Domenico Morelli «artista mediterraneo». Pagine di critica di secondo Ottocento e primo Novecento
Maria Saveria Ruga
The essay analyzes a selection of texts that, between the Nineteenth and Twentieth centuries, point to Orientalist painting as one of the most innovative area in Domenico Morelli’s research, already among his contemporaries. Morelli’s Orient thus proves to be the filter for the interpretative revision of biblical themes, as the most direct representation of the coordinates of a journey, pondered through the sources, offered by his research: Rome, Europe, but also Egypt, Palestine and Naples as a barycenter. This production documents an interest directed not only to the religious history of the East, but also to cultural history. A repertoire that proves to be extremely rich. Morelli never hints at any opposition to the West in terms of cultural dominance or power. Even in this stance, devoid of any hostility or prejudice, the artist reveals himself to be profoundly modern.