Pio Joris

The Reading - Lithograph - 1880

1880

Pio Joris attended the Istituto di Belle Arti in Rome and 1861. He enrolled at the Accademia di San Luca, 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 school. Joris came into contact with Domenico Morelli and Filippo Palizzi during a trip to Capri, Sorrento and Naples in 1866. In Rome, he kept company with Mariano Fortuny, whose painting, with its pleasant, captivating luminist effects, made a very strong impression on Joris. That was how he developed his own very personal artistic language, which went on to bring him remarkable commercial success on an international scale, helped by his collaboration with Paris art dealer Alphonse Goupil. During the 1870s, Joris traveled around Europe: his presence is documented in London, Paris and Spain. He reached the peak of his success between the 1880s–90s, winning numerous public awards with an anecdotal style of history painting and with pleasant genre scenes, shown at the main exhibitions in Italy and abroad. Joris was awarded the Gold Medal and the Légion d’Honneur at the Paris Salon in 1900 for two works on a religious theme.