Raffaele Bella - Gazelle

bronze, cm 67 x 64 x 19

On the base: antique cartouche with title and name of the author
Provenance: Milan, private collection

Very little biographical information is collected around the figure of Raffaele Bella. A painter and sculptor born in Positano in 1902, he was a pupil of Vincenzo Caprile (Naples 1856 - 1936), who often stayed at his house in Positano, specifically in Fornillo, in the same neighborhood that gave birth to Bella. A shy and reserved artist, he undoubtedly established himself with his animalier subjects.
The sculptor's attention to naturalistic detail comes from a genuine passion of a scientific nature for the local fauna. The graceful bronze Gazelle was the subject of several castings, one of which is preserved in the collection of the Salerno Chamber of Commerce, which differ from each other in small details of the coat. The specimen's tense muscles and paws about to move correspond to the snout slightly turned to the left, drawn with the gaze to something. This gesture makes the body's course elegant, investigated in the precise details of anatomy and fur.