Gian Maria Rastellini

In 1881 he enrolled, very young, at the Rossetti Valentini Art School[1] in Santa Maria Maggiore, where together with Maurizio Borgnis, Carlo Fornara and Giovanni Battista Ciolina he studied under the guidance of the master Enrico Cavalli until 1887.

A precocious artist, he exhibited at the First Triennale of Brera[2] with the painting Il Sogno (The Dream), which was shortlisted by the jury for the Principe Umberto Prize.

Building on the teachings of Cavalli, he made the lessons of the most open-minded and innovative artists his own, with his work assuming a vaguely symbolist tone.

Perhaps his most original production of the 1890s are the scenes and landscapes he painted in Valle Vigezzo such as Interno di stalla (Interior of a stable), Paesaggio invernale verso Buttogno (Winter landscape looking towards Buttogno), Veduta autunnale della valletta (Autumn view of the valley), and Vita umile (Humble life), dictated by autonomous stylistic choices, fruit of a mediation between his early education and his study of Impressionism and the Macchiaioli.

A multifaceted personality, Rastellini held the offices of Mayor of Buttogno (1899-1902) and president of the Società Elettrica Vigezzina, the Valley's electricity company.