Page 112 - Orient Collection

50. The Story TELLER, (Al -Hakawati)

Artist: Fabio FABBI, Italian, (1861 – 1946)
Execution date (approximate): 1901
Téchnique: Oil on Canvas, (signed lower left)
Measures: 48 x 36 cm.
Description: An Old man (Al-Hakawati) is telling a story, and amusing a Young gathering.
A group of young boys laughing at the story which is counted by the old man.

Biography
Fabio Fabbi was an Italian painter, and sculpture creator. He studied painting and sculpture
at the academy of Fine Arts in Florence (Italy), at the atelier of Auguste Rivelta. In the
early 1880s, he traveled to Paris, Munich, and to Egypt. Then he came back to Italy to
paint. He painted scenes de genre, portraits, typical subjects, watercolors, pastels, and
mainly Orientalist paintings. He received many awards in both paintings and sculptures.
He exhibited in Monaco, Torino, from 1884, and received awards in 1899, and others in
Florence in 1888, and also in Milan. He was appointed professor of the Academy of Fine
Arts of Florence in 1893, and appointed Member of the Academy of Fine Arts of Bologna in
1894. He was awarded the title “ Cavaliere della Corona d’Italia” in 1898.
He painted mainly Orientalist subjects, such as odalisques, slave markets, oriental bazaars,
and women in Harem. He painted with an unequal technique. His carrier was a success on
the academic and commercial plans. He realized more paintings than his fellow artists,
with a very receptive public.

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