraver and

watercolorist Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (Commonwealth English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin 'water'), is a painting metho ...

Biography

Pio Joris was born in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

and attended the Istituto di Belle Arti as a child. In 1861, he enrolled at the

Accademia di San Luca The Accademia di San Luca () is an Italian academy of artists in Rome. The establishment of the Accademia de i Pittori e Scultori di Roma was approved by papal brief in 1577, and in 1593 Federico Zuccari became its first ''principe'' or director; ...

, where he remained for just a year. On a visit to the 1st Esposizione Nazionale di Belle Arti of Florence in 1861, he was attracted by the naturalistic works from the

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

school. He came into contact with

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 ...

and

Filippo Palizzi Filippo Palizzi (16 June 1818, Vasto – 11 September 1899, Naples) was an Italian painter, known for his rural genre scenes with animals, mostly goats. His brothers, Francesco Paolo, Giuseppe and Nicola, also became painters. Biography He was ...

during a trip to

Capri Capri ( , ; ) is an island located in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrento Peninsula, on the south side of the Gulf of Naples in the Campania region of Italy. A popular resort destination since the time of the Roman Republic, its natural beauty ...

Sorrento Sorrento ( , ; ; ) is a City status in Italy, city and overlooking the Gulf of Naples, Bay of Naples in Southern Italy. A popular tourist destination, Sorrento is located on the Sorrentine Peninsula at the southern terminus of a main branch o ...

and Naples in 1866. In Rome, he kept company with Mariano Fortuny, whose painting made a very strong impression on Joris. That was how he developed his own very personal artistic language, which went on to bring him commercial success on an international scale, helped by his collaboration with Paris art dealer Alphonse

Goupil Goupil may refer to: People * Eugène Goupil (1831–1896), French Mexican philanthropist and collector *Guillaume François Charles Goupil de Préfelne (1727–1801), member of the Council of Five Hundred The Council of Five Hundred () ...

. During the 1870s, Joris travelled around

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

: his presence is documented in London, Paris and Spain. He reached the peak of his success between the 1880s and 1890s, winning numerous public awards with an anecdotal style of history painting and with

genre Genre () is any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other fo ...

scenes, shown at the main exhibitions in Italy and abroad. He was awarded the gold medal and the

Légion d’Honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

at the

Paris Salon The Salon (), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art event in the Western world. At the ...

in 1900 for two works on a religious theme, reminiscent of studies by his contemporary,

Francesco Paolo Michetti Francesco Paolo Michetti (October 2, 1851 – March 5, 1929) was an Italian painter known especially for his genre art, genre works. Biography He was born in Tocco da Casauria in the Province of Chieti. His father having died when he was a boy, M ...

. He died in Rome in 1921.

Selected paintings

Joris-Daydream.png, ''The Daydream'' File:Pio Joris Kartenlegerin.jpg, ''The Card Reader'' Joris-Procession.png, ''Procession in

Assisi Assisi (, also ; ; from ; Central Italian: ''Ascesi'') is a town and comune of Italy in the Province of Perugia in the Umbria region, on the western flank of Monte Subasio. It is generally regarded as the birthplace of the Latin poet Prope ...

'' File:Pio Joris Siesta 1893.jpg, ''The Siesta'', 1893, watercolor

Sources

* Elena Lissoni
Pio Joris
online catalogu
Artgate
by

Fondazione Cariplo Fondazione Cariplo is a charitable foundation in Milan, Italy. It was created in December 1991 when the Amato law, Law no. 218 of 30 July 1990, came into force. Under this law, saving banks were required to separate into a not-for-profit foun ...

, 2010, CC BY-SA (source for the first revision of this article). * Monica Vinardi
Biography
from the ''Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani'' @

Treccani Institute Giovanni Treccani for the publication of the Italian Encyclopedia (), also known as Treccani Institute or simply Treccani, is a cultural institution of national interest, active in the publishing field, founded by Giovanni Treccani ...

* Matteo Piccioni, "Pio Joris (1843-1921) e la pittura a Roma nel secondo Ottocento", in ''Storia dell'arte'', #128, 2011, 122-148

External links

More works by Joris
@ ArtNet {{DEFAULTSORT:Joris, Pio 19th-century Italian painters 19th-century Italian male artists Italian male painters 20th-century Italian painters Painters from Rome 1843 births 1921 deaths Recipients of the Legion of Honour Italian genre painters 20th-century Italian male artists