Modesto Faustini Portrait Paintings

Modesto Faustini was orphaned at the age of six and was moved into an orphanage where he received vocational training as a dressmaker. In 1855, his aptitude for design was recognized and he was allowed to enter the School of Drawing. In 1861 with a small stipend, the young artist enrolled in the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Milan, where he studied under the tutelage of Giuseppe Bertini. Faustini worked at night making illustrations for magazines and newspapers to subsidize his stipend to continue his studies. After a move to Rome and his introduction at the artists Nino Costa, Faustini‘s art began to demonstrate the influence of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, culminating in the decorations for the Santuario delle S. Maria delle Grazie in his native Brescia. He was particularly noted for portraying scenes of Roman life and particularly that of the denizens of Pompeii which were so popular in the second half of the 19th century throughout Europe.