Pio Joris

Pio Joris was born in Rome and attended the Istituto di Belle Arti as a child.

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.

That was how he developed his own very personal artistic language, which went on to bring him commercial success on an international scale, helped by his collaboration with Paris art dealer Alphonse Goupil.

He reached the peak of his success between the 1880s and 1890s, winning numerous public awards with an anecdotal style of history painting and with genre scenes, shown at the main exhibitions in Italy and abroad.

He was awarded the gold medal and the Légion d’Honneur at the Paris Salon in 1900 for two works on a religious theme, reminiscent of studies by his contemporary, Francesco Paolo Michetti.