Spartaco Vela (22 March 1854 – 23 June 1895) was a Swiss painter mainly active in Milan, Italy.
He was raised in Turin until 1867, when he moved along with his parents to the family's hometown of Ligornetto, in the Swiss canton of Ticino.
[1] His first lessons in design were by his own father, who encouraged him to draw al vero and not copy masterpieces as many textbooks suggested.
Influenced by his father, Vela attended the Brera Academy in Milan between 1869 and 1879, where he studied painting with Giuseppe Bertini, Eleuterio Pagliano and Mosè Bianchi, forming a lasting friendship with the latter.
It was titled Rizpah after Niobe from the Bible, the guardian of the bodies of his sons hanged by King David.