What’s the deal with Felice???

Happy New Year, 2014!  Wow, January is almost over.  This blog celebrates its one year anniversary this month.  In January 2013 I published my first post, International Plein Air Painters.

I’ve gotten quite a few comments over the last twelve months.  One of them was, “What’s the deal with Felice?”  You probably know me as “Phil,” then saw my name in print or on my business card and were not quite sure which to use.  How do you pronounce “Felice” anyway?  In Italian, it’s pronounced “Fe-lee-chay”  The Fe is pronounced like “Fe” in Ferris wheel.  That’s a different pronunciation than the woman’s name in English “Felice”, pronounced “Fu-Leese”.  It means “Happy” in English.  Here in France I am called Philippe, or Felix.

My father explained that, in the Italian tradition, I was named after his father, my grandfather.  Interestingly, my grandfather was also called “Phil” during his lifetime.  He came to America (New Haven, Connecticut) when he was 26 years old, probably about the time the picture above was taken.

It wasn’t until I began studying Art and Art History that I made the aquaintance of other Felices.  Here are a few:

1.  Felice Beato was born in Venice early in the 19th century.  He was one of the first war photographers and one of the first to make photographs of East Asia.

2. Felice Pellegrini, also an Italian, was born in the sixteenth century.  He was a student of Federicco Barrocci.  Along with his brother Vincenzo he painted religious scenes and alterpieces in Perugia.

3. Felice Casorati was active in the 20th century.  He painted portraits, still life and figure compositions.  He was a Symbolist, but was also influenced by the Renaissance Master Piero Della Francesca. 

and my favorite…

4. Felice Varini, a Swiss artist who creates what Wikipedia calls “Perspective Localized Paintings”, that are village or city sized paintings, or trompe l’oeil, that you can see when standing at a particular viewing point.  Here is a painting that he did in New Haven, Connecticut.  Felice Varini lives in Paris.

Thank you,

Felice

Bibliography:

Felice Beato. (2014, January 15). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 20:03, January 21, 2014, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Felice_Beato&oldid=590818634

Felice Casorati. (2013, May 21). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 20:01, January 21, 2014, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Felice_Casorati&oldid=556155663

Felice Pellegrini. (1983). In “Un Documento per Federico Barocci e la Cappella Coli Pontani in Santa Maria degli Angeli” Esercize, 6 pp 18-47  http://www.keytoumbria.com/Umbria/Barocci_Federico.html

Felice Varini. (2013, December 10). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 21:05, January 21, 2014, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Felice_Varini&oldid=585455593