Raffaele De Grada

Tuscany landscape

Initially trained by his father, a decorator, in Argentina and then from 1899 in Zurich, De Grada attended the academies of Dresden and Karlsruhe during the period 1902–05. Influenced by the Swiss secession movement, he enjoyed success as a landscape painter from 1913. He moved to San Gimignano after World War I, then to Florence, where he lived until 1929. He joined the Novecento Italiano movement and participated in their two exhibitions in Milan (1926 and 1929) as well as their exhibitions collective in other Italian and European cities. His participation in the Venice Biennale began by invitation with the 13th Venice International Art Exhibition in 1922. After moving to Milan in 1930, he obtained a professorship at the Monza School of Art in 1931. Particularly known for his beautiful views of the Tuscan countryside, De Grada welcomed different generations of artists into his home, including members of the Corrente movement, with whom he also exhibited works in the collective exhibition of the Society of Fine Arts and the Permanent Exhibition in 1939. He participated in numerous exhibitions after the Second World War. Died in 1957.